Drivers inadequately trained to operate e-buses?

Rajkot: A Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) city bus being operated by a private agency killed four people on Wednesday. Sources in the RMC said the civic body does not care how the agency operates once the contract is allotted. Drivers are not given proper training to drive these specially designed electric buses and are also made to work overtime.
The agency hires drivers and allows anyone who produces a licence to drive these e-buses. "Under this system, it is possible that a person driving a mini truck on village roads gets hired and is directly given an e-bus without any training. The RMC must check whether the contractor imparts training before handing drivers these buses and the lives of passengers," an RMC source said.
According to a source in the RMC, these e-buses have high-end features with many of the bus's workings being sensor-based. These specially designed buses do not have a clutch and have only a brake pedal and an accelerator pedal.
"The drivers may be habituated to deploying both the clutch and brake — using both feet as is normal in manual transmissions — when a vehicle suddenly appears before the bus. In these buses, the driver only needs to press the brake. This change requires training before someone can drive these buses on roads with heavy traffic," the source said.
He added, "From observing the bus's movements at the time of accident, it seems likely that the driver reacted sharply when a vehicle suddenly came before the bus and subconsciously used both feet. He may have then released only the foot on the brake, rather than the foot on the accelerator by accident."
These city buses are smaller than the GSRTC buses that ply on the same city roads at peak traffic hours. The GSRTC buses have much fewer accidents than city buses. Sources attribute this to the lack of training of the drivers.
Sources also said that in many cases, the contracted agencies force drivers to work overtime for 12 to 15 hours with just a two-hour break. The drivers use these two-hour breaks to fulfil social commitments. Having such drivers continue to work risks the lives of passengers.
Sources said the driver allegedly involved in Wednesday's accident, Shishupal Rana, had been driving RMC buses for four years and e-buses for about 18 months.
Speaking to mediapersons, Rajkot municipal commissioner Tushar Sumera said, "We are going to act against all those responsible for the city bus accident, including the driver and the agency. We are carrying out a detailed analysis to find the cause of this accident. We are committed to providing safe bus services to citizens."