Free Bus Travel for Women
The free bus travel for women scheme was announced in Aug 2019 and implemented on 29th Oct 2019. The scheme is aimed at providing safe, easily accessible and affordable public transport to women in Delhi.
This scheme is expected to economically empower women and encourage their participation in the workforce.
According to a survey by Greenpeace based on bus commuters from Delhi across gender, age etc. 80% of them welcomed the free bus ride for women initiative and 89.1% of them prefer traveling by DTC buses rather than other modes of public transport.
“One Delhi” Common Mobility Card and App
(Committed to improving the experience of commuters)
- Delhi’s Common Mobility Card named “ONE’ provides seamless travel across Delhi Metro and DTC bus services. It was launched by the AAP government on 3rd Dec 2018.
- The common mobility ‘One Delhi’ app was launched in March 2019. It allow users to plan their journey more efficiently.
The app allows users to access all bus stops, bus and metro routes, fares, expected time of arrival (ETA) of all Delhi buses and Delhi Metro.
The app was developed by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System, or DIMTS.
- In July 2021, the Delhi Cabinet approved a 10% discount on bus tickets booked through ‘One Delhi’ app.
Chartr App for Easy Travel
Traveling by public transport bus in Delhi was never so easy. One can easily check live bus locations real time, routes and buy ticket inside bus with Chartr app. No need for coins, Rupee notes or asking anyone anything.
Open Transit Data platform
- On 24th Nov 2018, Delhi became the first Indian city to launch an Open Transit Data platform sharing GPS feeds of buses.
Real-time bus tracking service
On 15th Jul 2021, Delhi joined the league of global cities that provide seamless, real-time information about public transport that is accessible by commuters through their smartphones.
In partnership with Google, Delhi Transport Ministry will provide a real-time bus transit information system on the Google Maps platform.
Commuters will now be able to access real-time information about buses by bus numbers, such as
- static and dynamic location data of Delhi buses
- arrival and departure times
- routes and bus stops
- an estimation of how long their trip will take
- if their bus is delayed
This will allow commuters to plan their journeys to the minute and reduce waiting time. It will reduce crowding at bus stops, and also increase the accountability of public buses.
As of mid-July 2021, the status of around 3,000 buses was already live with integration of more DTC buses in the pipeline.
This project will also help Last Mile Connectivity by providing access within 500 m of every household in Delhi at 15 min frequency.
New bus depots
The announcement of setting up several new bus depots was made on 18th Sep 2016.
First-of-its-kind-in-India “world-class” Multi-level bus depots:
- Multi-level “world-class” bus parking depots will be constructed at Hari Nagar I and II and Vasant Vihar DTC depots. The facilities will hold up to 300 to 400 buses each at a time. Additionally, it will also locate retail spaces and waiting areas. The construction will begin in late 2021 and will be completed by 2024.
- A multi-level parking bus depot is also coming up at Okhla. It will have maintenance facilities for 12-metre low-floor standard CNG-run buses, and a transit hotel on the top floor.
(Source: Times of India – link)
Digital Delivery of DTC Bus Passes
To increase commuters’ safety against COVID-19, Digital Delivery of Online DTC bus pass facility was initiated to promote cashless and contactless transactions.
Women Safety
A> Safety features in Buses
96% of all operational buses (both DTC and Cluster) have CCTV, Panic Button, Vehicle tracking system installed.
B> Command and Control Centre
The Command and Control Centre at Kashmere Gate that was inaugurated in Feb 2021 seeks to ensure safety and security of passengers, particularly women, through IP-based CCTV surveillance cameras, panic button and GPS in the buses of DTC and Cluster scheme.
(Source: Tweet by Kailash Gahlot)
Apart from the Command and Control Centre, a Disaster Recovery Centre, a Data Centre and separate Viewing Centres have also been created at all depots where live footage can be monitored by all the Depot Managers. The Command Centre will be manned for 24 hours for real-time monitoring of all activities in buses.
C> Enforcement vans
In Nov 2020, 20 new Enforcement Vans were deployed to the DTC Enforcement team in 20 crucial locations in Delhi. These are the first responders in case of an emergency.
(Source: Tweet by Kailash Gahlot)
A passenger, driver or conductor of a bus can press the panic button in case of any emergency or panic. This will send a signal to the Command and Control Centre, which will send related alerts to the traffic police, ambulance, depot control room and fire services etc. depending on the need of the situation. Along with this, the Depot Control room will immediately send the nearest Enforcement Van on the spot through the regional control room.
D> Bus marshals
The Bus marshals scheme was first introduced in 2015 to improve women’s safety in public buses in Delhi.
In Oct 2019, Delhi CM announced that 13,000 bus marshals would be deployed in Delhi buses. As on March 31, 2022 the Transport Minister specified that there were 9181 bus marshals deployed in DTC buses.
Bus marshals are civil defence volunteers and home guards deputed in DTC buses and recruited by the Department of Revenue and the Directorate General of Home Guards respectively. They are reputed to be dedicated and honest.
More women set to become drivers
The Delhi govt relaxes rules and norms to make operations of public transport more gender inclusive. As a result, more women are set to become bus drivers.
The Transport Department in collaboration with the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited (DIMTS) is implementing a program called ‘Mission Parivartan’ to empower women by becoming heavy vehicle drivers. A joint venture between Ashok Leyland and Delhi Government is facilitating the training of 180 women for procuring heavy vehicle licenses and basic computer training for later recruitment.
On April 1, 2022 a batch of 38 women started their one month training at the Burari Driver Training Institute.
Ease of obtaining Registration Certificates
Now Delhiites can obtain Registration Certificates (RCs) for their new vehicles from their auto dealer showrooms at the time of purchase itself. This facility was opened to the public on Dec 28 2021.
AAP Effect
Kerala Transport Minister Adv. Antony Raju visits Delhi to learn about Delhi’s journey towards tech-enabled, sustainable public transport systems.
