Inside Delhi’s ambitious plans to turn transport services online

The Delhi government has come up with a plan that aims at making nearly 70 essential transport services completely online in two phases over the next few months

What comes to your mind when you think of a regional transport office (RTO)? Most of us would think of a crowded public building, marked with people frantically moving from counter to counter, long queues, the smell of dusty files and the nearly-ubiquitous sound of fingers bagging on computer keyboards.

Representational Image. (File photo)

One may not need to visit a transport office beyond a few times in life – considering how most documents such as drivers’ licenses (DL) and registration certificates (RC) demand renewal only after 10-20 years for most people. But the sheer high number of vehicle registration in the city often succeeds in ensuring that the RTOs are jam-packed.

Delhi has at least 10 million registered vehicles, of which 7.9 million are two-wheelers and 3.3 million are four-wheelers, of which 0.5 million vehicles were registered in 2019-20.

In the light of the pandemic, crowding at RTOs, a key government office with high degree of public interface, has generated concerns. Also, a single visit in a packed RTO building can take a long time — which essentially means more exposure to an air-borne virus, more contact points and, hence, a high probability of transmission.

To address this challenge, and to ease services for citizens, the Delhi government has come up with a plan that aims at making nearly 70 essential transport services completely online in two phases over the next few months. These services include renewal and duplicate DL or RC, permit or RC transfer, NOC for other states, among others, which currently demand physical visit to the RTOs in Delhi and in most other states. Several cities, globally, have succeeded in transforming their RTOs completely or partially online in the recent past.

The shift to digital

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said Delhi is going to be the first state in the country to move in this direction. In February this year, the Delhi government started the “ambitious project” to shift all its transport services to the online mode.

At present, only appointment booking facilities to visit an RTO for various documentation is available online.

“The project aims to decongest all the 13 RTOs of the city as it will allow people to get important documents, including renewal of DLs or transfer of vehicle ownership, from the comfort of their homes. This is the biggest reform package from the transport department that we have planned this year. Under the first phase, 12 services will be made 100% online. The second phase will include 58 services. Since it is a radical shift from the traditional way RTOs operate, it is difficult to set a specific launch date at the moment,” Gahlot said.

Trials for the project started from February 19, under which 12 services related to DLs and RCs are being provided online in all the RTOs.

Government data accessed by HT showed that between February 19 and March 17, the transport department managed to provide 100% online services to at least 34,000 applicants. It means that 34,000 people actually did not turn up at any RTO in the 27-day period of the trials so far. All these applicants received their RC or DL related documents at their homes through speed post. In pre-Covid times, Delhi’s 13 RTOs together used to witness a footfall of at least 100,000 every month.

Data from the ongoing trial period showed that 66% of the total applicants eligible for online services were still visiting the city’s RTOs. This is also because the transport department has not opened the online service completely at the moment and is capping the number of daily online applications received at each RTO.

What it means for citizens

Darshan Rai (42), a salesperson in an apparel store in Connaught Place, took a casual leave earlier this month to renew his driving license as the Centre’s relaxation, owing to the pandemic, on driving with an expired DL or RC will end on March 31.

“Renewal of my DL at the RTO took the whole day as the waiting time has increased further due to social distancing norms being followed. In between, there’s lunch time and one has to wait for the officers to return to their seats. Then physical verification of all the documents takes time,” Rai said. “Thankfully, I took leave from office. Otherwise, my colleagues were suggesting that I take a half day. Had I done that, I would have had to visit the RTO once again to get the final document,” he said.

Rai’s experience is representative of the wider experience of citizens. They will, however, have to wait before the trek to the RTO can fully transform to a digital experience.

The transport department still has a month or two more to go until all RTOs shift to 100% online services, said Ashish Kundra, Delhi’s transport commissioner. He also clarified that once fully implemented, only the applicants seeking a learner’s license or permanent DL or vehicle fitness certificate will have to physically visit the RTOs as these documents require appearing for tests.

The challenges ahead

Kundra explained the challenges faced in the project and the interventions made in terms of technology and capacity building.

“There was re-engineering of business processes involved because officials at the counters in RTOs are used to seeing physical files and people standing in the queue,” he said.

“In terms of technology, our system has to be geared not only to receive the increased volume of applications online, but also to enable officers to ensure compliance by checking that all the documents required as per law are in order. Once the verification is done, the officials will simply approve it online, get the document printed and send it to the applicant by speed post. All payments will be online,” Kundra said.

A challenge being faced by the department is managing applicants, most of whom are confused about the online system and insist on coming to the RTOs, or those delivering the services at the transport offices.

Pravesh Biyani, associate professor at IIIT-Delhi, who has collaborated with various state governments on providing contactless services especially in the transportation sector, said the move will not only make public services hassle-free for people but will also curb corruption.

“But making public services faceless also makes it difficult for those who are not technology-savvy. This is my biggest worry about such schemes. I also hope that the government provides a very good user experience while shifting to 100% digitisation and computerisation,” Biyani said.

Kundra said that for applicants who do not have access to computers or the internet, the department has decided to open help desks at all the 13 RTOs which will fill the forms, submit the documents for them.

For its own officers, the department is now organising training sessions in batches on learning the software and the online application, verification and approval system.

“There are teething issues that are either people oriented or process oriented. We have to reorient our own people because they are not accustomed to our model. We are also learning as we go along. Also, we are constantly working to see how the user interfaces can be made better. The ambition is that the transport department should go completely online for everything except a driving test or vehicle fitness test,” said Kundra.

Shreya Gadepalli, who leads the South Asia Programme of the Institute for Transport and Development Policy (ITDP), said the idea is a welcome move and is likely to be a one-of-a-kind project in India.