This story is from September 1, 2017

Government puts brakes on unsafe buses

Government puts brakes on unsafe buses
CHENNAI: The Union road transport ministry has made ac creditation from approved testing and certificate agencies mandatory for bus building units across the country from September 1. And this would hit bus builders in the state hard.
“Of the 200 bus builders in TN, only five have accreditation. Defaulters would be barred from the business from September 1,“ said a senior official from the state transport department.
All 147 RTOs in the state have been instructed not to register vehicles built by unaccredited units.
This is one among the slew of reforms by the transport department aimed at improving road safety and reducing road accidents. More than 1,200 people have died in accidents caused by mechanical failures in vehicles since 2007, shows state government data.
In TN, bus building is largely carried out by small scale industries in Karur, Coimbatore, Salem and Madurai, besides suburban Chennai.“Most units do not adhere to safety norms. People's lives are put at risk,“ said the official. Nearly 2 crore people travel in buses every day .
In order to ensure that buses are built as per the stipulated safety norms, a `bus body code' was developed in 2010.According to it, every bus building unit will have to obtain accreditation certificate from Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune or Automotive Research Association of India to demonstrate their capabilities to build buses as per safety standards set by the central government.
This move was opposed by private bus body builders. Deadlines were extended and the final notification based on the revised bus building code was issued last month.

Welcoming the move, traffic expert Khader Ibrahim said private buses manufactured by small scale industries do not meet safety standards and cannot withstand minor collisions. “Some increase the fuel injection speed thereby making the buses more vulnerable to accidents,“ he said.
Not only private buses, some government buses built by such units also face similar issues. “There is no shock absorption facility in nearly half of the government-owned buses which prevents people from getting hurt during crashes,“ said Ibrahim. Of the 22,500 state transport buses, more than 17,000 run beyond the permissible limit, according to government data.
However, bus owners say mere implementation of bus code without providing user-friendly and safe roads with more fencing and barricades would not reduce the accident rate.
The cost of buses will go up with this notification as the accredited manufactures charge 15% to 20 % more than others, said A Afzal, managing director of Parveen Travels and president of Tamil Nadu Omni Bus Owners Association. On an average, it costs `12 lakh to build a bus body over the chassis purchased from the manufacturer through a dealer.
“It is going to be a costly affair for the public as the increase in investment would reflect in the ticket fare,“ said Afzal.
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