New Delhi: Tuesday marked the end of an era for red CNG-run DTC buses, which for the first time offered daily commuters air-conditioning amid scorching heat, low floors for easy access, and automated doors for passenger safety, as the last such bus completed its 15-year shelf life and was sent for scrapping.
Bus number DL 1PD 4038 operated from Rajghat Depot-I under route 4,038, completed its prescribed service life and was withdrawn from the road. The bus served for 15 years, from September 2011, and ran 9,27,951.9 km.
Its retirement also marked the end of DTC’s own bus fleet. All buses, including the remaining 1,861 CNG green-coloured buses, are now managed through private concessionaires.
The farewell was a silent affair, with DTC staffers getting emotional and posing beside the decorated vehicle before it was taken away.
For many drivers, conductors and mechanics, who spent years around the fleet, the red low-floor buses represent a considerably larger chapter in Delhi’s transport history.
“These buses were not just vehicles for us. We learnt how to drive long buses and spent a large part of our working lives with them. When you see the last one being taken away, it feels like the end of a period. The new electric buses are too silent. They don’t roar out the magnanimity of the vehicle you are driving on the roads. We are still getting used to them,” said Lalit Chaudhary, a DTC driver who has worked on the CNG fleet.
In the late 1990s, as the capital grappled with air pollution, the Supreme Court took a series of measures based on recommendations of the Bhure Lal Committee, formally known as the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority.
{{/usCountry}}In the late 1990s, as the capital grappled with air pollution, the Supreme Court took a series of measures based on recommendations of the Bhure Lal Committee, formally known as the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority.
{{/usCountry}}In July 1998, the top court directed that Delhi’s entire city-bus fleet be progressively converted to a single-fuel CNG mode by March 31, 2001. In a subsequent order, the court reiterated that commercial vehicles could not ply in Delhi unless they complied with the CNG requirement, subject to specified transitional arrangements.
That transition changed the appearance and the technology of Delhi’s bus fleet. The older diesel buses gradually gave way to CNG vehicles. A decade later, another major transformation followed: low-floor buses. In November 2007, the first batch of green low-floor CNG buses was introduced ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
DTC subsequently ordered 2,500 low-floor CNG buses, including 1,500 non-AC and 1,000 AC buses, for the Games. Another 625 buses followed. Between 2007 and 2011, about 3,700 low-floor CNG buses entered DTC’s fleet that were red and green in colour, according to data shared by DTC.
The buses were markedly different from what Delhi commuters had been accustomed to. Their low floors made boarding easier, while wider doors, improved suspension and air-conditioning in some variants changed the bus travel experience.
The green fleet became closely associated with the Commonwealth Games, when around 600 CNG buses were deployed specifically for Games duties.
“For many drivers, those Commonwealth Games buses were the first modern low-floor buses they handled. They were a big change from the older fleet. They became part of everyday Delhi very quickly,” said a DTC official.
For commuters, the buses also became part of the city’s visual memory. The red AC buses and green non-AC buses appeared on routes connecting residential colonies with railway stations, markets, government offices and educational institutions.
The fleet’s decline, however, has been gradual. Most of the CNG low-floor buses introduced around the Commonwealth Games reached the end of their operational lives in 10-12 years.
“These buses have stayed past their age as the induction of new buses has been slow. DTC has now increasingly moved towards electric buses, while buses introduced under the newer gross-cost and concessionaire models are supplied and operated by private companies,” the official said.
That transition has also become part of the ongoing dispute between DTC’s workforce and the government over contractual employment, wages and the increasing role of private operators. Drivers are demanding higher wages and better service conditions, with the government saying it is working on measures.