MNC firm's 'touch-not' attitude leaves 85 defective BMTC buses idle

Company blames 'carelessness' of maintenance staff for glitches

As many as 85 Volvo buses have been lying idle at various BMTC garages across the city close to a year now, waiting for repair and maintenance works. BMTC’s repeated reminders and requests to the service provider (Volvo) in this regard have not received any response so far.

“BMTC is the biggest buyer of Volvo buses in the country. The company has purchased a fleet of 675 buses from Volvo, each bus costing Rs 75 to Rs 80 lakh. But the after-sale services do not keep with the company’s manufacturing or selling standards,” said M Nagaraju Yadav, chairman, BMTC.

“Why look at us like a travel agency, we are a state-run public transport company and there is a need for a social obligation and commitment from the service provider to address the issue on priority,” Yadav said.

Another senior BMTC official said, “Volvo’s technical staff refuse to even touch the buses, stating that the high-tech engines have been tampered with by the BMTC maintenance staff who are careless about even changing engine oils, that according to the Volvo technicians are substandard and cause glitches.”

“Around 45 buses out of these 85 have manufacturing defects and these are not caused by regular wear and tear,” said another staff.

“Usually a Volvo bus enters the garage for detailed servicing, maintenance and other wear and tear repairs after running 8 lakh to 10 lakh km, but most of the buses have not run the distance.”

“The spares that are very expensive are not locally available and we have to depend on Volvo technicians for everything.”

According to BMTC’s operational staff, Volvo gives good service for KSRTC buses, but when it comes to BMTC, it takes a backseat – reason being BMTC buses are driven in dense city traffic conditions and are more likely to have wear and tear than KSRTC’s Volvo buses, which mainly run long distances.

“Why is the premier company showing double standards when it comes to servicing and maintenance of vehicles?” Yadav said.

Ekroop Caur, Managing Director, BMTC, is in touch with the global head of Volvo to address the issue. “A particular lot of around 300 Volvo buses has one defect or the other, and mostly, because they are becoming older. I am in touch with Hakan Agnevall, the global head of Volvo, and have asked him to take up servicing and maintenance of buses as a drive and resolve the issues on priority basis. In principle, they have agreed to do it free of cost,” she said.