Kurla tragedy believed to be catalyst behind move; officials say commuters can look forward to improved efficiency
BEST bus driver Sanjay More outside the Kurla magistrate court. File pic
More than seven years after inducting its first electric bus, the civic-run BEST undertaking has started training drivers at the Dindoshi centre for changes in technology the vehicles come with, an official said on Sunday. The trigger apparently is the accident of a 12-metre electric bus on the congested SG Barve Marg in Kurla West on December 9, in which nine people died.
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The driver of the vehicle had been deployed since December 1 after just three days of training, which some experts claimed may have been the cause of the accident. They had flagged “human error”. A panel of experts appointed by BEST after the accident had recommended that private bus operators deploy a couple of e-buses to facilitate the training of drivers.
Most e-buses have automatic transmission and do not have a clutch like conventional manual transmission buses, the official said. “The Dindoshi facility is used to train drivers for diesel buses. Now, an old 12-metre e-bus from Olectra has been deployed for training purposes,” the official said.
“The induction of new e-buses, pending for the last three months, is now expected to begin. Due to this, 90 new buses were parked at Vikhroli and Ghatkopar depots. Sixty of these had been registered, while the process of the remaining is underway,” he added. This is expected to bring big relief to commuters.
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