A meeting of SYBOC held on Sunday took this decision. A fleet of 280 buses owned by SYBOC were off the valley´s roads since February 16, the day after one of its buses (Ba 2 Kha 593) ran over pedestrians in Chabahil, killing a woman and injuring four others. One of those injured had also succumbed to her injuries within 24 hours of the mishap. [break]
SYBOC had urged all of its drivers to remain off the roads, foreseeing possible mob attacks. In the aftermath of the last mishap alone, angry mobs had torched four SYBOC buses -- three in Chabahil and one in Hadigaun -- and vandalized three others. In the last six months, eight of SYBOC buses have been set ablaze by irate locals. Six persons have lost their lives and 12 seriously injured in various road accidents involving SYBOC in the period.
Following the latest accident, the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) had asked SYBOC to temporarily halt its services.
In a bid to prevent accidents in the days to come, SYBOC has made some arrangements. “We underwent a series of through discussions to find our faults,” said Rajendra Rimal, president of SYBOC. “We realized that we are responsible for accidents to an extent.” SYBOC has started issuing identity cards to its drivers. “Earlier, our member entrepreneurs used to employ drivers on their own, irrespective of how they obtained their licenses,” Rimal said, adding, “it is possible that some drivers had fake licenses.”
According to Rimal, SYBOC will handover licenses of its all drivers to MTPD, once it is done with issuing identity cards.
As a precautionary measure to prevent further accidents, SYBOC will issue drivers´ identity cards, examine licenses, fix speed limit, set up check points along the ring road, build speed breakers and keep personal records of the drivers.
“If there remains not a single driver holding fake licenses, chances of mishaps will hopefully decrease,” he argues. Besides, as he points out, issuing identity cards will make drivers more responsible. “We are collecting their bio-data,” he said. “It will make them feel that they can not flee after accidents.” In some past incidents, drivers have fled the accident site, leaving no traces.
SYBOC has also decided to set up check points with its inspectors at six different locations -- Kalanki, Satdobato, Koteshwar, Gaushala, Chabahil and Machhapokhari --along the ring road to supervise its buses and drivers. They will not let SYBOC drivers to overtake any other vehicles. “Our drivers will be driving at an average speed of 20 km/ hour,” Shiva Ram Adhikari, secretary at SYBOC, said.
In addition, SYBOC will build speed breakers at several points along the ring road in coordination of MTPD and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). “We are ready to bear all expenses for this,” Adhikari said.
SYBOC buses will be seen on the streets with different colors. “The color uniformity will no more exist,” Adhikari said. “Entrepreneurs associated with SYBOC are free to choose the color of their choice.”
SYBOC has claimed to have incurred a loss of about Rs 2.4 million in the last eight days. “We lose Rs 300,000 in a day if we stay off the roads,” Adhikari said.
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