End of the road for killer buses

During last decade, Blueline buses had crushed over 1,000 people on Delhi roadsCome February 1 and the Capital's roads will finally be free of the killer Blueline buses. A senior transport department official said that Monday, January 31 will see the last of these buses, which have been in the news only for accidents, plying on the road. Out of a total of 2,052 Blueline buses plying across the city, the Delhi government had shunted out 823 buses on December 14 last year and removed 389 more on December 31. As of now, there has been no change in the earlier order. Remaining Blueline buses will be taken off the roads from February 1, said an official on condition of anonymity. The Blueline bus operators, on the other hand, were calling for 'mercy'.u00a0 We hope there is some good news from the court which has reserved its order on January 20 regarding the final judgment about whether the buses would ply or not. We will abide by the government order. But we hope government would be just and not victimise all for the wrongdoings of some unscrupulous elements,' said, Shyam Lal 'Gola', a representative of Blueline Bus Operators.Another operator pointed out that they can still run the buses as contract carriages where they could be used to ferry office goers and school children. However, demand for such transport is less, he added.u00a0 The option of running the buses on Metro feeder routes is still open, if they (operators) promise to run them with certain decorum. Also, an option of plying them in outer Delhi areas is also being discussed. However, the operators will not get immediate relief as final decision is yet to be arrived at, said a senior transport official.u00a0 When asked why government was going slow, the official pointed out thatu00a0 government as well as the operators are waiting for the final order of the Delhi High Court. Option before Govt A senior transport department official said that DTC now has a fleet of 6,200 buses including 3575 low-floor buses. There will be no problem. At any given day, at least 5,000 DTC buses are out on the roads, said the official.A senior transport department official said that DTC now has a fleet of 6,200 buses including 3575 low-floor buses. There will be no problem. At any given day, at least 5,000 DTC buses are out on the roads, said the official. In the beginning Private buses for public transport were first introduced in 1992 under the name of Redline buses. After these buses got involved in many accidents, they were painted blue in 1996 and called Blueline service. But that didn't help in any way. Blueline buses killed 1,072 people in the last decade, with year 2005 being the worst with 175 deaths. In July 2007, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had announced that these buses will be taken off road by October 2010. The deadline was extended later.