A pedestrian unused to Mumbai’s chaotic streets, a BEST bus driver who says the brakes failed, and passengers who complain that buses on route 501 are routinely in poor condition. As investigators piece together what happened in Mankhurd, a ground report examines the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash.The bus driver, Banwari Sharma, 51, says he had worked with Mateshwari Urban Travels, the wet-lease operator of the bus in question, in Jaipur and Gujarat for 14 years. “I have been driving BEST buses in Mumbai for the last three years,” he said.Sharma told HT he applied the brakes to slow the bus while turning left, to approach the bus stop at the exit point on the Sion-Panvel highway opposite Vishwakarma Hospital, when the accident happened. “I desperately tried to apply the brakes to avoid autorickshaws that were trying to overtake me from both sides. But the brake didn’t work and the bus didn’t stop, so I swerved towards the road divider to prevent hurting anyone. But one person didn’t move despite me shouting to warn him to move away.”Recalling the events that led up to Monday’s accident, Sharma said, “I had been driving the bus for 40 minutes after I took it out from Kurla (east) depot at 7.50 am but I didn’t realise the brakes weren’t working properly as I was moving slowly through congested streets. Once I hit the highway, the brakes issue became pronounced as the bus picked up speed on the slope.”Sharma adds, “I tried to spare the people standing near the road divider, and even shouted at them to move out of the way, but they didn’t move.”The pedestrian who died, the lone fatality in the crash, was Bhaskar Kagde, 65, a farmer from Dharashiv, who was visiting his daughter in Mankhurd. He appeared to be unfamiliar with Mumbai’s overwhelming traffic and did not step out of harm’s way in time.Pande was waiting near the road divider for a long-distance bus to Pune, to visit his other daughter, when he was struck by the BEST bus. Local residents said it was common to wait near the divider to catch long-distance buses before they embark on the Mankhurd flyover.The injured passengers, many of them regulars on route 501, which links Kurla (east) and Airoli, say buses on this route are ill-maintained. “The buses are in bad condition and it is not uncommon for them to either break down or slow down suddenly,” said Shivmangal Maitri,42, a labourer whose right shoulder was dislocated in Monday’s accident.Lata Waghela, 42, a fruit vendor seated right behind the driver, Banwari Sharma, suffered a fracture to her left hand. “The driver was driving roughly and passengers had been shouting at him, asking him to slow down,” Waghela recalled.Sharma says it is unrealistic to expect every bus to be fully roadworthy all the time. “Drivers are expected to take out their buses on their routes, on time, and cannot wait for the vehicles to be fully road-ready every time,” he said, from his hospital bed at Ghatkopar’s Rajawadi Hospital. Sharma sustained injuries to his head, which slammed into the bus number indicator panel; his chest took the impact of the steering wheel; and his knees slammed into the front panel.The bus conductor, Vaibhav Waghmare, 41, also being treated at the same hospital, sustained minor injuries.