While the Delhi Government has already announced plans to incorporate 10,000 new buses to the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)’s fleet, it seems to be in no hurry to start the process of hiring drivers and conductors, which needs to be done simultaneously. With the tender for around 1,900 buses to be floated soon, and the rest 8,000 over the next few years, the move is set to create a demand for thousands of drivers and conductors, hiring for the same on short notice after the buses arrive won’t be an easy task.
According to an official, there is a requirement of five people for each bus plying on the Delhi roads. With 1,380 semi-low-floor buses and 500 midi-buses planned to be procured this year, 9,400 employees would be needed to run those buses as well. If 10,000 buses are inducted over the next few years, that will create a demand for around 50,000 employees.
“Each bus needs two-and-a-half drivers and the same number of conductors. That’s because each bus runs in two shifts, which needs two drivers and two conductors, and then there’s one day off every week for each employee and also their other rightful leaves per year. An extra employee is needed to cover for the same. That makes the total number of employees required for each bus to five,” said an official.
While the Government has already declared its intention to buy more buses, nothing has been planned to hire employees for these buses. According to a DTC official, a driver for a DTC bus will not only need a valid licence and a PSV (Public Service Vehicle) badge, but is also supposed to be Class Xth pass. “It won’t be very easy to find as many qualified persons here in Delhi. People from other States would also need to be considered,” said the official.
At present, DTC is running around 4,700 buses, out of which 900 are old standard-floor buses which will be phased out when the new lot of buses arrive. Even after that, the State-run transport corporation would have around 1,000 extra buses which would need 2,500 conductors and 2,500 drivers.
“While finding that many conductors may not be a big problem, but finding 2,500 qualified drivers won’t be very easy. It seems the Government would wake up only after the buses start arriving. Right now, we don’t have buses. But in that case, we will have buses, but no drivers and conductors to run them,” said the official.