Commuters demand more buses on public holidays

With DTC buses going down in number on Sundays and public holidays, regular commuters complain of inconvenience due to long hours they have to wait for a bus.

The commuters have demanded that more buses should be in service on public holidays as several private offices are open even on gazetted holidays.

“I regularly take route number 764 (Najafgarh to Nehru Place) whether I am travelling to my office in Nehru Place or otherwise. On Monday, in spite of Maha Shivratatri, several offices were opened. I had to wait for 45 minutes for a bus in the morning. On a normal day, we get buses at a frequency of 10 minutes,” said Rajesh, resident of Dwarka.

If the less number of buses on roads is a policy decision of the corporation they should tweak the rule as several private offices remain open on public holidays, he added. 

Passengers of other routes like 423 (Ashram-Mehrauli) have also complained of similar inconvenience.

However, DTC officials say there is a standard practice of pressing less number of buses on roads on public holidays.

“There is a fixed rule of running 20 per cent less buses on public holidays and Sundays. With most of the offices closed, the ridership goes down, so the frequency is reduced. However, in peak hours the frequency is better than rest of the day even on holidays,” said Sharat Kumar, Senior Manager (PR).

Some DTC officials say reducing operational cost of the buses is one of the major reasons for running fewer buses on public holidays.

“Most of the buses run empty on public holidays that reduces the revenue per trip. Therefore, lesser number of buses are pressed on the roads. Moreover, several staff members want off on the weekends, so the department also has a staff crunch on Sundays and public holidays,” the official said.