Chartered buses biggest violator of traffic rules

Just 2,000-odd vehicles booked 17,658 times

 The bus on which a paramedical student was raped on Sunday night belonged to one of the chartered services, which are the biggest traffic violators among the categories of buses plying in the city.

The number of traffic violation cases is so high that the combined 2,000-odd chartered buses running in Delhi have been booked at least 17,658 times between January 1 and November 30 this year.

The number of traffic violations by chartered buses, also known as Whiteline buses, is also double that of Delhi Transport Corporation buses, which has some 5,800 buses. DTC buses have broken traffic rules  7,047 times during the same period.

Other categories of buses booked for violations include school buses (6,985), roadways buses of other states (4,575), private state transport authority buses (1,635) and cluster buses (572).

The major violations by chartered buses include jumping red light, improper parking, permit violation, registration certificate violation and stopping at the wrong place, among others.

They were booked for dangerous driving for the maximum number of times. Though fines were imposed against the violators, at least 3,000 buses have been impounded by the traffic police.

“A total of 2,878 buses have been impounded till date. Permits of 1,616 buses were also suspended, ranging from 15 to 30 days for violation of permit,” said joint commissioner of police (traffic) Satyendra Garg.

The transport department has a fixed criteria of permit violation. “Chartered buses operate on a point-to-point destination basis.

They can neither halt at DTC stops nor anywhere else on their routes. If they do, it amounts to permit violation,” said Garg.

The transport department’s permit rules clearly state:

“The permit holder can operate under a contract with the client for a fixed destination within Delhi or outside Delhi.

For this, an agreement should be executed between the clients and the operators, and the list of passengers should also be available with the bus driver. The permit holder cannot pick up passengers other than those mentioned in the list.”