For the first time since the launch of its own public transport authority in 2005, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) celebrated the “Drivers Day” by felicitating contractual drivers for their exemplary services on Friday.
Expressing gratitude for their excellent services and unblemished track record, municipal commissioner- Sanjay Katkar honoured the drivers including-Suhash Motherao for saving the life of an accident victim by timely admitting him to hospital, Prashant Salunkhe and Santosh Burute for showing their presence of mind in averting major mishaps owing to careless driving by drivers of other vehicles. Other drivers-Suraj Pawar, Sunil Kamble and Qassim Ali Syed were also felicitated on the occasion for their safe driving skills.
MBMC Celebrates Divers Day |
The recipients were given a bouquet of flowers, shawls and appreciation certificates. “Drivers shoulder the responsibility of safely helping reaching commuters to their destinations while keeping to the operating schedule for their routes and obeying traffic rules. This is our initiative to recognise the contribution of drivers which will be observed on this day every year.” said Katkar. The MBMC introduced its own public transport authority in the year 2005.
After operating bus services on its own for a couple of years, its public transport utility-Mira Bhayandar Municipal Transport (MBMT), adopted the Public-Private-Partnership format and inked a 10-year pact in 2010 with Ulhasnagar based company which agreed to pay a royalty of Re.1 per km.
Currently, the fleet comprises 131 buses including 74 diesel-fuelled and 57 electric-powered vehicles operating on around 30 routes in and out of the twin-city. While 270 drivers have been recruited by the two contractual agencies, the MBMC only deploys conductors to collect revenue through ticket sales under the wet-leased gross cost contract (GCC) model.
In addition to the regular training sessions and periodic random drug and alcohol testing of drivers, the civic administration had recently conducted a fresh retest and medical examination with the help of professionally qualified agencies to ensure that drivers are physically fit and are up-to-date on the latest road safety regulations, safe driving techniques and emergency response procedures.
