Mumbai, Dec 12 (PTI) Olectra buses were involved in 10 of the 12 fatal accidents of wet-leased electric 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 of wet-leased e-buses, 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.
Between April 1 and December 9 this year, 106 accidents took place involving BEST buses. Of these 79 involved wet-leased buses and 27 were of the undertaking’s buses.
“Of the 79 accidents involving wet-leased buses, 20 were fatal ones (comprising 12 electric buses and eight others), 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 data.
The 106 accidents were a rise from the 68 accidents in 2023-24 and 73 during 2022-23, data showed.
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.
Addressing a press conference, BEST Kamgar Sena president Suhas Samant claimed Olectra buses have poor braking mechanism, which was causing 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 (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray.
A strong agitation will start if no action is taken against those responsible for the Kurla accident as well as the current deplorable situation of BEST, Samant added.
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. PTI KK BNM
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