Minor breakdowns spoil run of low-floor buses,drivers blame rear engine design

Though the occupancy rate of the new Tata low-floor buses is more than 100 per cent,the company is yet to fix the reoccurring snags.

Though the occupancy rate of the new Tata low-floor buses is more than 100 per cent,the company is yet to fix the reoccurring snags. Minor breakdowns have not stopped ever since the buses started plying on city roads.

While Tata,under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme,was to handover 100 such low-floor buses to the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking,only 33 have been received so far.

Sources said the officials were checking and rechecking the bus for any faults,so that they could be rectified in time.

While a bus broke down in a week after being launched,another broke down at the Sector16-22 Chowk on Friday.

While passengers had to look for other modes of conveyance,the driver said the bus was not speeding up. Since the bus could not be taken away by crane,a couple of mechanics had to be called on the spot to rectify the fault.

Sources in the CTU claimed frequent breakdowns were mainly because of the engines being placed in the rear of the bus. They said they were really huge and the buses were unable to take the load.

Former CTU Union leader Raniit Singh said,Around 14 such buses were started in 2003,when Jacob was the Governor here,but those buses are lying at the workshop for the last four years. As far as these new buses are concerned,they might be better but the basic point is that they are not suited for Indian roads. The engine of such buses gets disturbed easily because of any foreign particle.

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Meanwhile,the CTU officials claim nothing is wrong with the buses and the breakdown is within permissible limits.

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