Mumbai Kurla Bus Accident: Brake failure, lack of training, or intentional? What caused the deadly accident claiming 7 lives

Seven people lost their lives, and 42 others sustained injuries on Monday night when a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) electric bus collided with pedestrians and vehicles in Kurla. The incident occurred at around 9:30 p.m. on S G Barve Marg, involving an Olectra-manufactured electric bus.

Kural Bus Accident: Investigation rules out brake failure

Following an inspection, the Wadala Regional Transport Office (RTO) dismissed brake failure as the cause of the accident. According to Bharat Jadhav, motor vehicle inspector leading the investigation, the bus’s brakes and other critical systems, including headlights, were found to be functioning normally.

“When the RTO team inspected the bus, it found its brakes were working fine,” an unnamed RTO official told PTI. Further details from Olectra and BEST have been requested before finalizing the report.


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Mumbai BEST bus accident: Inexperience cited as possible cause

The bus driver, Sanjay More, aged 54, was arrested shortly after the accident. Preliminary findings suggest his lack of experience with automatic transmission electric buses may have contributed to the crash. Unlike manual buses with clutch and gear systems, the 12-meter-long electric bus uses an automatic transmission, which can affect a driver’s judgment of acceleration and braking.

“If a driver doesn’t have experience driving an automatic transmission bus, he doesn’t get proper judgment of acceleration and braking initially. Hence, it seems human error may have caused the accident,” the RTO official added.

Mumbai BEST Accident: Sequence of events captured on CCTV

The accident was recorded on the bus’s CCTV cameras, which showed that the crash unfolded within 52 to 55 seconds. The bus traveled 400 to 450 meters after hitting the first vehicle, ultimately crashing into a compound wall of a housing society. Officials suspect the driver panicked after the initial collision and accidentally accelerated instead of braking.

Mumbai bus accident Kurla: Conflicting accounts on driver training

Sanjay More had been operating smaller Tempo Traveller buses for BEST since 2020. He joined duty for electric buses on December 1, 2024, after being employed by a Pune-based agency. BEST’s general manager, Anil Diggikar, stated that More received three days of induction training. However, More’s son, Deep More, claimed his father underwent nine to ten days of training.

A retired RTO official highlighted the operational differences between automatic electric buses and traditional manual buses. “The automatic transmission electric buses do not have air-assisted braking systems, and it takes time to get used to driving them. It is a human error probably caused by lack of knowledge,” the official explained.

Maharashtra Transport Commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar confirmed that the RTO conducted the inspection in line with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). “Our team has investigated the bus as per the set SOP for inspecting the bus,” he said. A final report from Olectra’s engineers and the RTO will be submitted to Mumbai police to conclude the investigation.