By Jyoti Rathore:
It is annoying when Sunny Dogra (22), employee of an IT company, near Vikas Bhawan, ITO, waits for more than 30 minutes for a bus on a bus stand in scorching heat to reach his office. Like him, there are many people who can tell a story about the unbearable experience of commuting in DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) green or red floor bus.
After putting a ban on the Blue line buses, with a dubious distinction to be known as the ‘Killer bus’, DTC buses were introduced as the heart of the capital – rebranded and refurbished. People thought of this to be an advancement in travelling. No doubt the new DTC buses with the low floor and air conditioner are a gift of CWG (Common Wealth Games, 2010). But further, it didn’t keep its promise.
More than thousands of people commute everyday with DTC buses to reach their destination. They fully reckon on this world’s largest LPG bus service for their time and travel. But sadly enough, the delay in commuting time, the deplorable frequency of these buses makes it heart wrenching to wait for them everyday.
DTC has deployed about 3,770 Low floor Non AC buses And 1,200 AC buses for the city/NCR services, which are plying on about 773 routes on Delhi Roads. But due to insufficient lackluster maintenance, all the effort goes in vain. This leaves a regular commuter of the fleet annoyed.
People are unable to reach their destinations in time and suffer severe consequences. Prem Lakharia, 22, lost his job as he was unable to reach in time for his interview due to the delay cause by the bus.
Himani Singh, 23, student in Jamia Millia Islamia says that, “In this hot summer I prefer traveling in the AC bus but I find it is of no use, in spite of high cost in AC buses there is not much of a coolant and no space. It is overcrowded and very bothersome for daily travels.”
Pramod (name changed), driver in DTC bus said, “We have many buses but we are lacking staff. Many youngsters were recruited on contract basis as drivers and conductors but in their absence we are failing to run the buses on time. Sometimes I work as conductor too in other AC buses. We as a part of DTC can understand the problems of regular commuters. Even I wait for long to reach my place”.