Transportation Part 2-- The Killer Buses
It is not uncommon in Delhi for buses to kill pedestrians. There are two major city-bus companies in Delhi: the DTC buses and the Blueline buses. The Bluelines have been dubbed "The Killer Buses" and have already killed 76 people in 2007. The problem is that, first of all, the drivers get paid PER passenger they pick up, so they race each other to be the first to arrive at the bus stop. The second problem is that, at the same time, the bosses of the Blueline penalize drivers for not finishing their routes on time. It's crazy, no? So apparently, the bus drivers simply mow down people crossing the street in their path. Whether this happens because the drivers just don't give a damn, or because their brakes are rusty and they can't stop in time, I'm not sure. Either way, the bus driver usually ends up fleeing the scene of the crime, later gets caught by the police, gets beaten up, and arrested for reckless driving.
The problem isn't only the carelessness of drivers and the strange workings of the Blueline system. It's also that on Indian roads, one finds a mixture of cars, buses, trucks, auto-rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, bicycles, mule or camel-driven carts, pedestrians, the occasional elephant, and the ubiquitous cow. With all of the different speeds of these various vehicles, traffic is chaotic and unpredictable. On large highways, there is a single lane that is designated for animal-driven vehicles, bicycles, auto-rickshaws (kind of like golf carts, they are Delhi's cheap taxis), pedestrians, and buses. The buses are forced either to drive at 5mph, drive out of their lane (and break the law in doing so), or mow down the slow-moving obstacles in front of them. Furtthermore, while certain busy roads have well-placed pedestrian footbridges or subways above or below them, many do not, so pedestrians have no option but to dash across the road. There are hardly any traffic lights that give the friendly "To Walk" signal, and those that do, are ignored anyway by the traffic, which continues to hurtle past.
The government's "solution" to the Blueline crisis was to ban all Blueline buses from the roads on a certain day several weeks ago. Only when the drivers presented their buses for a "fitness inspection" and received a certificate of fitness, could they return to "ply" the roads. The problem with this was that for several days, the number of Blueline buses on the road went from 900-something to 0, leaving commuters stranded. Despite the recklesness of the Bluelines, thousands of people take them to work every day- in fact, the buses are usually so packed that people hang out the side doors. There's gotta be a better solution than that...
In other news, today is the Indian holiday of Raksha Bandhan, in which sisters thank their brothers for offering them protection and brotherly love, and brothers pledge to renew their protection for another year. Since my own brother is MIA somewhere in the woods of New Hampshire, I asked my buddy Bryce who lives in Delhi to be my brother until I leave here. Shoutout to Bryce. I hope it doesn't cost him too much.
The problem isn't only the carelessness of drivers and the strange workings of the Blueline system. It's also that on Indian roads, one finds a mixture of cars, buses, trucks, auto-rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, bicycles, mule or camel-driven carts, pedestrians, the occasional elephant, and the ubiquitous cow. With all of the different speeds of these various vehicles, traffic is chaotic and unpredictable. On large highways, there is a single lane that is designated for animal-driven vehicles, bicycles, auto-rickshaws (kind of like golf carts, they are Delhi's cheap taxis), pedestrians, and buses. The buses are forced either to drive at 5mph, drive out of their lane (and break the law in doing so), or mow down the slow-moving obstacles in front of them. Furtthermore, while certain busy roads have well-placed pedestrian footbridges or subways above or below them, many do not, so pedestrians have no option but to dash across the road. There are hardly any traffic lights that give the friendly "To Walk" signal, and those that do, are ignored anyway by the traffic, which continues to hurtle past.
The government's "solution" to the Blueline crisis was to ban all Blueline buses from the roads on a certain day several weeks ago. Only when the drivers presented their buses for a "fitness inspection" and received a certificate of fitness, could they return to "ply" the roads. The problem with this was that for several days, the number of Blueline buses on the road went from 900-something to 0, leaving commuters stranded. Despite the recklesness of the Bluelines, thousands of people take them to work every day- in fact, the buses are usually so packed that people hang out the side doors. There's gotta be a better solution than that...
In other news, today is the Indian holiday of Raksha Bandhan, in which sisters thank their brothers for offering them protection and brotherly love, and brothers pledge to renew their protection for another year. Since my own brother is MIA somewhere in the woods of New Hampshire, I asked my buddy Bryce who lives in Delhi to be my brother until I leave here. Shoutout to Bryce. I hope it doesn't cost him too much.
posted by Molly at 10:19 PM
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