That's how the report book of DTC ticket collectors read. Every fourth passenger is a defaulter, it claims

229 out of 5,50,000

That's how the report book of DTC ticket collectors read. Every fourth passenger is a defaulter, it claims

It seems that Delhiites enjoy being on the wrong side of the law. Or so, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) would like you to believe.

The cash-strapped transport utility loses Rs 25-30 lakh in revenues daily to ticketless travel. That's a whopping figure for an organisation that posted a loss of Rs 1,222 crore in 2007-08.

So, why can't the DTC catch the offenders and realise its due? Because, out of the total 1221 ticket collectors only 220 are actually posted on the job. The rest have been shifted to other departments to meet a serious staff crunch, DTC officials said.

"On an average only 229 ticketless travelers are fined each day, which is too little if the actual figure of
Rs 5, 50,000 are any indication," the officials added.

But there is still some hope as the authorities are making an effort to solve the matter. "Last week around 200 senior officials travelled on DTC buses to find out the demerits in the operation.u00a0
"A fine of Rs 200 is levied on a person found traveling without ticket. In most of the cases, we have to let them go, as either they don't have money or they pick up a fight with the ticket collectors. There have been a lot of instances when our officers were beaten by the travelers," the official said.

Action-packed
The DTC will soon form a special squad to catch free travelers. "Last week, 200 senior DTC officials traveled on DTC buses for two days to find out the shortcomings in the operations. They have concluded that almost every fourth person traveling in buses is a free traveller," said the official.

The DTC runs a fleet of 4,100 buses and every day at least 3,600 buses remain in operation. The corporation ferries around 22 lakh people each day from which the estimated ticket revenue is Rs 1.25 crore.
"However, due to free travelers we incur a loss of Rs 25-30 lakh each day," added the official.

Rs 25-30 lakh Daily loss to DTC due to free travelers
Rs 1.25 crore Estimated revenues from a ridership of 22 lakh daily