The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) loses around 5,000 trips every day due to congestion and encroachments on roads, leading to a monthly loss of about Rs 9 crore. The national Capital's public transporter is under fire from different quarters over its depleting fleet of buses and operational inefficiency.
The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) loses around 5,000 trips every day due to congestion and encroachments on roads, leading to a monthly loss of about Rs 9 crore. The national Capital's public transporter is under fire from different quarters over its depleting fleet of buses and operational inefficiency.
"We lose 5,000 of the scheduled 38,000 trips per day because our buses get stuck in traffic jams due to congestion and encroachments on the roads," a senior DTC officer said.
The financially ailing transport body runs a fleet of around 3,800 buses in the national Capital. "The daily earnings of the DTC come to around Rs 2.5 crore. We incur a loss of Rs 30 lakh per day due to the missed trips," he said.
"Most parts of Trans-Yamuna like Shahdara, Silampur and border areas like Kapashera and Nangloi are heavily congested due to unauthorised encroachments," the official added.
According to a recent a report prepared by an NGO, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the daily average ridership of the DTC has declined by over 35 per cent between 2012-13 and 2016.
"The daily average ridership of the DTC went down from 47 lakh in 2012-13 to 30 lakh by the end of 2016," said the report, which was based on the data available till November 2016.
The report also highlighted the failure of the state government in launching the new fleet of DTC buses."The DTC bought new buses in 2011-12. There has been almost no addition to the fleet in the past five years. If no new buses are added now, the entire fleet will get nearly phased out by 2025," said the report.
The DTC is currently operating 3,800 buses while the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal System (DIMTS) runs around 1,600 buses under the Cluster Scheme. "There is a shortage of 5,000-10,000 buses based on various estimates and judicial mandates," it cited.
The Delhi government has started the process for procurement of 1,000 buses each for the DTC and Cluster Scheme. The report suggested for speeding up the process.
"Bus procurement needs to be undertaken on a war footing to meet the target of 10,000-11,000 buses.
"A fiscal strategy needs to be developed for the DTC, aiming at the reduction of costs, augmentation of fare and non-fare revenue and phasing of interest payments," the report added.
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