Delhi Transport Corporation

thumb|A DTC AC CNG Bus

thumb|A DTC Non-AC CNG Bus

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is a public sector passenger road transport corporation that manages bus services in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, India. It was incorporated in November 1971 as a wholly owned corporation of the Government of India to provide an efficient, economical and properly coordinated road transport service in Delhi. Its administrative control was transferred to the Department of Transport, Government of Delhi with effect from 5 August 1996.

As of November 2023, DTC is the largest CNG-powered bus service operator in the world, and also has the largest number of electric buses in India. It operates from 37 depots and three Interstate Bus Terminals in Delhi: Kashmere Gate ISBT, Anand Vihar ISBT, and Sarai Kale Khan ISBT.

History

The Ministry of Transport, Government of India, took over local bus services in Delhi in May 1948 when the services offered by the incumbent service provider Gwalior and Northern India Transport Company Ltd. was found to be insufficient for the growing demand. For this purpose, a Delhi Road Transport Authority was constituted under the Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950. This authority became an undertaking of Municipal Corporation of Delhi by an Act of Parliament in April 1958.

In 1971, on the recommendations of a working group of the Planning Commission, which concluded that Delhi Transport as an extension of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had not been functioning efficiently and adequately that was leading to leakage of revenue and very high operational costs, the Government of India took over management of the undertaking by passing the Delhi Road Transport Laws (Amendment) Act. The newly constituted Delhi Transport Corporation took over assets and liabilities from the DTU up until 2 November 1971.

The administrative control of DTC was transferred to the Department of Transport, Government of Delhi, with effect from 5 August 1996 after writing off all the Union government loans along with the interest accrued on them (amounting to ).

Overview

The objectives of the Delhi Transport Corporation are defined under Section 18 of the Delhi Road Transport Laws (Amendment) Act, 1971, in conjunction with Section 22 of the Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950. These objectives encompass the following responsibilities: These routes are serviced by 7,135 buses, with 4,088 of them under DTC, out of 37 depots and 3 ISBTs. The average number of trips in FY 2021-22 was 31,084 per day. The number of routes being operated by the corporation has been steadily falling over the years under the Delhi government's policy of a 50:50 ratio of DTC buses and cluster buses on every route.

DTC also provides various other provisions like night services, tourist services, and airport express services. It also provides buses to Delhi Police and used to do so for some schools (however, this was stopped in July 2022).

Inter-state bus services

Until 2010, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) operated interstate bus services to cities in North India. These services were discontinued after the fleet transitioned to CNG, a fuel that was not widely available in other states at the time. As of 2023, the Delhi government plans to relaunch interstate services with a fleet of 1,600 premium buses connecting major cities like Dehradun, Jaipur, Shimla, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jammu, and Agra with Delhi. Under this plan, DTC will manage the services in collaboration with selected private operators. The fleet will include 1,200 electric buses designed for routes up to 200 kilometers (120 miles) and 400 BS-VI CNG buses for longer distances.

Fleet

As of March 2025, DTC has a fleet of 4,359 buses, with 3,109 CNG buses and 1,250 electric buses. This makes its fleet the largest CNG bus fleet in the world, and the largest electric bus fleet in India. when DTC received 3,125 new CNG low-floor buses (2500 first, followed by 625), which increased its fleet size to a high of 6,204 buses. This marked the first time DTC acquired low-floor buses, and since then, all subsequent orders have exclusively been for this type of bus. The new buses consisted of air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned Tata-Marcopolo low-floor Starbuses and Ashok Leyland ultra-low-floor (ULF) buses. The air-conditioned buses were painted red, while the non-air-conditioned ones were painted green, making them easily distinguishable. These new buses had features such as automatic transmission, power steering, ramps for disabled people, and stop-request buttons located on grab bars. With the introduction of these buses, Delhi's fleet of 2,400 privately owned "killer" Blueline buses was gradually phased out. In 2011, DTC planned to make use of biogas generated from sewage treatment plants to run its buses.

The second major upgrade to DTC's fleet began in 2021 when the Delhi government decided to exclusively procure electric buses going forward. Subsequently, with deliveries in multiple batches, DTC's fleet of electric buses has grown to 1,752, making it the largest e-bus fleet in India. The new buses feature digital ticketing, GPS, CCTV, and panic buttons, all connected to a two-way centralised command and control center at Kashmere Gate. The Delhi transport department plans to deploy 2,080 more electric buses in Delhi in 2025. 36 of these depots are located in Delhi, with 1 located in the neighbouring city of Noida.

Following are the depots: As of September 2025, it operated a fleet of 2,700 buses — 1,750 CNG and 839 electric — across Delhi under the cluster scheme, categorised by their colour: orange for non-air-conditioned buses and blue for air-conditioned ones. These buses are fitted with GPS devices, which enable real-time tracking of their movement and geographic location through the automatic vehicle location (AVL) system. They are also equipped with electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) as part of an automated fare collection (AFC) system, replacing pre-printed tickets. In January 2018, the Delhi Transport Department began a trial to allow people to use Delhi Metro smart cards for purchasing tickets on these buses.

Under the cluster scheme, private concessionaires are responsible for supplying the buses, ensuring their cleaning and maintenance, and providing staff. In return, they are compensated based on an indexed cost system. This system, which includes the components mentioned below, ensures fair compensation while maintaining cost efficiency and service quality.

A fixed component tied to the cost of the bus,
A variable component covering fuel and maintenance costs, and
A wage-related component adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index.

In December 2025, the Delhi government decided to transfer bus operations handled by the DIMTS to DTC by April 2026. With this, all of Delhi's functions related to bus transport would be under a single authority. Since DIMTS charged 3% of operational costs — around to — to manage operations, this move is expected to bring significant savings.

References

External links

Delhi Transport Corporation Website