Most buses plying on the roads today, which have a 10-year shelf life, were inducted 13 years ago, an official said.
| Photo Credit: File Photo
After the Delhi Transport Department changed 102 bus routes last week to reduce ‘dead mileage’ (distance between depot to starting destination), commuters in the city have reported a drop in the frequency of buses.
On June 18, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot responded to one such complaint on Twitter, saying he will review the changes in the bus timings and take necessary action to mitigate the inconvenience to passengers.
Many public transport users continue to face the issue. Kalyani Sharma, who used to take the free ride on bus no. 33, now spends a sizeable amount of money to reach her workplace using the Delhi Metro, as the “bus service has become unreliable”.
However, the real reason behind the drop in the frequency is that hundreds of overaged buses are being retired, say officials.
When reached for comment, DTC chief general manager Amit Kale said nearly 650 buses will be retired by the year-end.
“Route optimisation does not have much impact on the bus frequency. However, our old fleet has started retiring,” he said, refusing to elaborate further.
A senior DTC official said, “Most buses plying on the roads today were inducted during the 2010 Commonwealth Games. They had a lifespan of 10 years, after which they had to be phased out.”
The official added that even as the government decided to keep the buses running for two more years, the repair work to keep them functional has stopped.
Transport Secretary Ashish Kundra said, “Some cluster buses have been retired after the completion of their concession.”
However, he added that the fleet strength is being augmented with electric buses. Mr. Kundra said 1,500 more buses will be inducted by November this year. “There is a plan to raise the fleet size to more than 10,000 by 2025, of which 80% will be e-buses,” he also said.
While Mr. Gahlot, in his recent budget speech, said Delhi has 7,379 buses, data from the DTC and the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System show that there are 6,931 buses in the Capital’s public transportation fleet, comprising 3,887 DTC buses, 2,950 cluster buses and 94 feeder buses.