A stitch in time saves nine. To ensure that the traffic woes of the common man are addressed effectively, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) in collaboration with the private bus manufacturers maintains a fleet of vehicles also known as the Repair Vehicle. On an average, DTC receives nearly 300 calls per day related to breakdown of the buses on the rickety roads of the national Capital.
In a bid to curb a massive traffic jam from taking place when a bus breaks down in the middle of the road, bus manufacturers such as Tata and Ashoka layland send their mechanics on the spot. For the sole purpose of maintaining the DTC buses, the bus manufacturers maintain what is called as a repair or maintenance vehicles.
“These repair vehicles are maintained by the complaint panel who receive calls regarding breakdown of DTC buses on a regular basis. There are total of 49 bus depots, which are divided into four zones. Each zone has a minimum of four repair vehicles,” said a senior Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) official.
Each DTC has its zonal office in Wazirpur Depot (North), Vasant Vihar (South), IP Depot (East) and Mayapuri Depot (West).
The official further shared that in any given situation, it takes a minimum of 35 up to one hour for the repair vehicles to reach the spot where the bus breaks down. For instance, if a bus breaks down in the carriageway from Punjabi Bagh towards Rajouri Garden, there will be an obstruction in traffic.
These repair vehicles are equipped with the best of the tools and techniques used to repair the low floor buses of the DTC. “Since the problem of bus breakdowns is frequent due to some wiring issues or problem with the CNG, we ask the professional mechanics to repair the bus. The breakdown of the bus is the sole responsibility of the bus
manufacturers.”
A senior DTC official told The Pioneer that it is only in extreme cases of traffic snarls that the DTC gets in touch with the Delhi Traffic Police. “On any given regular day, we (DTC) receive call at the helpline about the breakdown and we further communicate it to the mechanics. The stipulated time period to get the bus repaired goes up to 2 hours. At any given point of time, it takes a lot of time to make the repair in the bus. If the repair work takes more than four hours, we put penalty clause on the mechanic following which the concerned bus manufacturing company has to pay the penalty. In the beginning the penalty was Rs 2,000. At present, the penalty for crossing the four hour period is Rs 3,000.