[embee]

As per NDTV Auto news, The National Green Tribunal criticised the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for often plying its air conditioned buses without passengers. The green court also issued notice to the suppliers of the buses, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, for improper maintenance of the buses.









NGT suggested that small size buses be used during lean traffic period. The Tribunal added, "We are not asking you to stop the bus service rather you should change the size of bus. Do you know the cost of running these buses? How many buses have you tested for noise? What do you test the buses for? Have you ever seen a single bus which does not make horrible noise. Their noise is annoying. If anyone is behind that bus he will get mad within no time.

As far as the maintenance of the buses is concerned, the green bench clarified that "there can be no hanging bumpers and rubber strips in your buses. Ensure physical inspection through your senior officers. If your message does not reach the driver and conductor then there is no point in the inspection.



The tribunal has also instructed DTC to ensure that its buses go through a mechanical check-up once every month and is checked for pollution under control (PUC) certificate at least twice a month.

Read at: http://auto.ndtv.com/news/ngt-issues...from=home-auto
Pictures: Google Images

[AkMar]

A similar notice must be issued to BEST also, for their AC buses. They are in similar situation. Poorly maintained, generally empty and make a lot of noise

[coolboy007]

DTC, Tata and Ashok leyland do deserve a beating for the horrible maintenance they do for these buses. I can see 1-2 buses break down daily due to overheating with their backs open, that too in peak times which worsens the traffic situation. Drivers happily park the bus in whichever lane it breaks down and the rest of motorists get stuck.

From the front, these buses are dead silent and from the back, it seems as if an airbus 320 is taking off

[greenhorn]

I'm not sure the NGT's idea on running smaller buses during lean periods makes sense - Does the marginal fuel savings from using smaller buses justify the additional investment?

[alpha1]

NGT should advise dynamic pricing on the buses.
High price during rush hours, low price during lean times.

Of course it would be a political mistake and therefore such a suggestion will never see the light.
And therefore idiotic suggestions like keeping a separate fleet of smaller buses see the light.

[embee]

Most of DTC buses breakdown on flyovers in Delhi causing massive jams stretching almost about 1kms or more.

Like for example, whenever a bus breaks down on Ashram flyover, half of DND flyway is choked causing pollution as well as wastage of fuel.

[ssambyal1980]

Originally Posted by embee

As per NDTV Auto news, The National Green Tribunal criticised the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for often plying its air conditioned buses without passengers. The green court also issued notice to the suppliers of the buses, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, for improper maintenance of the buses.

Not long ago it was the same scenario in Chandigarh as well, where the entire fleet of local buses (both AC Red Coloured & Non AC Green Coloured) are rear engined manufactured by TATA (Model Name: Marcopolo). The only time when these buses run to their full capacity is the morning and the evening rush hours, whereas during the lean hours, most of them are plying empty, with only a handful of passengers.

Low Floor Non AC Green Bus of CTU (Chandigarh Transport Undertaking)


Low Floor AC Red Bus of CTU


So finally after much deliberations by the Chandigarh Administration and CTU, a decision was taken to introduce midi AC buses to be plied during lean rush hours. Hence these were procured from Ashok Leyland and SML (Swaraj Mazda Limited)

Midi AC Bus of CTU (Maker: Ashok Leyland)


Midi AC (Red) & Non AC (Green) Buses of CTU (Maker: SML)

[honeybee]

Do Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland have contracts for maintaining the buses, and does the DTC make the buses available to them as per the contract?
The way the NGT is going about things does seem ridiculous at times, but sadly the state of affairs won't improve at all unless such measures are adopted.

[embee]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Do Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland have contracts for maintaining the buses, and does the DTC make the buses available to them as per the contract?.

As per times of India news dated 09 July 2014, With no bus manufacturer showing interest, Delhi Transport Corporation has decided to amend its annual maintenance contract for attracting bidders.

DTC, has reworked parts of the annual maintenance contract (AMC) after the previous tenders failed to get bids. It has not only changed the terms of the maintenance period but also tweaked factors like mileage and the infrastructure provided.

