BENGALURU: Over the past few days, the state-run Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Two accidents involving BMTC buses were reported on Monday alone. In Malleswaram, a two-wheeler rider was killed by a BMTC bus at 6.30am. In another incident, a BMTC bus hit the median near Thirumagondanahalli, close to Bommasandra on Hosur Road at 8.50am, leaving the conductor injured.
“In Malleswaram, a two-wheeler rider suddenly came from a cross-road and the driver swerved the bus to save him, but couldn’t avert the accident. In Thirumagondanahalli, the driver lost control and hit the median. In both cases, over-speeding appears to have led to the accidents, but investigation is on. In fact, the driver who was involved in the Thirumagondanahalli accident was earlier warned for over-speeding,” said a BMTC official.
On Friday, 25 passengers had a narrow escape after a BMTC bus (KA-57 F1592) caught fire near Makkalakoota signal, close to KR Market, reportedly due to a short circuit. Officials said probe is on.
According to BMTC records, the number of bus breakdowns in the city increased from 1,243 in 2018-19 to 1,284 in 2019-20. However, the number of accidents involving BMTC buses reduced from 286 in 2018-19 to 224 in 2019-20.
BMTC managing director V Anbu Kumar said: “The Thirumagondanahalli accident was due to negligence of the driver and we have decided to take action against him. We have also checked the visuals of the Malleswaram accident. The two-wheeler rider entered the road without checking for other vehicles on the main road, but the bus too was over-speeding, so the driver also couldn’t save him. We condemn both accidents and will take suitable action.”
Kumar said they are running 5,500 buses covering 50,000 trips and 10 lakh km a day. “The number of accidents involving BMTC buses is less than 1%. We will train our staff to reduce accidents. Around 2,000 buses from the current fleet have covered 8 lakh km. We will scrap these aged buses next year, once they touch 9 lakh km. The bus catching fire was a rare instance. Though it had nothing to do with maintenance, we have decided to take the matter seriously,” he added.
Lack of maintenance
A BMTC driver on condition of anonymity, said: “There was no focus on maintenance of buses for the past two years, especially after Covid-19 hit. Many over-aged buses are still running. There is also shortage of spare parts due to financial crunch. But drivers are often made scapegoats for these accidents, even though many of them are due to brake failures.”
Sources said many drivers are often stressed to complete trips on time, due to which they tend to over-speed and drive recklessly. There have been many complaints about brake lights of buses not working.
Damages & cost
Statistics show BMTC’s average vehicle damage losses between 2012 and 2016 stood at around Rs 1.8 crore per year, while legal fees and compensations paid from 2012 to 2016 came to Rs 9 crore annually. With BMTC having taken an exemption from paying vehicle insurance, the transport corporation has to bear costs of compensation payouts from its own kitty.
