Free travel for women, an AAP gamechanger but DTC already sinking in revenue loss abyss: The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government on Monday proposed making public transport free for women across the capital. The public transport system in Delhi — Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Delhi Transport Corporation and the cluster scheme buses — are most likely to incur revenue losses following the decision. While the Delhi government cited women’s security and a push to encourage the use of public transport by women, the loss of revenues is a key concern for officials. The Delhi government has said it will suffer a Rs 700 crore hit to its exchequer by this move.
Over 42 lakh people travel by bus and almost 30 lakh ride the Metro. Among women travellers, around 20% of them travel by buses and 25% of them travel by metro. There are reports that waiving fare for women in DTC buses would not be that difficult for the Delhi government as it will be for the Metro. The Delhi government is a 50:50 equity partner in DMRC with the Union government. However, it has made it clear that it will bear all the expenses of this scheme and it would take two to three months to implement it.
Earlier, the AAP government had claimed that it would reduce Metro fares by 25-30 per cent if given full control over Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. DTC, among the most criticised wings of the Delhi government, tabled a working loss of Rs 1750.37 crore in the Delhi Economic Survey 2018-19 tabled in the Delhi Assembly in February this year. The DTC already needs funds from the NCT government to overcome this extent of the loss.
Despite the state government stopping the process of giving loans to meet the shortfall and giving direct assistance, the DTC has been one of the most stellar and visible signs of failure, irrespective of who rules Delhi, with buses suffering brake-downs along the capital’s road and ending up as traffic bottlenecks. While the Delhi Metro is fiscally stronger, the continuing shambles in DTC and the new subsidy for women will most likely add to cutbacks that will impact fleet maintenance. The DTC fleet is just below 4,000 from over 5,000 in 2013-14.
Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement has been called futile by Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari but could be a gamechanger in the capital, which votes on amenities more than communally polarising politics. Free travel for women in public transport sounds very similar to the water-power combo that brought AAP to power in 2014-15. AAP, however, couldn’t ride the full statehood campaign in the Lok Sabha election 2019, all its candidates from 7 Delhi Lok Sabha seats went to the BJP.
