Tatas fined Rs 4 crore for DTC bus fires

[n.devdath]

Tata does a U-turn on its 'bad road' stance

The TOI published this article today:

"
This is, perhaps, the mother of all U-turns. After drawing flak from Delhi government for its statement about how bad roads, and not faulty maintenance, was causing fires and smokes in its buses, Tata Motors has written to the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) denying it had ever said so.

Tata Motors had in a statement on December 15 sought support from DTC asking it to monitor the routes and see to it that low-floor buses are plied on roads appropriate for such vehicles. In a letter to DTC MD Naresh Kumar on December 16, the company said: ‘‘Please find enclosed a copy of the press release issued by our company, M/s Tata Motors Limited, regarding maintenance of low-floor buses of DTC in Delhi. From the said press release, it is clear that we have not mentioned anything about road conditions.”

The latest letter, transport department sources say, came after the government reportedly asked them to name the stretches where their buses were purportedly being damaged. Though transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely refused to comment on the company’s denial to DTC, speaking to television channels on Tuesday, he made no secret of his displeasure about the remark on city roads. ‘‘The company might as well issue a statement as to which country they are making their buses for, because our roads are the best in the country. If they think their buses are being damaged because of road conditions, they are not making buses for India.’’

With incidents of smoke billowing out from the engine occurring at an alarming pace, the corridors of the transport department are buzzing with speculation about ‘‘sabotage’’, something that Lovely neither confirmed nor denied. ‘‘We have given the company 45 days to check their fleet,’’ he said.

The minister admitted that maintenance of low-floor buses did not seem foolproof, but said it was normal for ‘‘5-10% of any bus fleet to develop snags on any given day. “But we are concerned about the Tata buses because apart from the maintenance, there is one snag - that of the wheel getting jammed.’’

Transport department sources say it is only now that Tata has put together its manpower for maintenance after the company was pulled up after a low-floor bus caught fire in March. ‘‘Earlier, the company had two managers for one depot and about 30-40 people taking care of 100 buses. Now, there is an engineer for every depot, a regional manager and 125 people for every 100 buses,’’ said an official."

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by srishiva

The buses that TATA operate (marco polo) look awful compared to the Volvos here.

Even in Chennai these Marco polos have started emerging as public carriers.

Even the previous generation buses which had body building done by some unbranded company looked better.

[srishiva]

The ordinary buses painted blue from TATA Marco Polo look good. The ones which are supposed to compete with Volvos are filthy with black smoke painting the rear part of the bus black

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

OT:
" Each low-floor AC bus was bought for Rs 60 lakh and the non-AC ones for Rs 50 lakh. "

Whopping disparity of price there, between AC and non-AC models.

The AC ones have a bigger engine and gearbox, apart from the AC unit itself. Non AC have Cummins B series 5.9 litre engine while AC ones have Cummins C series 8.3 litre engine.

Originally Posted by coldice4u

As far as i can remember TATA had either bought over Marcopolo or had picked up significant stake in the coach building company(Brazilian i guess as someone had pointed out).

Tata had acquired controlling stake in Hispano Carrocera SA, the Spanish coach manufacturer. Marcopolo was neither acquired nor Tata has a stake in the Brazilian company. Tata has an Indian JV with Marcopolo, called Tata Marcopolo Motors Ltd. (TMML) in which Tata holds 51% stake.