Poor health! What does Delhi government's outcome budget 2019-20 tell about DTC

Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government's outcome budget 2019-20, which was released by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday, has shown the poor state of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). The public transporter is said to have dwindling earnings along with depleting fleet, but on the contrary, the department's cluster buses run under Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) registered growth in earnings.

According to the outcome budget 2019-20, the number of DTC's operational buses was 3,974 in 2017-18, and the target was to raise it to 4,176 in 2018-19, but it remained stagnant 3,897, adding that the DTC's average daily ridership has improved slightly, as it stood at 33 lakh as against a target of 32.93 lakh in 2018-19, but the target was to raise it to 33.50 lakh in 2019-20.

Further, the average fleet utilisation dipped from targeted 87 per cent to 84.63 per cent in 2018-19, while the target has been 90 per cent fleet utilisation in 2019-20, said the outcome budget, adding that the operating cost per km of DTC buses in 2018-19 was targeted at Rs 88, but it stood at Rs 97.12. The corporation, however, is determined to bring it down to Rs 95.99 per km in 2019-20.

If we look at earning per km, it was targeted to Rs 31.10 in 2018-19 but it stood at Rs 30.32, and the new target for 2019-20 is Rs 31.36. Notably, earning per bus per day was Rs 5,898 as against the target of Rs 5,931 in 2018-19, and in 2019-2020 the earning target is to have Rs 6,100 per bus per day.

On the contrary, the cluster buses performed better in comparison to the DTC fleet.

Notably, the AAP government is also trying to enhance safety of women by providing them free ride in public transport, and the plan is expected to materialise in next 2-3 months.

The outcome budget also showed that no progress could be achieved in installing CCTV cameras in buses as successive bids for it in December 2018 and January 2019 failed.