I am from Delhi and have travelled by Delhi public buses extensively for the past 5 years. My college was about 22 kms or more from my house, and there were no direct buses. There were DTC buses, which were very few in number, but offered free and fast rides, and there were private Blueline buses.
Now, I am in a small historic town in New York State, which HAS public transport, which is amazing, given the population of the town. This service is called CDTA, Capital District Transport Authority (hopefully, the right expansion of the acronym).
Buses are interesting places, and offer a unique experience which people driving private vehicles are unlikely to understand or appreciate.
Getting free rides with college IDs in CDTA is quite convenient, except the time when we carry about 8 heavy grocery bags from PriceChopper. We need to keep the ID in hand, to show it as we enter the bus, which means all the 8 bags in the other hand… :(The Bus Pass for DTC is quite an interesting story in itself, so here it goes…
The Bus Pass costs Rs. 75 for five months, or $1.5 (cheaper than a slice of cheese pizza). If you think Indian currency is way too depreciated considering this amount, let me tell you that this money is peanuts, even when compared to the normal bus fares in Delhi. Rs. 12.5 a month is an investment that starts paying for itself from the second ride onwards. For the records, this fare continues from the time my dad went to college, and attempts to increase the fare are scared off by student protests.
But getting the Bus Pass is quite a hassle or an adventure, depending on your perspective. DTC bus pass office is one office with the least working hours in the world, so if you are looking for a job that is more like a free lunch than a gurudwara langar, and if you are brainless, lazy and inefficient, in addition to being a bad photographer, DTC will hire you.
Now, for some random reason, whichever month or date you get your bus pass made, it expires on exactly the same date as everyone else, ensuring that there are long queues every 5 months at the Bus Pass office.
There is a form that needs your picture, and your college’s seal. The first queue is for the verification of the form, and other docs. The girls’ queue leads to a counter manned by a fellow who is a die-hard Ekta Kapoor fan. He flirts in an unusual way; he invokes the TV Soap which has a character named the same as the girl at the counter. I was asked… “Are you Shruti from Kahaani Ghar Ghar ki?”… My puzzled expression led the kind fellow to hum the title song of the soap for me, and give me a plot outline. Yes, it is THAT random...
Once the form is verified, you need to pay up, and sit on a high chair, to have your picture taken by a “Digital Camera” which probably dates back to the 1970’s, when the first DTC computerized bus pass was probably made… the pictures that camera takes are awesome, everyone looks like a ghost, and everyone looks the same in the blurred black and white pictures it spews.
Doors close in CDTA buses, and the bus is warm in winters. DTC conductors used to claim that it was against the law to close the bus doors, even if we froze to death on seats near the back door.
I was in a CDTA bus, one rainy day, and the roof leaked…Actually, leaked is an understatement, it poured at various spots, almost like a tap. I was unfortunate enough to have a seat right under one of the taps. I got my jacket hood on, and waited for the ordeal to get over. I actually toyed with the idea of opening my umbrella, but I decided against it, because I didn’t want to embarrass my friends, who are in favor of social niceties.
I have actually opened an umbrella in a Blueline bus in Delhi, and provided rain shelter to the crowd around. :)
Change of drivers in DTC involves a chai break, in CDTA it’s a long winded conversation. The chai break is quite vague, since the driver and conductor just walk off without any explanations. They sometimes actually return after chai in 10 minutes. At other times they just abandon the bus, in which case you got to get off, and jostle to get into the next bus on that route, since an entire bus of people have been stranded midway along with you.
CDTA guys usually take about 10 minutes for the changeover, in which the outgoing and incoming drivers exchange gossip, news and trivia, with the bus door open, and passengers freezing. The old driver bids a proper goodbye to passengers, and the new one extends a cheerful welcome, in a route, where the destination is a maximum of 20 minutes away. American Politeness!!!
Route 87 traverses a winded, wiggly route, making you wonder if you passed the same street about 5 minutes ago. Your doubt is well-founded, since the bus keeps going up and down on the same roads in circles, but does manage to help you carry groceries.
Have you heard that the shortest distance b/w two points is a straight line? The route designers at RPI have obviously not heard it. It was bitterly cold and windy one not-so-fine day. I was unhappily trudging along the 10-minute walk to my home from the school. I spotted a RPI shuttle, which has a bus-stop about 4 minutes away from my house. I wanted to be warm, if only for 6 minutes, so I flagged the bus and got on….
It started in the right direction, then took a random turn, and went into some loopy route. Every time I thought I was almost there, another random turn was taken, and I was finally dropped at my stop after 25 minutes.Analogous to the RPI shuttle is the outer mudrika, which does a five-and-a half hour loop around Delhi.
Bluelines race other buses on similar routes, in a fight to get most passengers. This race is more alive and exciting than formula 1, with the conductor hurling victorious abuses whenever his bus overtakes the other, with returning compliments from the other bus in its winning streak. The overtaking is done in centimeter gaps, is exhilarating, but scary too.
The balancing act while standing in a bus is an art that is learnt with practice. Exact position of feet, and best arm holds, can let you read a novel or even sleep while standing in a crowded and speeding bus. I have been there, done that... :)
Bus stop announcement is more alive and interesting in Blueline than any other bus I have ever been in. There is an additional employee called “cleaner” in Blueline buses, whose job description is to thump on the side of the bus and loudly announce the bus route in a sing song to attract passengers.
Only poor students and poor people seem to use the buses in both places, I am thankful to be still in the first category. And I like riding by buses so much, that I might continue doing it, and not fulfill my roomie’s wish by buying a car…
