The Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) hosted students from S1 to S4 from the English River school for a ‘safety’ visit in its workshop on Monday this week.
This activity was to show the students and their teacher the different security checks that take place before a bus leaves the depot.
SPTC has a fleet of 211 buses on Mahé and Praslin and at any given time there are approximately 100 buses on the roads.
The students were welcomed by chief engineer Ryen Samson and line manager Georges Commettant.
“The workshop is responsible for keeping passengers safe by ensuring that all vehicles are roadworthy. Safety checking is divided in sections – servicing which does monthly checks on all 211 buses for every component; brake test – ensuring the brakes are 100% reliable and the pre-trip where mechanics and drivers check the buses fully daily before the buses go on duty,” explained Mr Samson.
The students were able to visit and view the services offered by the tyre section, the servicing section, maintenance and repair, brake test station, auto-electrical section, overhaul section, machining section, and the fuel-injection pump section.
The students were particularly impressed when they went under the bus and they also liked viewing the gear box, functions of the brake tester, dismantling an engine, assembling an alternator and testing a fuel injector pump.
The second activity was a training for Driving Instructors. Fifteen driving instructors were invited to SPTC for a course in Road Safety Awareness with the aim of producing more safety aware drivers on Seychelles roads. The training was conducted by Terrence Amade, a SPTC driving instructor.
Accidents on the roads involving SPTC buses do happen and SPTC claims that despite having in excess of 100 buses on the road during operational hours, SPTC does not feature in the upper percentile of road accidents.
According to the Police, out of the 244 accidents recorded in October, there were only 9 accident alerts logged for accident and emergency response for SPTC.
SPTC also offers driver training to members of the public for a fee but takes in driver applicants for free driver training.
The chief executive of SPTC, Patrick Vel, shared that the SPTC Training School has had a key role to play in preventing road accidents and they have plans to develop the training programme even further to include more competencies.
The level of training received by SPTC drivers is unmatched, with drivers refreshing training yearly and the training programme being used to address customer complaints. SPTC is proud to note that despite having in excess of 100 buses on the road during operational hours the company rarely logs any major accidents and barely any fatalities.
The public is encouraged to call the hotline of SPTC 4325252 if ever they have any safety queries or to report an accident as the company does look into the complaints seriously.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of the students’ visit at the SPTC.
Source: Seychelles Nation