Driver Suspended After Maadi R1 Bus Accident
The university’s Transport Office fired a bus driver after an internal investigation confirmed student complaints that he had been speeding on the R1 Maadi route.
Maadi’s 10:30 pm bus, a Minibus Toyota Coaster on that day, collided with another car near the shooting club and El Ahly Bank on the Ring Road on October 4 with students, faculty and staff on board.
Computer Engineering senior Mohamed Yasser, one of the students on the bus at that time, said the driver was driving excessively fast at 120 kilometers an hour.
“It was obvious he was carelessly driving, making drifts, sliding from one lane to another dangerously. Suddenly out of nowhere, he was on the far left lane and shifted to the right lane in a matter of seconds and then hit another car from the side,” said Yasser, who emailed the Office to complain about the driver.
The Transport Office confirmed to The Caravan that it had received Yasser’s complaint and launched an internal inquiry after contacting the driver and telling him to stop speeding.
“We investigated the case with the bus company’s supervisor and we concluded that the driver exceeded the legal speed limit. Hence, we immediately dismissed him from working in the university,” said the Transport Office in an email sent to The Caravan.
“We implemented the agreed fine between the transport office and the company,” the email also said.
But bus driver Mohamed Hassanein Abdel Meneim denied that he had been speeding that night and said the accident was not his fault.
“The bus I was driving is a tourism bus and it has a monitor that doesn’t allow it to go past 100 km/hr. The speed I am supposed to stick to is 80-85 km/hr, but this was a slope so it moves to a 100 km/hr,” said Abdel Meneim.
“I have been working at AUC for three years. If you look for my CV or record, you’ll find that I have never had an accident, issues with students or belongings going missing,” he added.
Belal Sedik, owner and supervisor of Rainbow, one the main bus providers on campus, said the accident may not have entirely been Abdel Meneim’s fault.
“A car stopped in front of him because it was a slope and it is normal for cars to speed [there],” he said.
Sedik admitted that the accident could have been avoided had Abdel Meneim been driving more slowly on the right lane.
However, he believes that the termination was a bit harsh because the slope made the bus go faster than the set speed limit for the vehicle.
“This is the first time for something like this to happen in almost 10 years in this company,” Sedik said.
Bus Services Manager Mamdouh Gaber, however, says the Transportation Office was justified in suspending the driver.
“The transport office will not care for the minutiae, like whose fault the accident is. Our priority is student safety and if someone compromises it, then he will be let go,” Gaber told The Caravan.
