DTC bus breakdown: cost to tax payers

Reality check

Delhi Traffic Police recorded 4896 traffic jams in 2016. Of the 1204 recorded jams due to vehicle breakdown in the middle of the road, most and toughest ones were caused by the breakdown of the DTC buses, as per data provided by Delhi Traffic police. In addition to commuters frustration and economic loss due to lost time, jams cause a significant burden to national exchequer due to addition fuel burnt. The International Energy Agency- IEA, expects India’s oil demand to rise the fastest by 6.0 million barrels per day to 9.8 mb/d in 2040. It projects that oil production will fall behind demand, pushing oil import dependence above 90% by 2040. The transport sector alone is expected to account for two-thirds of the rise in oil demand with 260 million additional passenger cars, 185 million new two- and three-wheelers and nearly 30 million new trucks and vans being added to the vehicle stock.

With no credible study by Central Road Research Institute-CRRI, if one has to go to an old study by CSIR-CRRI on similar traffic congestions at Delhi's eight most erratic traffic bottlenecks, Delhi can save at least 40,000 kilolitres of fuel daily by avoiding erratic traffic jams. This could further save about 115 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and tonnes of other harmful emissions.