Gained in transit

He remembers his time with the “killer” Bluelines. “There was so much pressure when I was driving Blueline buses. We had to cover as many kilometres as possible. Since they were private entities we had to ensure a certain revenue earning at the end of the day. Now there is no such tension. We halt at every bus stop and drive properly because our every move is being tracked on the GPS system,’’ he says.

Raj drives on Route 53,from Mehrauli to Anand Vihar.

According to a spokesperson of Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS),GPS helps the agency track the buses. “We can also monitor the speed of the buses through it. The speed synchronisation happens through the automatic mode,’’ he says.

For Raj the cluster buses have other perks too — his duty timings are fixed and he gets incentives for “good performance”.

“I start duty at 8 am and finish work by 4 pm. Even the passengers prefer using these low-floor buses and feel safer in them. Also,there is the e-ticketing system,so the conductor is also more at ease,’’ he says.

In 2009,the Delhi government divided close to 650 bus routes of the city into 17 clusters. The cluster bus service was introduced to replace the Blueline fleet. In total,11,000 buses are supposed to be available for commuters with a sharing ratio of 40 per cent and 60 per cent between DTC and DIMTS respectively.

While the Blueline buses were shunted out from South and Central Delhi as well as from areas near Commonwealth Games venues last year,the complete phase-out of the buses happened on December 14,2010.

Around 300 Bluelines are still plying on Delhi roads,and they will also be phased out by early 2012.

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