DTC chairman Debashree Mukherjee said, "A number of issues were raised by manufacturers during the bidding process." DTC will now acquire semi-low floor buses instead of low floor ones and also offer a different AMC.

The maintenance period has been brought down to 10 years from 12 along with the distance to be covered, which is now 6.5 lakh kilometres from 7.5 lakh units. The mileage expected from each kg of CNG will now be determined under test conditions. A senior DTC official said, "Earlier, there was a CNG guarantee, which required the manufacturer to ensure a mileage determined from a field test, which was usually under ideal conditions. If the bus didn't give the mileage, the manufacturer was penalized."

Now, the mileage will be determined under test conditions, including variables like driving skills and the weather. Plying buses in Delhi's weather, which is said to affect the bus engines, has been a problem for DTC.

Also, the infrastructure at the depots will now be supplied by DTC instead of the manufacturer. This includes building pits for buses and maintenance kits.

However, the bidders demand that DTC put a cap on the penalty has not been accepted. Said Mukherjee, "If the manufacturer cannot maintain services, penalties will be charged as before."

Delhi Transport Corporation has been looking for bus suppliers or some time to replenish its bus fleet. According to officials, the corporation urgently needs to acquire 1,380 buses to replace 1,200 buses that are part of its old, aging fleet.

These semi-low-floor buses are also considerably cheaper than the low-floor buses, officials said. While the low-floor buses cost Rs 60-70 lakh, these semi-low-floor buses are expected to cost around Rs 30-35 lakh.

Read @ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/DTC-alters-contract-terms-to-attract-bus-suppliers/articleshow/38039042.cms

[Hayek]

The NGT is a classic case of nutty former judges running amuck and opining on things they know nothing about. With any kind of public transport, occupancy in non peak hours will be low. But if public transport runs only during peak hours, people will not use it. And spending twice the capex to have two fleets, which need to be manufactured, paid for, parked and maintained is a recipe for bankrupting the RTCs.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Hayek

... is a recipe for bankrupting the RTCs.

As if they already aren't! (the same story as goes for most of the govt run organizations)
Unfortunately, in our country, many people look up to such nutty professors, and in fact believe in such organizations ("only these guys are doing what needs to be done", the Assam car ban case is not much different)

[ssambyal1980]

Instead of abetting the transport corporation to commit financial harakiri by directing it to introducing small buses, which will result in huge economic burden, the most feasible option would be to increase and decrease the frequency of buses on the routes in tandem with the passenger rush during different hours of the day.

[sgiitk]

I do not think mqny buses are maintained by the vendor. Most places (esp State owned) buy the chassis and get their own bodies built on them.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I do not think mqny buses are maintained by the vendor. Most places (esp State owned) buy the chassis and get their own bodies built on them.

Professor, that used to be the case, but with the JnNURM & JnNURM-2, the manufacturers are required to supply fully built vehicles (FBVs) that meet the UBS-II (for JnNURM-2) specs. DTC was probably the first to completely shift to CNG, and they used JnNURM to revamp their fleet

[hybridpetrol]

I take Bangalore Whitefield area as an example. The only customers for the A/C Volvo buses plying in this area are the Software employees working in the Whitefield area and they come from different places from Old Airport Road / Marathahalli areas, BTM layout, Silkboard areas etc.
During the morning hours, all the buses going to the Whitefield Special Economic Zone (ITPL / EPIP zone) area full to the brim, and the buses are insufficient to handle the requirement. However, the return buses are empty, for more than half the distance. In the evenings the opposite way buses return plain empty.
Since for doing additional trips, the same buses have to return, I don't think there is any other way. Running mini buses won't help as during peak hours even the huge buses are not sufficient.
I also observed that during non-peak hours & afternoons, the trips are reduced and just parked in the Whitefield bus terminus. I believe similar would be the case with Delhi as well?
NGT, while issuing such orders should also have a wing within itself to suggest some meaningful solutions. How good it will be, if the NGT comes up with a solution to handling the scenarios (such as imbalanced traffic in opposite directions), rather than just directives and bans.