Kochi: For long, drivers at the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) were demanding driver-cum-conductor posts on inter-state services such as Ernakulam-Bangalore citing exhausting duty hours that could compromise on safety. After a spate of mishaps involving multi-axle luxury buses, the corporation is finally on course to implement the system which is already there in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
“Under the system, two persons will be deployed on a single bus. They can take turns to be at the wheels on long haul trips like Bangalore. We’re planning driver-cum-conductors in all inter-state services having online reservation facility,” a senior officer said. A delegation of KSRTC officers has gone to Karnataka to study its implementation and various other factors like the financial liability if any.
Another team from the operations department will travel to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on July 12. Meanwhile, the officer said the system would have been implemented long back but for the opposition from the conductors’ unions. “Currently promotion to senior posts is limited to conductors alone. If implemented, the drivers too will be eligible for the same.”
Unlike Karnataka or Tamil Nadu buses, it’s a single driver who now pilots the Ernakulam-Bangalore services and has to work for 14 hours at a stretch without rest. Corporations of the neighbouring states have already deployed driver-cum-conductors on their inter-state night services.
“There is always the risk factor when a single driver stays awake all night and drives the vehicle for 14 hours,” said A. S. Boban, the KSRTC driver who was suspended earlier for “taking rest” during a Bangalore-Ernakulam trip which delayed the service. “In the same service by the Karnataka corporation, it’s the conductor who drives the 120-km Salem-Hosur stretch which gives the driver some rest. Also, we’ve to return after just eight hours' stay there,” he added.
