Bus crash: BEST to make breath analyser test must for drivers; meets with private operators held

Mumbai: Mumbai's civic transport body BEST will make breath analyser test mandatory for drivers in the wake of the Kurla crash as officials on Wednesday met private operators who supply buses to government agencies, and affirmed to focus on driver training and take extra safety steps.

Two days after an out of control Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking electric bus rammed into pedestrians and vehicles in suburban Kurla (W), killing seven persons and injuring 42 others, officials held meetings with private operators who supply buses under the wet lease model.

At the meetings, the private operators were asked to provide details of training given to drivers, their appointment criteria, training infrastructure and modules, officials said.

Top officials of BEST and the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) presided over these meetings.

Under the wet lease model, responsibility of providing drivers and carrying out maintenance of hired buses remain with private contractors. State-run transport bodies, on their part, pay them a specific amount for the buses.

MSRTC chairman Bharat Gogawale conducted his meeting at the state-run transport body's headquarters at Mumbai Central, while BEST general manager Anilkumar Diggikar met private bus operators at the civic-run body's headquarters at Colaba.

Diggikar told PTI that representatives of all five private operators who have provided buses to BEST under the wet lease model were present at the meeting. Members of the committee appointed by BEST to investigate the Kurla accident were also in attendance.

"We are bringing uniformity in driver training, involving both on-wheel and simulation training, and also making breath analyser test (which measures amount of alcohol in blood) mandatory for every driver," Diggikar said.

He said at the meeting they tried to understand what kind of training each operator provides to their drivers and asked them to submit in writing what improvement they are going to brining in their current programme.

Their inputs will be analysed and then discussed with in-field experts, and directives will be given for a uniform training programme next week, the BEST general manager said.

Initially, it was suspected Sanjay More (54), who was the wheel of the ill-fated BEST bus, a 12-metre long electric vehicle, had consumed alcohol. It was also suspected that brakes of the bus had failed due to which it rammed into vehicles and pedestrians before crashing into a housing society wall.

After an inspection, RTO officials, however, said the brakes were working fine and the accident may have caused due to lack of proper training to the driver in steering electric buses.

In a release issued after the meeting, MSRTC said the corporation is going to focus on a three-point programme -- training of drivers, making their mental health strong and inducting technically faultless buses in its fleet.

The state-run body said currently it gives 6-month-long refresher training to its drivers and induct them in service after taking a test.

Electric bus manufacturing companies Olectra and Greencell have supplied AC luxury buses to MSRTC. The corporation daily ferries around 55 lakh passengers across Maharashtra with the help of their fleet of nearly 15,000 buses, including wet leased electric vehicles of private operators.