Mostransavto Debt Crisis: Causes and Impact on Passengers
Drivers are taking legal action against the carrier over unpaid wages.
The largest carrier in the Moscow region, Mostransavto (JSC Mostransavto, a state-owned bus operator), is facing major financial problems — over the past year, the organization«s loss amounted to 6 billion rubles ($60 million at current rates), drivers are suing it over hundreds of thousands in wage arrears, and authorities are allocating at least a fifth subsidy to prevent bankruptcy. At the same time, over the past year, bailiffs have collected about 1 million rubles ($10,000) from the carrier and, according to the Ostorozhno, Moskva channel, blocked its accounts.
Debts have also been driven up by rising costs of spare parts and supplies.
The company denies a link between the account freezes and wage arrears, but the financial problems are evident — data from the Federal Tax Service (FTS) speaks for itself.
Writs of execution were issued to recover debts from the carrier.
Where did such sums come from, what awaits Mostransavto, and how will it affect passengers? Experts investigated.
The Moscow Regional Court partially upheld Mostransavto«s appeal in one case.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRUL), Mostransavto«s revenue at the end of 2025 amounted to 45.8 billion rubles ($458 million). Net loss — 6.1 billion rubles ($61 million). In June this year, it was reported that the government of the Moscow region plans to allocate 4 billion rubles ($40 million) to the enterprise to prevent bankruptcy.
By the end of July, authorities intend to reduce Mostransavto«s accounts payable by at least 60%. It is also important for the government to avoid wage arrears and other payments from the carrier. Another goal is for the enterprise to continue operating at least until November. In May last year, Mostransavto also received 3.6 billion rubles ($36 million) from the government. Over the past four years, authorities have allocated a total of about 20 billion rubles ($200 million) to support it.
Mostransavto«s Position
As the Ostorozhno, Moskva channel wrote, bailiffs seized Mostransavto«s accounts, banned transactions with part of its property, and fined it 371,000 rubles ($3,700) due to non-payment of wages. According to the media, employees contacted the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) to collect more than 10 million rubles ($100,000). Mostransavto explained that the restrictions were lifted after the debts were paid, and the delay was due to data exchange between government agencies.
«The claim that employees contacted bailiffs to recover wages is also untrue. Such information has no legal basis because it does not correspond to the specified procedures,» the statement said. «JSC Mostransavto has timely fulfilled all necessary obligations after receiving procedural documents.»
In May last year, General Director Andrey Maiorov told MSK1.RU in an interview that the organization«s debt amounts to several billion rubles (several tens of millions of dollars). He explained that passenger transactions do not cover all of the carrier»s expenses.
«Often they ask to extend bus service so that people can get home from the last train. But for us, this is a very long time on the route. There are no passengers on the last runs. Sooner or later, this leads to big debts. <…> Additionally, the cost of spare parts has risen, and some are only supplied through parallel imports. A gearbox, for example, costs 2 million rubles ($20,000), and repairs run one and a half. Contracts are signed for several years. The situation has changed dramatically, and driver wages have risen sharply. But contracts haven«t,» he said.
Court Cases
As MSK1.RU found out, in 2026 the appellate instance of the Moscow Regional Court (Mosoblsud) considered at least 46 cases regarding recovery of unpaid wages and compensation for delays. Some of the lawsuits were filed in lower courts as early as 2025. The FSSP also recovered at least 956,000 rubles ($9,600) from the joint-stock company (including property recoveries in favor of individuals and legal entities and fines for late payment).
One of the plaintiffs, a driver from Kashira (Moscow region), told MSK1.RU that he was underpaid by more than 100,000 rubles ($1,000).
«We checked the pay slips. It turned out there is a shortfall. And if they had raised the waybills (accounting documents that serve as the basis for calculating wages and writing off fuel costs — Ed.), it would have been even worse,» he said.
According to a job search service, the monthly salary of a driver at Mostransavto is about 120,000 rubles ($1,200) before taxes.
