More space, better safety in Tamil Nadu's new private bus fleet

CHENNAI: Commuters travelling on select routes including Vellore-Gingee and Vellore-Avalurpettai in private buses have been enjoying better travel comfort compared to commuters in rest of the Tamil Nadu, thanks to newly built buses as per the standard code Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 052.

The Union government had earlier made it mandatory for both state-owned and private bus body-building units to obtain the Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 052 code, uniform standard code for building new buses introduced by the Automotive Research Association Of India (ARAI).

To this effect, the Union government amended the Central Motor Vehicle Order (Accreditation of Bus Body Builders) in 2012, and it came into effect in August 2015. While the state government is yet to build new buses as per specifications prescribed in the AIS 052 code, private bus operators have begun to replace their buses with the newly introduced standard code.

P Rangasamy Motor Service (PRMS), a private transport company, has introduced three buses built as per the uniform code on ordinary mofussil bus routes, Vellore - Avalurpettai, Vellore - Gingee and Melmaruvathur-Tiruvannamalai.

According to the code, the total number of seats has been reduced to 49 from 51 to create more space for passengers. Four seats in second last row, located straight opposite rear stairs of the bus, have been removed to enable passengers to approach the emergency door easily. The last row is also provided ample space for passengers who are above six feet tall to sit comfortably. In addition, five seats near the driver have also been reduced to three seats.

The emergency window on the rear side is accessible from both inside and outside the bus. Besides, the bus has got two emergency glass windows – one straight opposite the front stair and the one adjacent to driver.

The design of the bus windows have been changed permanently to sliding windows. The gang space of bus in the centre is also reduced and seat thickness has been increased.S Sankaran, a bus commuter from Arani, said the ordinary mofussil buses had never provided travel comfort on a par with omnibuses. “Three people are able to sit comfortably and there is more leg space. The bus has to run with the limited passengers and conductors cannot dump more passengers during rush hour,” he added.

However, the move has not gone down well with bus owners. The body-building cost of the bus has increased by Rs 1 lakh due to additional provisions, besides reducing the per day collection.Ayyappa Kumar, proprietor of PRMS bus company, said the ticket collection had slightly reduced during rush hour as the carrying capacity was less compared to previous bus model.