Free travel for women on premium bus service? Delhi govt to take a call

On the issue of free rides for women, the official said, “The DTC has flagged the issue. If we provide free rides, there will be no purpose of starting premium services and it may also end in losses… But, the government will take a decision on whether to keep it or not.”

Earlier this year, the DTC had given in-principle approval to the service under which buses would ply on longer routes without halting at every stop.

“The DTC had been planning to introduce high-quality premium buses on longer routes. The board approved it to be implemented on NCR routes under 200 km which may include electric or CNG buses. DTC will be operating Bharat Stage-VI buses for routes covering more than 200 km. All the buses will be equipped with facilities, including CCTVs, GPS, and panic buttons, providing convenient and safer travel for long-distance commuters,” the Delhi government had earlier said in a statement.

Said an official, “Initial work has started on this project and it is in the administrative-level approval stage. Once approved, work will start to launch the services such as the number of buses to be engaged, routes, financial sanction, and tendering process.”

Officials said the DTC will neither purchase nor hire these buses; it will only engage these vehicles through private contractors. “The permits for these buses will be given by DTC and it will have the ownership. Private contractors will run the buses… This service will be operated as per net cost model, not on gross cost model,” said the official quoted above.

The AAP government, in keeping with its pre-poll promise, had started the free bus service for women three years ago. For every free journey undertaken by a woman commuter, the government extends a flat subsidy of Rs 10 to the DTC and DIMTS (Delhi Multi-Modal Transit Ltd) under which the city’s public bus fleet operates.