In New Delhi, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is facing serious financial problems. According to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) presented in the Assembly, the DTC’s debts increased massively from ₹28,263 crore in 2015-16 to ₹65,274 crore in 2021-22. This means they lost over ₹14,000 crore during this time.
Delhi’s Chief Minister, Rekha Gupta, shared this report about the DTC’s operations for the year ending March 31, 2022. The report pointed out that the DTC did not create a plan to improve its business or set clear targets for reducing its losses. They also haven’t compared their performance with other bus services across India.
From 2015 to 2023, the number of buses in DTC’s fleet dropped from 4,344 to 3,937. Even with government funding, they only managed to buy 300 electric buses over two years. The report mentioned that they missed out on a ₹29.86 crore fine because they were late in getting these buses delivered.
The report also noted a worrying trend: the number of old, low-floor buses has increased dramatically. In 2015, only 0.13% of DTC’s buses were old, but by March 2023, that number had jumped to 44.96%. This is bad news for the DTC unless they can add more new buses.
DTC’s efficiency is quite low compared to the average bus services in India. Their buses were used only 76.95% to 85.84% of the time, and the distance traveled per bus each day was less than the target. They operate 468 out of 814 routes, but sadly, they can’t cover their costs on any of these routes, leading to heavy losses of ₹14,198.86 crore from 2015 to 2022.
The DTC missed 7.06% to 16.59% of the kilometers they were supposed to cover, resulting in a revenue loss of ₹668.60 crore. Additionally, some projects haven’t worked properly; the Automatic Fare Collection System, which started in December 2017, has been unreliable since May 2020. Also, even though CCTV systems were put in buses in March 2021, they are not fully operational as of May 2023.
Interestingly, buses run by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) performed better than DTC buses in most areas, proving that improvements are needed.
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