The Delhi government had decided to withdraw its decision to introduce 1,000 semi-low floor buses as part of the new fleet to be introduced before the Commonwealth Games and go all low-floor. The cash-strapped Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), though, is already upbeat.

Its fare collections — courtesy the red and green low-floor buses first introduced in November 2007 — have starkly improved over the last few months. According to senior DTC officials, apart from the numbers — the DTC has about 779 new buses — the reduced cost of operations — from Rs 19 per km to Rs 16 per km — has also helped.

“Our collections have improved over the last few months,” said a senior DTC official. As per the figures provided by the department, the collections for low-floor buses have risen to Rs 41,000 per bus per day from last year’s less than Rs 35,000 per bus per day at peak hours.

“The collection for air-conditioned buses during peak summer was as much as Rs 48,000 per day per bus. Now it has gone down by about Rs 6,000 per day due to the change in weather,” he said.

These collections are according to the current fare structure, which will be altered after November 1, as per Monday’s decision of the Delhi Cabinet on the fare-hike.

“We have managed to bring down the operational costs, which are a major reason for our cash deficit,” said an official.

While the operational cost is about Rs 85 crore per month, officials say through revenue generation and fare collection, the department can manage only Rs 35 crore a month.

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