Cyprus Public Transport, the bus company operating Nicosia and Larnaca’s new public transport system, has successfully conducted a thorough inspection of the company’s fleet, the company announced on Monday, following the call for an investigation by Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos last week.
The inspection was carried out by the departments of road transport and electrical and mechanical services, the company said.
Karousos requested the investigation on Friday, after a driverless bus moved backwards at the Anthoupolis bus station before stopping at a fence, the third such incident after the new system started its operation on July 5.
On July 13, just a week after the start of operations, a 52-year-old bus driver and father of three was killed by his bus in an incident that took place at a terminal in Engomi.
Police said the driver had got off his bus — for reasons that are being investigated — when the vehicle moved forward after he reportedly failed to engage the handbrake. The driver tried to stop the bus but was crushed.
“The inspection has proven that our company’s buses are fully compatible with all the necessary safety requirements and meet all the standards of the public transport sector,” Cyprus Public Transport (CPT) said in its announcement.
“Taking this opportunity, we formally state that we have so far completed three training seminars covering 100 per cent of our drivers in each of these last three weeks, whilst during the very last week, our drivers have been through one more training session,” the company said.
“In these mini seminars, in addition to theoretical and practical training on safety, we also provided our staff with specific instructions and safety manuals. These specific training sessions were particularly concerned with the use of the parking brake.”
The rest of the training covered everything from the way drivers behave to providing the proper assistance to people with special needs as well as training for the operational processes of the company, CPT stated.
“As a company, we take safety very seriously, so we will continue the intense education and training of our staff. We have also added additional signage for the drivers inside the buses so that they always have in mind the proper safety procedures of our vehicles.”
