Nairobi News

News

NTSA’s tough conditions to Modern Coast buses before lifting suspended license

By Amina Wako December 14th, 2019 2 min read

The National Transport and Safety Authority has given Modern Coast bus company tough conditions to adhere to before the authority can lift the suspension of licenses of their buses.

On Thursday, NTSA suspended the license of Modern Coast following an accident involving two of their buses on Mombasa-Nairobi highway on Thursday morning.

The fatal accident at Kiongwani in Makueni County left seven people dead and 60 others injured.

According to a statement by George Njao, the Director General NTSA, official from Modern coast and the authority held a meeting on Friday.

“Earlier today, NTSA and Modern Coast Express Limited Officials held a meeting to discuss events that led to the Fatal Crash involving two of the Company’s buses where 7 innocent lives were lost. After deliberations, several conditions were set out for the Company to comply with before the Authority considers any request to lift the suspension,” the statement read.

The conditions outlined by the authority included compliance with all the requirements of the PSV Regulations, inspection of the 85 serviceable Modern Coast buses and the authority to conduct a road safety training for all the company’s 182 drivers and 93 conductors.

NTSA also asked the bus company to prepare and submit all existing road safety policies that govern the company, including a Fatigue Management Policy.

The company will also be required to undertake an internal evaluation of its policies and procedures and submit a report to the authority within 14 days.

The evaluation is expected to include findings and observations on irregularities observed in breach of the PSV Regulations and a comprehensive correction action plan with implementation timelines.

While suspending the services of the bus on Thursday, Njao said NTSA had been monitoring the operations of the bus service following reports of several near fatal crashes in the recent days.

“Over the last couple of days, the authority has been monitoring the operations of Modern Coast Bus Express Limited following reports of several near fatal crashes,” NTSA said in the statement.