The management committee members of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking expressed their discontent on the management for taking action against BEST drivers driving above at a speed above 45 kmph.
In January, the BEST unveiled its new 'Command and Control' room at the Wadala Depot. The control room is equipped with all the smart features including an Intelligent Traffic Monitoring System (ITMS) which allows the officials to monitor the movement and ETA of the bus. As a result, in each bus a special Bus Tracking System (BTS) device has been installed, which also lets tracking of the speed limit in the BEST control room.
Senior BEST committee member Sunil Ganacharya said that last week, 74 BEST drivers of Bandra Depot were called by the management for driving their buses in a speed limit, above 45 km/hour.
"This is absolutely unjustifiable, driving the buses at a slow speed will not just lead to increased fuel consumption, but will also delay their arrival in the destination," Ganacharya told FPJ.
"This is an added pressure in the minds of BEST drivers, which distracts them also," he added. Ganacharya also brought the issue last week during the BEST committee meeting.
However officials in the undertaking mentioned, this is not any new rule and have been there for a long time since the management wanted to curb rash driving.
"If the rule was there, then why did the management call the drivers last week? This only after ITMS was introduced the management started to scrutinise the speed limit," said the committee member.