More than once, I've been cut off by a Metro bus pulling to the curb to drop off a passenger. It's bad driving, but nothing compared to the addlebrained recklessness shown by operators of India's Blueline buses.
The Blueline bus fleet has caused 103 deaths in India so far this year. The country's media calls them variously “killer buses” and “rogue buses,” names formerly bestowed on rampaging herds of elephants.
Official enforcement seems ineffective, so local residents are taking matters into their own hands. After the October 25 death of a cyclist who was run down by a speeding bus, a mob torched and gutted the bus as the operator fled.
103 deaths
The latest death, number 103, occurred when a bus ran over three people on the sidewalk outside a fruit juice shop near New Delhi. A mob stoned the bus. The operator, on a refueling run, was charged, as was the bus's regular driver for allowing the bus to be operated by an untrained operator.
In one case, 7 people were killed and several injured when a Blueline bus ran into a crowd waiting at a bus stop. Over the past year, Blueline buses also have hit autorickshaws, motorbikes, scooters and persons crossing the street. Commonly, the bus drivers flee after the accidents (which is probably for their own safety as they face a mob).
There are 3,800 Blueline buses that operate on the roads of Delhi, a city with a population of some 13 million. They're a critical part of the transportation framework for the city, which operates other bus systems. The Blueline's individual buses are licensed by the government and privately owned.
Tampering
Newspapers have reported that 826 Blueline buses in the city had speed governors that had been tampered with, and the High Court has demanded the city find a solution to the high death rate by Nov. 15.
Politicians are turning up the rhetoric too. The Hindu reports :
They lamented that while these killings went on unabated the Government did nothing to remove these killer buses from the roads and provide the city with a better alternative. They accused the Government of being hand in glove with the bus operators and not taking adequate measures to reduce the deaths in road accidents.
Of course there's two sides to every story. A New Delhi blogger who frequently rides the buses has seen many accidents that weren't the fault of the driver. People jaywalk, people jump off a moving bus, people laydown in front of the bus. Read more at “Blueline buses vs. Delhiites — Total Madness.”
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