Mumbai: Good looks, low ground clearance, powerful rear engine and wheel chair friendly ? these are some of the reasons why Mumbai?s BEST bus service acquired nearly 30 Starbuses manufactured by Tata Motors.
But not everything below this spanking new red paint is top class.
When one of the latest acquisitions of the BEST caught fire on Tuesday morning, questions surrounding the operational difficulties and the safety of the bus came to the fore.
Broken glass littered the carpeted floor, the internal wiring was burnt and the plastic moulding melted when the bus caught fire.
Despite the fact that there was a fire extinguisher on the bus, no one used it to put out the fire.
ASO BEST Depot Wadala, Dattatreya Shelar, stated that the bus caught fire due to an electrical failure ? a short circuit.
?TATA Motors will repair or replace the bus. Talks are on at the management level,? he said.
The outer shell now standing at the Wadala Depot awaits investigators.
Drivers and other personnel operating the new Starbus have registered serious complaints claiming that the buses are inefficient besides being a drain on BEST?s exchequer.
However the incident has raised the serious issue of the practicality of using these sophisticated Starbuses on Mumbai's roads without giving training to the personnel handling them.
Officials at TATA Motors said that they were in the process of sorting out issues out with BEST but questions around the safety of the bus remain unanswered.
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