Public transportation around the world: India's Blueline buses dubbed "killer buses"
India's Blueline buses have killed over 100 people so far this year, giving rise to a newspaper nickname: "killer buses." Traffic accident rates in India are the second worse in the world (China is #1 with 600 deaths a day) but Indian buses are getting attention because they are on top of the traffic pecking order: pedestrians are the lowest, then bikers and cars, then buses that don't signal lane changes and only stop for cows, a sacred animal for many Indians.The buses reportedly have corrupt owners, and are driven by untrained and over worked drivers. "They drive for 12 to 14 hours a day. ... no system of training, the buses are not maintained properly" says Rohit Baluja, president of the Institute of Road Traffic Education, a non-profit road safety organization. The Gate says a quarter of the buses are owned by police and family members of prominent politicians, and owners bribe the traffic cops to turn a blind eye to infractions.
While there are protests and calls for regulation, even family of the victims still take the buses because of the very low 25 cent fare.
[Source: BBC News, SF Gate]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Throwback 11:25AM (12/26/2007)
Having visited India on business I can confirm their buses are disaster, as are the trains. Not to mention the amount of smog the spew out. Many rickshaws however have been converted to compressed natural gas, or propane, not sure which. They don't spew large amounts of black smoke and are actually fun to ride in. In a sort of terrifying, exhilarating sort of way kind of like sky diving.
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Tush 11:29AM (12/27/2007)
Throwback:In the bigger cities, most of the government vehicles run on CNG, not propane.
I think the train system is pretty decent, actually. One can get pretty much all over the country relatively cheaply with the trains.
I was in Mumbai this summer, and there was always an article in the newspaper about that damn blueline.
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