Watch out killers on the road - Delhi's Blueline buses

Delhi's Blueline buses seem to be hogging too much of the limelight now and for all the wrong reasons.Suddenly no other transport service in India seems to be having such a bad safety record.What's wrong with this bus service all of a sudden,looks more like a killing machine than a community service vehicle.Actually there are some bizarre theories going on like for instance the one saying that there is the hand of the Pakistan ISI behind all this and this is their attempt at sabotaging the Commonwealth games etc etc.

But seriously speaking what ails this transport service.Agreed that there may also be occasions where the the accidents may not have been caused by these buses alone,but so frequent are the accidents now that it is impossible to absolve them from guilt completely. Speed limiting devices seem to have almost no effect after all a Bus even at 20kmph can still be a killing machine in the hands of a maniacal driver.

Delhi just needs to look around at the transport system in the other metro's.What could be the difference,BEST drivers are government employees with fixed wages[not dependent on number of trips made],more essentially they have to undergo training before they are on the job.So is this a case where the Public sector may be more efficient at a job than the private sector?The answer may very well be yes atleast for the present structure prevalent in countries like India.Right now it is very difficult to make profits from Public transport[ofcourse there are a few exceptions,Banagalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation for example].

Yes it is not possible for the Government in Delhi to replace these buses overnight by an alternate arrangement but what the government can ensure is regulate the schedules of these buses,collect details of the drivers and conductors and ensure that they have some sort of training[I applaud the government for taking the first step in this direction],ask the bus owners to compensate the victims of the accidents,with the help of the traffic police try and ensure that no rules are violated [perhaps even have special squads only for the same].These can only be temporary solutions till a suitable public transport alternative is found till then if you are anywhere near delhi watch out for the killing machines on the roads[The blueline buses].