Another appellate ruling dated 20 May 2026 mentions a sum of 341,968 rubles ($3,400). The plaintiff, a bus driver of the 5th category from Podolsk (Moscow region), sought to recover arrears for the period from February 2023 to August 2025. It included: underpayment for overtime work, work on weekends and holidays, underpayment for forced downtime (in fact, downtime due to the employer«s fault, but framed by the defendant as »being in reserve«), underpayment of monthly bonus (75% instead of the established 90%), underpayment for work as a conductor, etc.
«The case file shows that the plaintiff repeatedly took pre-trial steps to resolve the dispute: he appealed to the employer with written requests for recalculation; sent appeals to the State Labor Inspectorate; appealed to the prosecutor«s office; interacted with the primary trade union organization. These actions confirm that the plaintiff actively defended his rights out of court, and the employer was aware of his position,» the document states.
The Kashira court of first instance found that during the disputed periods, the plaintiff could not work due to a faulty bus — the carrier was supposed to replace it but did not. At the same time, the driver was ready to go on shift and did not avoid work.
As a result, the court of first instance ordered Mostransavto to pay the plaintiff 239,194 rubles ($2,400), establishing, among other things, that «the defendant systematically violated the deadlines for full payment of wages.» The carrier filed an appeal, seeking to overturn the lower court«s decision and issue a new ruling dismissing the claims in full. The Moscow Regional Court left the decision unchanged.
«The argument of the appeal that the employer is not at fault because the number of reserve buses is determined by standards is rejected. An employer, by undertaking obligations to carry passengers, must ensure their uninterrupted operation,» the ruling states. «The inability to provide a serviceable bus is a direct consequence of improper labor organization by the employer.»
In another case heard by the Klin City Court (Moscow region), 421,985 rubles ($4,200) were recovered from Mostransavto. In the lawsuit, a driver of the 6th category working in Khimki (Moscow region) stated that from March 2022 to October 2025, the employer unreasonably reduced the standard time for pre-trip preparation and end-of-shift closing (30 minutes instead of 40), did not fully pay the seniority bonus, and underpaid for work as a conductor. The plaintiff also cited unequal bonus amounts compared to drivers in other departments.
In its appeal, the carrier, among other things, argued that the plaintiff missed the statute of limitations for claims regarding supplemental pay for heavy work and miscalculated overtime pay. The Moscow Regional Court partially granted the appeal — it overturned the lower court«s decision regarding the recovery of supplemental pay for work as a conductor.
What Will Happen Next
According to transport analyst Vladislav Bulgakov, many factors contributed to the company«s dire financial situation: expensive bus rental from the private carrier Rand-Trans, which Mostransavto »absorbed« a few years ago, a reduction in transportation volumes, rising wages, and a personnel shortage.
«Replacing Rand-Trans is not easy. The rent for its structure is simply enormous — for 200–300 buses, Mostransavto still pays a lot, almost like leasing payments. There aren«t enough buses — a large batch was purchased in the mid-2010s, it is already breaking down and needs to be replaced,» the MSK1.RU source said. «In addition, Moscow provides used equipment. <…> Between 2016 and 2020, Mostransavto lost a huge amount of transportation volume, and along with it, a number of staff.»
According to Bulgakov, the routes of the capital«s »Moscow — Region« project, launched last year, will be able to plug »some of the holes« in Mostransavto»s operations. It is unlikely that Mostransavto will ultimately go bankrupt and be replaced by, say, private carriers — they simply cannot afford the leasing, Bulgakov concluded.
«The situation is now absurd — the carrier almost has to be begged to go on the route. So now it«s either money or some informal arrangements. Buying buses or taking them on lease, even under the Ministry of Transport»s preferential program at a rate of 15%, even with all federal subsidies, is suicidal. Nobody will get into that now,» the expert explained.
Chairman of the Union of Passengers of Russia Kirill Yankov, meanwhile, suggested that the debts will not lead to mass route cancellations or fare changes.
«The problem of bus transportation is that only individual routes can be profitable — say, a route from the station to the largest market. But overall, the network of routes is unprofitable because most are fully or partially social in nature, and costs are not covered by fare collection. However, there are routes with unregulated tariffs — they could be canceled or intervals could increase.»
Earlier we reported that Mostransavto will cut 12.5% of staff responsible for processing citizen appeals, monitoring violations, and analytics. Drivers and mechanics are not affected, and the carrier will save more than 400 million rubles ($4 million).
