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End of the line for Delhi's killer buses

New Delhi: After wreaking havoc on the capital's roads for many years, the infamous blue lines may finally be on their way out. The capital might also see an end to privatization in public transport.

The Delhi government aims to replace all the blue-lines with low floor DTC buses.

Delhi’s Minister for Education & Tourism, Arvinder Singh Lovely said, “We are going to start phasing out blue-lines by March onwards and by next year in January we should have been able to get rid of all of them.”

These may seem strong words from Delhi's transport minister, determined to make all the public transport in the capital government run smoothly, efficiently and with less din and noise.

2500 low-floor DTC buses have already been ordered, the supply of which will begin in April. The government plans to have 6000 DTC buses on Delhi's roads by 2010.

The aim is to increase the fleet to 11,000 by 2012 before the Commonwealth Games kick-off. Sources within the government indicate that blue-line buses could be history as early as September this year.

People are more than overjoyed. Rohit Baluja said, “This should have been done long back. Blue-lines have to go. There is no question about that. The government should not at all outsource it. A public transport system will only serve the purpose if the government manages it completely.”

The government’s plan to phase out all blue-lines within a year does seem a little too ambitious. The success of the plan depends completely on how fast the government can replace these perilous machines on the streets of Delhi.

It is not a final goodbye to privatization, yet. The government plans to give out contracts to corporate units which can run a few buses, but only within certain areas.

But for the 2700 blue-line drivers like Pramod, the future looks bleak. The government has already recruited 5000 new drivers and put stringent measures in place.

The about to be job-less driver, Pramod Kumar said, “If you want to remove blue-lines, that’s fine. But don’t forget us. What about our livelihood” The government has said that only a 10th passed can drive a bus, so what if we are only 6th pass or if we haven’t gone to school at all. Can we not drive?”

People have been angry with the blue-line services whose drivers are known to speed needlessly. 277 people died in blue line accidents in the last two years.