Plight of Blue-line Bus Drivers

The blue-line buses or the infamous ‘killer buses’ are being taken off the roads of New Delhi. During the last five years these buses have been associated with 700 deaths. The Delhi government came out with a phase out plan for these buses in September 2007. Since the launch of this programme, the number of blue-line buses plying on various routes has been reduced to 2,545 from 3,656 initially.

Apart from the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses these blue-line buses have been involved in bearing the burden of the public transport system of Delhi. But the only difference is that these buses are owned by private corporations or contractors. Therefore drivers live on the mercy of the contractors working as daily wagers.

With the Delhi Government’s ambitious plan to replace the blue-line buses with Hi-tech low floor buses, most of these drivers are being rendered jobless. Although the government has promised to reinstate these drivers into the new bus fleet the requirements for the jobs are unacceptable to the bus drivers.

“They (DTC officials) want us to be high school pass and speak a little bit of English. If our parents had the resources or means then we wouldn’t be driving buses but sitting on their seats,” said Satya Prakash, a blue-line bus driver, who would be left without a job and three kids and a wife to feed.

According to the DTC press release, the bus drivers who are not able to fulfil the job eligibility will still have their licenses and permits so that they could get jobs in private buses. Nazir Ahmed, another blueline bus driver, however disagrees. “I came to Delhi from small village near Darbhanga in 1983 and have been driving since then. Now who is going to give a job to an old driver? The government can’t turn its face away from us just like that.”

Most of the drivers have been driving buses for 15 to 20 years. Many are quite old and don’t have the courage to search for new job opportunities. But with such a situation hanging over them they would be forced to move out of the city and lose everything that they have collected over these years.

These drivers want the Delhi Government take some step to end the status quo. Some suggest that the DTC should launch some training programs for the drivers who fail the eligibility criteria. “In the end we can’t do much to avoid the situation. We can just wait and hope that the government realizes our plight,” adds Nazir Ahmed.