Official documents analyzed by News18 show that out of every 100 tickets issued on DTC buses in Delhi, at least 43 were ‘pink’, up from 20 earlier. Even for cluster buses, the share of pink tickets crossed 40%.
According to Delhi’s Result Budget 2023-24, the average percentage of pink passes in the total tickets issued daily for DTC buses increased from 20.78% in 2020-21 to 43.28% in 2022-23. For cluster buses, this share increased from 32.69% to 41.06% in the same period.
Shortly before the 2020 assembly elections and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arvind Kejriwal government had announced free travel facility for women in DTC and cluster buses from October 2019. This was the first time in India that free travel for women was implemented. in a big way.
In the 2020-21 budget speech, Delhi’s then finance minister Manish Sisodia had said that the move would prove to be a milestone in empowering half the population to become partners in the country’s family and economy. The following year, he said that the scheme was launched to promote the feeling of personal freedom among the women of Delhi and this facility would continue in 2021-22 as well.
Operators are reimbursed Rs 10 for each ‘pink’ ticket issued free to women on buses. It is printing and issuing passes for DTC cluster buses. Operators will have to maintain proper accounts of these tickets.
100 crore pink tickets were sold between October 2019 and January 2023. These passes were issued to more than 26.5 crore women in 2021-22 while this increased to about 48 crore in 2022-23.
Ridership is still to reach pre-Covid levels
Although the number of women ridership in Delhi buses has improved, the total ridership has still not crossed pre-Covid numbers.
In 2019-20, just before the coronavirus infection spread, the daily average ridership of DTC buses was 33 lakh, while it was 18 lakh for cluster buses. Overall, these buses were carrying an average of more than 51 lakh passengers every day.
In 2022-23, bus ridership is expected to increase to more than 40 lakh. However, it is yet to cross the pre-Covid numbers. The share of cluster buses in ridership has increased significantly over the last few years, which is better than DTC buses, but it has not been able to overtake even the pre-Covid ridership.
Delhi is waiting for more buses
More than two decades ago, in 1998, the Supreme Court had directed the Delhi government to increase its fleet of buses to 10,000 by April 2001. However, even after 25 years, Delhi has still not been able to touch that mark. In 2018, the Delhi government informed the top court that the city was far from the total required strength of 11,000 buses.
The total number of buses in the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster fleet as of March 2023 is 7,303. Although this number is nowhere close to the 10,000-11,000 figure, it has improved over the years. But the city faces a big challenge.
As of December 2023, the Delhi government had a fleet of 7,232 buses, including 4,391 DTC buses and 2,841 cluster buses. The number of buses has declined as older buses have to be retired every year. The operational life of a bus is 12 years or 7.5 lakh km.
Around 3,000 buses currently running in Delhi are scheduled to retire this year.
This week, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot announced that 500 electric buses will be flagged off in the city on January 23, taking the number of such buses on city roads to 1,800.
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