With soaring mercury, 400 DTC buses break down daily

NEW DELHI: Soaring temperatures in the national capital have mounted the hassles for the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus passengers as well as a major cause of pollution and traffic congestions.

As per officials, DTC buses including newly purchased cluster buses, 350 to 400 buses break down daily. This is not only inconveniences for passengers, but also leads to major traffic jams and shortage of buses plying on roads. These low floor buses were purchased before Commonwealth Games.

Currently, Delhi has 5,592 buses, of which 3,944 are DTC and 1,648 are operated under the cluster scheme by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS).

The frequent breakdown of low-floor buses has raised a question on the maintenance of these buses. According to senior transport department officials, about 350 to 420 incidents of breakdown of DTC buses are being reported daily. The AC-buses always breakdown, when riding over flyovers. It could be seen as breakdown over flyovers, where leads to major traffic jams for long period. Sources say about 80 percent of the air-conditioned low floor buses are having trouble in cooling.

According to the officials, the amount of maintenance goes to the depot managers of DTC terminals but the results are not satisfactory. The most of DTC drivers allege that their depot managers were hand in glove with the bus company Tata Motors and Ashoka Leyland. The maintenance cost for AC buses is Rs 4.10 per km for the first 75,000 km or a year. After completion of either, the company charges Rs five for 1.5 lakh km or two years and after that, the maintenance charges reaches Rs 7.10 per km for 2.1 lakh km or three years.