Govt plans to bring back pvt buses in city
16 Aug 2015 11:14 PM GMT
With the strength of the state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses shrinking, the government plans to bring back private buses in the city to fill the existing gap. According to sources, the government is working on a feasible module for private bus operators in which the control will lie in the hands of transport department.
The shrinking fleet of <g data-gr-id="49">state run</g> Delhi Transport Corporation buses and space crunch for parking of new buses have forced Delhi government to bring back private buses in the city.
“The less number of cluster buses is due to <g data-gr-id="58">inability</g> of transport department to provide parking space to the operators. The new policy will open the doors for small players and they will be responsible for parking of their buses,” said Gopal Rai, Delhi Transport Minister.
“We are scrutinising the previous modules of private bus operation in the city and will soon come up with a feasible policy to ensure their smooth operation,” said Rai. “We have directed the officers to find out and plug the loopholes in the policy which leads to the paralysis of the earlier policies,” he added.
According to the data of DTC, there were 6,204 DTC buses in 2011, 5,600 in 2012, which had come down to 4,705 in 2014.
“There are less than 4,000 DTC buses on <g data-gr-id="54">road</g> per day with around 1,000 buses parked in garages for maintenance. DTC has not added even a single bus in its fleet in the last two years,” said a senior DTC officer.
Earlier, private buses were allowed to ply their trade in the city before the government finally scrapped the ‘blue line buses’ in 2007, all of which were completely owned and operated by private individuals. “We want a mixed module in which the conductor or the driver will be a <g data-gr-id="60">government</g> employee. The ownership, operation, maintenance and parking of the bus will be the responsibility of the private owner. The mode of payment will be primarily on km covered in each day or by day to day basis,” said the officer.
Next Story
