Bengaluru's electric buses: Rising accidents raise safety concerns amid outsourced drivers

Time of India

7 days ago

Once seen as a green solution for the city,
Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation
(BMTC) electric-buses are now earning a deadly reputation as accidents surge. The reason many is that many of these buses have untrained, outsourced drivers hired under the Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model.
Electric buses were introduced by BMTC to offer a clean, green alternative to Bengaluru's chaotic traffic. But the deadly accidents they are involved in has put them under scrutiny. In the past 14 months alone, over 15 accidents involving e-buses have claimed 14 lives, turning what was meant to be an eco-friendly blessing into a growing public safety concern.
Sources within BMTC and transport unions point to a root cause: Outsourcing of drivers under the GCC model, where private companies operating e-buses are allowed to appoint their own drivers.
Most of these drivers, insiders say, lack sufficient experience—many are former truck drivers or newly licenced individuals, who are unfamiliar with handling large passenger vehicles in city traffic.
Risky ride
BMTC introduced electric buses under the Smart City, FAME-II, and FAME-III schemes. Currently, 1,469 e-buses operate under this system, generating a daily revenue of around ₹1.89 crore. However, these buses are not driven by BMTC's trained drivers. Instead, private operators deploy their own recruits, often offering lower wages and compromising on training standards.
'Many of the drivers appointed by the contractors are either driving buses for the first time or come from non-passenger driving backgrounds,' a senior BMTC official admitted. 'This lack of experience is evident in the rising number of mishaps.'
BMTC insiders reveal that trip completion pressure is intense on these drivers. While regular BMTC buses have a route cancellation rate of less than 2 per cent, e-buses see up to 10 per cent cancellations, amounting to 2,000–3,000 km of lost trips per day. Battery issues and charging delays add to the chaos. What's worse, drivers face pay cuts if they return to the depot even five minutes late or early. This punitive policy, drivers say, forces them to drive fast and recklessly to meet unrealistic time targets, often endangering commuters.
Helpline complaints against BMTC's e-bus drivers are on the rise, with passengers reporting issues like rash driving, skipping stops, phone use while driving, and misbehaviour. A senior official admitted that most recent complaints involve e-buses, indicating a deeper problem with driver conduct and safety standards.
With accident numbers and passenger complaints rising, transport unions and citizen activists are now demanding that BMTC itself should appoint and train drivers for all e-buses, regardless of the GCC model. 'You can outsource buses, not safety,' a union leader said.
As Bengaluru continues to expand its electric fleet, the question remains: At what cost is the city moving towards green mobility—especially when lives are at stake?