Public transport crisis: Promises vs ground reality

Political parties are scrambling to offer free bus rides for women and students ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, but residents of the national capital have been seeking reliable public transportation for years. The city's transport system has virtually crumbled due to overcrowded metro services and an acute shortage of buses.

AAP supremo and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, while continuing the existing free rides for women passengers in government-owned public transport buses, assured that the facility would be extended to male students if the party comes to power. Kejriwal also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide a 50 per cent discount on metro rail tickets for students.

The BJP promised to continue the existing free bus rides for women and vowed to increase the number of bus fleets to 10,000. The Congress, which claimed that the late chief minister Sheila Dikshit led the government responsible for improving the city's infrastructure, also promised to improve the public transport system.

Despite the Delhi government's claim of having over 7,000 buses, including 1,950 electric ones, complaints about the lack of buses and their erratic schedules continue to pour in. "Due to the lack of buses, the public is forced to depend on alternative modes for commuting. As a result, the metro is now experiencing excessive rush during peak hours," said Ramesh Goyal from RK Puram, a daily bus commuter now relying on the metro to get to work.

Despite the 1998 Supreme Court directive for a public bus fleet of 10,000 to ease congestion and pollution, the Delhi government says the city has only 7,683 buses. However, South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the BJP’s manifesto committee convenor, claims the city has less than 3,000 buses in operation.

The AAP, which has ruled Delhi for over 10 years, says that 25 per cent of the city's buses are electric, the second highest in the world. The ruling party promises to have a total of 10,480 buses, with 80 per cent being electric by 2025.

Delhi has 45 buses per lakh residents (2011 census data). This falls well short of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' benchmark of 60 buses per lakh population.

Kejriwal, while assuring improvements to the transport system, also claimed credit for increasing the metro network from 200 km to 395 km now.