THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a bid to ensure travel safety amid the expansion of its services, the KSRTC has introduced a comprehensive set of guidelines that focus on the provision of adequate rest to drivers. On Sunday, KSRTC CMD Biju Prabhakar directed all unit heads to ensure that a driver’s maximum work hours in a crew-change system should be limited to eight hours.
The drivers should be allowed adequate rest between two duties. They can take 30 minutes of rest after five hours of continuous driving. As per the guidelines, all long-distance night trips should follow the crew change system to reduce the number of fatigue-induced accidents. The unit heads will have to ensure that a proper resting place and other facilities are available for the crew.
Those who are part of the crew change system will also get Rs 100 as additional stay allowance. The crew shall continue with their duty after the rest period. The CMD also instructed the unit heads and the chief traffic officer to prepare a schedule on a trial basis for one month.
The KSRTC implemented the crew-change system in inter-state bus services from December 1, after a driver was killed in a fatigue-induced accident at Vyttila in Kochi on November 30. However, drivers have concerns regarding the practicality of the system.
"The crew will have to wait endlessly at the depot where the duty ends. If the crew change happens every four hours, they will be able to take return duty and thus complete the eight-hour working period," said a driver.
Most employees still prefer the driver-cum-conductor system to the crew-change system, because the former allowed them to take multiple shifts and the drivers got a chance to work as conductors. Though the KSRTC made attempts to revive the system after it lost two crew members in an accident in Kollam in August 2018, an adverse court order put the system in the backburner. The present CMD has said the driver-cum-conductor system would be revived.