Bus brake wrongly applied: STA
The handbrake of a bus that rolled down an embankment and onto a railway line in Sydney last week was applied incorrectly but did not fail, the State Transit Authority (STA) says.
Acting STA chief executive Peter Rowley has rejected a report by News Ltd today that the brake was applied correctly by the female driver but failed because of poor maintenance.
“The camera clearly showed that the driver did attempt to put on the handbrake, but it also showed that she failed to lock it in place,” Mr Rowley told Macquarie Radio today.
“This particular bus was inspected after the incident - and the Office of Transport Safety Investigations witnessed this investigation - and the handbrake fully complied.”
Mr Rowley said the brake needed to lock in place before it operated, and the driver had failed to ensure this had happened.
However, he said, the driver, who had been with the STA for seven years, was a good employee who did not need to be disciplined.
“This is about reissuing the instruction to her, give her some more training and welcome her back on the job with open arms,” he said.
News Ltd reported today that CCTV footage had revealed the handbrake had been pulled correctly.
It also said 18 STA buses had been operating daily school and commuter services in Sydney with broken handbrakes.
An audit by a State Transit mechanic, obtained by the Herald, initially found 20 of 85 buses at the Willoughby depot had a fault and that four had “failed”.
Mr Rowley said an RTA accredited inspector had cleared all buses on Monday, but he described four as “marginal”.
“Every bus that was inspected on the weekend complied with RTA regulations,” he said.
“Some were a bit marginal and probably would have needed replacing in the near future, so we took the precautionary step and replaced them last weekend.”
source:smh
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