The Hindu : New Delhi News : Volvo buses to roll on inter-State routes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 09, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Volvo buses to roll on inter-State routes

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, APRIL 8. The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has virtually shelved its plan to run the state-of-the-art luxury Volvo buses on the Delhi-Lahore route and is all set to put them on trial runs on the Delhi-Kalka and Delhi-Dehra Dun routes before deciding on the fate of four buses which it seeks to lease from the company to be run under a kilometre scheme on the inter-State routes.

A senior DTC official said while running the Rs. 52 lakh air-conditioned luxury buses -- which would come fitted with modern gadgets and even a coffee service counter -- on the Delhi-Lahore circuit has been put off for the time being, extensive trials have been planned on the two inter-State routes to test their performance over a couple of months.

"Only once the trials have taken place will we decide on procurement of four buses, which we intend to take for operations on the inter-State circuit," said the official, adding that the Corporation was also not inclined towards an outright purchase of the vehicles and was instead keen on taking the buses on lease basis.

Under this option, he said, the buses would be provided by the company on a per-kilometre basis for which the DTC will have to pay around Rs 14 per km plus the cost of diesel utilised in the operation. However, this would rid the Corporation of the headache of both operating and maintaining the vehicles.

But right now the DTC officials are worried about how to use these buses in a profitable manner. "The cost of operating them is high and so we want to run them on the important tourist routes so that the returns are high." These buses are incidentally being run profitably through private operators by the Rajasthan State Roadways Transport Corporation.

It was their operation in Rajasthan which had attracted the Delhi Government to the idea of introducing them in Delhi. And it was even being said that in the first week of April, the Delhi Assembly Speaker, Ajay Maken, will along with a mix of elected representatives, hoteliers, tour operators, eminent personalities, mediapersons and officials embark on the inaugural journey of these buses to Lahore. But that has not happened despite the fact that the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, had pressed for the induction of these ultra-modern buses in the Delhi Transport Corporation fleet for running them between Delhi and Lahore and had even taken a test ride on a Volvo bus last year.

Even last year the KM Scheme was discussed at length but did not come through following a stalemate on the issue of guarantee as the company was also eager that it be contracted for a minimum number of kilometres per day -- just the way Rajasthan had given it a cover of around 600 km daily -- but no one was willing to stand surety in Delhi. It was for this reason that operations to Lahore were not deemed profitable as while going there the buses were travelling just about 1,100 km per week. But now with this issue getting resolved and plans been set rolling to run them on the inter-State routes, it seems the Volvo buses will finally see the light of the day under the banner of DTC.

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