Old Bluelines out, new ones in

That rickety old Blueline bus you ride to work daily will soon be replaced by a new swanky new bus.

That rickety old Blueline bus you ride to work daily will soon be replaced by a new swanky bus.

HT Image

A recent High Court order has allowed Blueline bus operators to replace those buses that are more than 10 years old.

The transport department had earlier banned the replacement of the Bluelines saying that since it planned to phase them out, replacing them didn’t make sense.

“We had approached the High Court and the court has allowed us to bring the replacements with the rider that the buses will be phased out as and when the transport department manages to bring in private buses under the cluster scheme,” Delhi Bus Ekta Manch spokesperson Shyam Lal Gola said.

Gola says, more than 780 blueline buses are 10 years old and cannot be run in the Capital. He said these bus operators still have valid permits and are eager to bring in new buses.

“We want to be a part of the revolution in Delhi’s public transport system,” said Gola.

High accident rates, poor behaviour of bus crew and unreliable service were some reasons why the transport department had, on the Court’s orders, planned to phase them out.

While the bus cluster scheme is yet to take off, Blueline bus operators are fighting against being phased out.

With the Court now allowing them to replace the buses,

the operators feel they can win the bigger battle by giving improved service.

Meanwhile, senior transport officials said they were still waiting for a copy of the Court order to decide future course of action.

“The Court, however, has made it clear that the operators will have to submit an affidavit in the Court that they will not oppose the phase out as and when buses under cluster scheme start arriving,” a senior official said.

Blueline Problems

High accident rate

Overspeeding

Rash driving

Rickety buses

Poor behaviour of bus crew

Not adhering to time table

Not following routes

The Death Toll

YearNo of deaths
2008-09 122
2009-10 117
2010-11 75 so far