Mumbai: 10 of 12 fatal accidents of BEST's wet-leased buses in 2024-25 involve Olectra vehicles

Mumbai: Olectra electric buses were involved in 10 of the 12 fatal accidents of wet-leased buses in civic-run BEST's fleet in the current financial year, officials said on Thursday.

On December 9, an Olectra bus went out of control on an arterial road in Mumbai's Kurla West area and rammed into several vehicles, killing seven and injuring more than 40 persons.

Of the 12 fatal accidents in 2024-25, eight involved 12-metre long electric buses from EVEY TRANS, while two each belonged to Olectra Greentech and Tata Motors, as per data from Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking.

The December 9 accident involved a 12-metre Olectra bus registered with EVEY TRANS.

According to sources, insufficient training of drivers of wet-leased buses may be among the major reasons for the accidents involving vehicles from BEST's fleet, with many of them getting just 15 days' training against the 3-month course provided to the undertaking's own drivers.

Drivers of wet-leased buses are provided by the operator and are not BEST staffers.

BEST officials said the undertaking has more than 700 electric buses hired on wet lease from Tata Motors, Switch Mobility (double deckers) and Olectra. These comprise 340 from Tata Motors, 315 from Olectra and 50 from Switch Mobility.

Currently, BEST's fleet consists of 2,913 buses, comprising 1,013 owned buses and 1,900 wet-leased buses. Of the wet-leased buses, 705 are electric ones while 1,195 run on fossil fuels and are sourced from two wet-lease operators, the officials added.

EVEY TRANS and Olectra Greentech are subsidiaries of electric bus manufacturer Olectra, they said.

Earlier, Olectra Greentech provided 40 nine-meter long buses, and this year, EVEY TRANS supplied 275 twelve-meter long electric buses, the official informed.