Ludhiana, Oct. 24 -- Commuters across Ludhiana continued to grapple with long waits and overcrowded buses on Friday as over 50% of Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) buses remained off the roads amid a protest by outsourced transport workers outside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh. With only half of the fleet operational, passengers dependent on affordable public transport faced difficulties in daily commute.

Around 400 outsourced employees from Ludhiana joined nearly 6,000 transport workers who gathered in Chandigarh on the opening day of the assembly session to press their demands. Permanent and contractual employees, however, reported for duty, enabling the two state-run transport undertakings to maintai...