Mumbai: Shaken by Monday’s crash in Kurla — the worst ever involving one of its buses — BEST has announced measures aimed at skilling drivers and increasing vigilance. Steps proposed include compulsory use of breathalysers before boarding and alighting buses for drivers and simulator-based and on-field training covering all variants, including automatic EVs.
BEST GM Anil Diggikar, who met with lease contractors on Wednesday, told TOI he also wants to regulate the speed of buses. “While one contractor has a speed limit of 75 kmph, another says it is 45. I will sit with the RTO and traffic police and enforce a speed limit which will ensure safety of pedestrians and other vehicles,” he said.
Brake failure has been ruled out in Monday’s crash, a source close to the team supervising the bus inspection said. Attributing the crash to “human error”, the source said the bus had a fitness certificate and “no technical issue” had been reported. Police have taken custody of CCTV clips from inside the bus to study the sequence of events leading up to the accident.
The Kurla bus crash has led to BEST planning steps such as breathalyser tests and simulator-based training for its drivers.
The bus which rammed into several vehicles and citizens on Monday night at Kurla was an automatic e-vehicle. The driver, Sanjay More, told police that “his experience was in driving buses with gear and he was not comfortable operating the automatic vehicle”.
Acknowledging the need to train drivers on e-buses with automatic transmission at its Dindoshi centre, BEST general manager Anil Diggikar said: “We will procure two e-AC buses from contractors with automatic transmission for our training centre.”
Diggikar said a dual training programme — one by private contractors utilising the latest buses at depots, followed by secondary training by BEST at Dindoshi — would be finalised. “Whether this should be 7 days or 2-3 months training will be finalised by me by next Monday,” he said.
Since contractors own the buses and use drivers with two years’ experience, the latter should be trained by them on new buses as well, Diggikar added. He said simulator-based training would be mandatory for all drivers besides the use of breathalysers at all depots for those taking buses out or returning from a trip.
Diggikar questioned the private contractor for the Kurla bus and directed him to provide details on driver More, and the training provided to him. He said training expenses and supervision will continue to be the responsibility of contractors while BEST will supplement training and familiarise the drivers on routes and traffic rules for approximately a week using two new electric AC buses (AT).
Western India Automobile Association’s Nitin Dossa said BEST drivers can utilise the simulators at WIAA for training as a similar programme was conducted for MSRTC drivers previously.
An RTO official, requesting anonymity, recommended a six-month probation for all drivers, including training on various kinds of buses in the fleet so that they can be deployed on different variants. “Also, there should be refresher courses for drivers periodically to test their skills, eyesight, health issues etc. Drivers should also be counselled for any mental health issues.”
A retired BEST official said drivers should also be paid good salaries as incentives since a monthly pay of Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 may not attract experienced and steady hands.
Meanwhile, a BEST bus had a minor collision with a parked bike in Goregaon on Wednesday. Nobody was injured in the incident, BEST PRO said.
