Some Blueline buses back, but commuter woes continue

NEW DELHI: A day after paralysing the capital's transport system, nearly half of the 1,000 privately operated Blueline buses that had gone off the roads returned on Tuesday after the state government threatened to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act.

Office goers, students and other commuters were partially relieved but complained there were still too few buses and they were horribly overcrowded.         

The large crowds that had been seen at major bus stops across the city Monday had thinned Tuesday, but commuters still had to wait for up to an hour to board a bus.

There were chaotic scenes at railway stations and inter-state bus terminals, as hundreds of domestic tourists pour into Delhi for the Dussehra festival.

There were long queues at metro stations and auto rickshaw drivers were seen fleecing commuters and passengers who desperately wanted to reach their destinations.      

The Blueline bus operators, meanwhile, continued to be defiant.

"We held our protest in the morning in the Punjabi Bagh area (west Delhi) to put forward our complaints and demands to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf, but most of us are returning to work," said Raju, president of the Blueline Driver Ekta Manch.

"We are seeking immediate relief from the Delhi Police, which is persecuting innocent drivers and impounding their buses. They can't punish innocent drivers for just a few black sheep," said Raju.               

Priyanka Khanna, a college student, said, "On Monday I had to wait for over one hour to catch a bus to North Campus from R.K. Puram. Finally, I had to hire an auto rickshaw and its driver charged me Rs.50 extra. It seemed that they were doing a favour to us. Thankfully I didn't face any such problem today."

Brijesh Pandey, who was standing at the Dwarka Sector-2 bus stand to catch a bus for his office in Nehru Place, told, "Blueline buses are on the road, but their frequency is very low. All the buses that passed by me were overloaded with passengers.

"We are ready to bear the difficulty if the government replaces these rogue Blueline buses and introduces any other form of public transport on the city roads," he added.  

There are nearly 4,000 privately operated Blueline buses and their rash and reckless driving has claimed 96 lives this year and injured over 160 others.

Delhi Police and transport officials had launched a drive against errant Blueline bus drivers after seven people were killed last week when a speeding Blueline mowed them down in south Delhi.

Following the accident, the police impounded over 500 buses that were found flouting rules and regulations and arrested about 80 drivers. The Delhi High Court too came down heavily on them and directed the Delhi government to furnish a phase-out plan for the 'killer' fleet.