Govt's plan to run full-body wrap ads on DTC buses finds no bidders

The Delhi government’s plan to run full-body wrap advertisements on DTC buses on the lines of Delhi Metro trains to reduce losses has drawn no response at all. The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) had invited bids from advertisers last month. But not a single agency participated in it.

“It is unfortunate and surprising that we did not get any bidders,” said a senior government official. The decision to use buses for wrap advertisements is an effort towards boosting the non-ticket revenue and reducing the losses in operations. According to a report by Comptroller and Auditor General of India released in June, the DTC suffered a loss of over Rs 5,000 crore between 2010 and 2015, which means a loss of around Rs 3 crore each day.

The bids were called for more than 1,800 buses and 17 depots under the north and east MCDs. The south municipal corporation (MCD) hasn’t given its approval yet. One of the reasons of poor response to the tender could be the minimum reserve price fixed by the corporation and now it is mulling over calling for bids again with a revised price.

“We had kept it at Rs 4,000 per month per bus. May be the agencies thought that it's high for them,” he said.  According to the official, there are certain disadvantages as well like space constraints when compared with advertisements on Delhi Metro.

“In low-floor buses, there is hardly any space for ads at the back due to engines. The value of an ad is more at the back because it can be clearly seen by those coming behind it but we have that constraint,” he said.

The sides of the exterior body, space on the back sides of the seats and the driver's seat, hand railing, etc will be used for advertisements.  However, the DTC also thinks that cartelisation could also be one of the reasons behind no response for the tenders. “May be the bidders are thinking that if they don’t participate once, we will lower the price in the next tender automatically. We will have to find that out,” he said.