DTC bus fleet upkeep cost nearly doubled in 10 yrs

NEW DELHI: The maintenance cost of buses operated by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has increased by over 98% in around a decade as the state transport unit continues to operate the vehicles beyond their shelf life, government data showed. The operational costs too shot up by around 80% in five years.

On July 26, HT reported that the entire fleet of 3,760 buses run by DTC has been officially declared “overage” this year, a first in the history of the state transport utility since its inception in 1971.

Data for the month of August showed that the maintenance cost, including material and spare part costs, of these buses in 2019-20 was ₹817.27 crore, which is 98.2% more than the cost of ₹412.33 crore incurred by the DTC in 2010-11.

Further, operational costs of these buses have also shot up -it rose from ₹1,019.36 crore in 2014-15 to ₹1,834.67 crore in 2019-20, marking an 80% increase in operational costs over a span of five years, a period when the number of DTC buses has been on a steady decline.

Between 2011 and 2017, 368 buses were scrapped on an average annually with 2,209 vehicles being withdrawn during this period.

According to DTC records, 99% of its bus fleet has crossed the technical operational limit for low-floor CNG buses.

The DTC categorises a bus as “overage” after a run of more than eight years. As per the procurement contracts under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the maximum operational life of a low-floor CNG bus is 12 years or 750,000km, whichever is later.

Of the total 3,760 DTC buses currently operational, none of them is even as young as 6-8 years. At least 32 of the buses are 8-10 years old, 3,072 are between 10 and 12 years old, and 656 are older than 12 years.

The number is alarming considering that the city needs 11,000 buses, according to a government affidavit submitted to the high court in 2018, and that the DTC itself is mandated to have 5,500 buses.

Even if the 2,990 cluster buses, which are run by private operators, are included, Delhi’s current state run buses strength goes up to just 6,750. New buses are being added only in the cluster model.

The DTC tried to float a tender for 1,000 buses, but it has been withdrawn because the procurement process is undergoing a CBI investigation.