Thursday’s incident of a King Long bus catching fire, caused by a worker who forgot his seat inside the engine cabinet, has put the spotlight on the substandard maintenance of these buses.
Thursday’s incident of a King Long bus catching fire, caused by a worker who forgot his seat inside the engine cabinet, has put the spotlight on the substandard maintenance of these buses. Poor staff strength at workshops and a lack of skilled workers is affecting their routine upkeep.
The BEST has a fleet of 272 King Long buses. Experts said that the buses give an excellent service in the first year but then begin to age fast. They come to India from China in damaged boxes and are assembled here. Workers with knowledge of maintaining these buses are few, and training is going on at a slow pace.
Experts have pointed out that other public transport utilities have discarded the King Long buses. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), which runs the second biggest fleet of buses in the country, withdrew them in 2010 after one caught fire on the Pune-Mumbai route. Sources said public transport undertakings in Andhra Pradesh have also rejected the buses. These buses have often developed technical faults in the past, resulting in fires.
The BEST, too, has put on hold the procurement of new King Long buses and ordered an inspection of the existing ones. However, experts believe the undertaking is playing with public safety and that these buses should be suspended from service. According to BEST managers, such a move will drastically affect services.
“We have set up a special maintenance unit for these buses at Kala Killa and will inspect them. But withdrawing them will lead to service and route problems,” a senior official said.
The Automotive Research Association of India in Pune is presently studying the issue. While no representative from the Kinglong firm was available for comments, ARAI deputy director Arun B Komawar told DNA:
“The MSRTC has approached us about this issue and the matter is under process. The BEST can also send us a similar proposal.”
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