The Hindu : New Delhi News : DTC to rationalise fares

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

DTC to rationalise fares

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, FEB. 8 . Having been able to bring its working deficit down to Rs 19.5 crores in December 2004 as against the monthly average of Rs 22.5 crores earlier by declaring every depot an independent cost centre through signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Depot Managers and the Corporate Office in November 2004, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is now seeking rationalisation of bus fares and reimbursement of social costs being borne by it to even bridge the existing loss.

While the Corporation is upbeat at the success of its "comprehensive strategy'' to revitalise the organisation, the "Report on DTC", which mentions how through rationalisation of the city bus fare structure by the Delhi Government the Corporation plans to raise another Rs 3 crores, may not really enthuse the travelling public as it means an increase in DTC fares and consequently an increase in the fares of private buses as well.

Moreover, DTC now also wants to be reimbursed for the social costs being borne by it in the form of concessional travel facility offered to various sections of society. And it intends to mobilise an additional Rs 6.08 crores through this move. But here again the trade-off will have to be with the Delhi Government and the consultations could well result in removal of a few of the concessions.

Still in the red, as senior officials put it, the Corporation is focusing on total operational efficiency, cost-consciousness, new management practices and customer orientation as the four mantras for bridging the remaining gap as well. In this direction, it has also proposed that it be allowed to raise funds through property development the way the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation does to subsidise its fares.

Through property development and publicity and advertisement plan for its depots, terminals and buses located at prime location, the DTC is hoping to rake in around Rs 4.5 crores. It is also going in for the augmentation of the city bus fleet through addition of 600 buses which are expected to make it leave it richer by around Rs 3.50 crores every month.

The mounting losses have also made the Corporation sit up and take note of various management techniques for improving its financial position. Through the internal MoU with the Depot Managers it has sought to instil cost-consciousness among them by aligning incentives with targets set for cost reduction and setting a minimum target of 10 per cent from the existing levels as the benchmark.

The fleet, inventory and human resources have been integrated to ensure high degree of maintenance standards and this has helped in reducing the down-time of vehicles in depot workshops in day shift and thereby led to improvement in productivity and made operations more regular and punctual. The efforts have also led to reduction in CNG consumption by around 7 paise per kilometre.

Further, to plug revenue pilferage, three-dimensional holograms have been introduced on DTC passes, two conductors are being used on buses during peak hours and the checking against ticketless commuting has been intensified.

To mitigate the shortage of drivers, DTC has taken to outsourcing of drivers which has helped in reduction of staff cost with no long-term liability and has also improved evening shift outshedding of buses that has improved overall efficiency and corporations revenue.

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