Mumbai, Olectra buses have been concerned in 10 of the 12 deadly accidents of wet-leased electrical buses in civic-run BEST’s fleet within the present monetary 12 months, officers stated on Thursday. On December 9, an Olectra bus went uncontrolled on an arterial highway in Mumbai’s Kurla West space and rammed into a number of autos, killing seven and injuring greater than 40 individuals. Of the 12 deadly accidents of wet-leased e-buses, in 2024-25, eight concerned 12-metre lengthy electrical buses from EVEY TRANS, whereas two every belonged to Olectra Greentech and Tata Motors, as per information from Brihanmumbai Electrical Provide and Transport enterprise. The December 9 accident concerned a 12-metre Olectra bus registered with EVEY TRANS. Between April 1 and December 9 this 12 months, 106 accidents occurred involving BEST buses. Of those 79 concerned wet-leased buses and 27 have been of the enterprise’s buses. “Of the 79 accidents involving wet-leased buses, 20 were fatal ones , 48 serious and 11 were minor mishaps. Of the 27 accidents of self-owned buses, four were fatal, 21 serious and two were minor,” as per BEST information. The 106 accidents have been an increase from the 68 accidents in 2023-24 and 73 throughout 2022-23, information confirmed. In accordance with sources, inadequate coaching of drivers of wet-leased buses could also be among the many main causes for the accidents involving autos from BEST’s fleet, with lots of them getting simply 15 days’ coaching towards the 3-month course supplied to the enterprise’s personal drivers. Drivers of wet-leased buses are supplied by the operator and are usually not BEST staffers. Addressing a press convention, BEST Kamgar Sena president Suhas Samant claimed Olectra buses have poor braking mechanism, which was inflicting these accidents. “Sometimes the buses stop 20 metres after braking. The Kurla accident might have taken place due to this reason. A police case should be filed against BMC chief Bhushan Gagrani and BEST general manager Anil Diggikar as they are responsible for the current situation of BEST,” he alleged. The BEST Kamgar Sena is affiliated to the opposition Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray. A robust agitation will begin if no motion is taken towards these answerable for the Kurla accident in addition to the present deplorable scenario of BEST, Samant added. BEST officers stated the enterprise has greater than 700 electrical buses employed on moist lease from Tata Motors, Swap Mobility and Olectra. These comprise 340 from Tata Motors, 315 from Olectra and 50 from Swap Mobility. At the moment, BEST’s fleet consists of two,913 buses, comprising 1,013 owned buses and 1,900 wet-leased buses. Of the wet-leased buses, 705 are electrical ones whereas 1,195 run on fossil fuels and are sourced from two wet-lease operators, the officers added. EVEY TRANS and Olectra Greentech are subsidiaries of electrical bus producer Olectra, they stated. Earlier, Olectra Greentech supplied 40 nine-meter lengthy buses, and this 12 months, EVEY TRANS provided 275 twelve-meter lengthy electrical buses, the official knowledgeable.
Mumbai: 10 of 12 deadly accidents of BEST’s wet-leased e-buses in 2024-25 contain Olectra