Sick deluxe buses plied as ‘white board’ services

Interestingly, a majority of the deluxe services that were introduced with much fanfare a few years ago have turned sick and become unfit for operation. Such vehicles have been downgraded with just a colour change (white) in the route board and are operated as ordinary services with an eye on revenue.

Reliable sources while confirming this technique to DTNext blamed poor maintenance for the condition of the vehicles. According to them, the MTC is operating about 3,500 buses to various destinations in the city and suburbs. Further, it is also operating around 1,800 semi-low floor buses, which are classified as deluxe services. Commuters and activists allege that the MTC was ‘fleecing’ them with the colour technique and added that such unfit buses often get halted due to breakdown or technical snags. 

Aswathy Dilip, Programme Manager, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, who had done several studies on transportation, said, “According to norms, any bus should be replaced after six years. Going by the present scenario, around 85 per cent of the MTC fleet are plying even after their stipulated life of 6 to 8 years.” 

The activist also stressed that such unfit vehicles put lives of commuters at risk. When contacted, V Krishnamurthy, Managing Director, MTC while assuring that they would look into the issue, said, “We have been routinely replacing unfit buses after proper inspection.”