Noida: A week after nine passengers were killed when a sleeper bus caught fire on the Yamuna Expressway, private buses were still being spotted carrying excess cargo — including motorcycles stuffed into luggage boots, placed in carrier spaces or strapped to roofs with ropes and tarpaulin. The permitted luggage limit is 15 kg per passenger. For a sleeper bus carrying 50 passengers, that translates to 750 kg of luggage. A single motorcycle, however, can weigh anywhere between 160 kg and 320 kg.TOI spotted buses carrying multiple bikes, even tyres, in their luggage compartments, even as the traffic department launched a crackdown on overloaded buses from Sept 28 across Noida, Ghaziabad and 14 other divisions in UP.Excess weight shifts the bus’s centre of gravity, making it prone to toppling, rolling over or failing to respond correctly on sharp turns. Traffic police checked 1,003 buses between Sept 27 and 29, examining emergency exits, CCTV cameras, fire safety equipment, curtains and black film, besides conducting drunk-driving checks. Drivers and conductors were also briefed on passenger safety and emergency equipment. During the three-day drive, cops seized 52 private buses for flouting various rules, ARTO Udit Narayan Pandey said.
