Diwali day - Delhiites zipping by in their swank cars stopped and stared, treated as they were to a spectacle of green on the roads. At long last, here was public (road) transport in the capital city which made you say, 'wow' on the face of it. A dozen sleek green buses had made their debut.
As a veteran of many a hair-raising Blueline ride, I simply had to assure myself it was indeed possible to undertake a bus journey with some degree of comfort. So Saturday afternoon I landed in Sivaji Stadium terminus in Connaught Place, waiting for the dream bus.
It was a bit of a wait, but the Tata-Marcopolo bus lived up to expectations. Here was a low-floored bus which women, children and the physically challenged could board easily. Automatic gear system, GPS - drivers have the latest technology in front of them. And speed governors are firmly in place to halt the drivers' adrenaline rush.
And all those macho males can no longer cling on to the footboard, because the door has to be closed before the bus moves.
But sleekness can also be a double-edged sword. The day I was travelling the bus crew was all at sea grappling with a GPS system which had to be activated for the bus to move. Technology is great, but what if the end-users don't know how to use it? Also with so many poor stretches of roads, are these buses too delicate to survive? Three buses reportedly broke down on day one.
It's a pity that the Delhi government needed to quote the 2010 Commonwealth Games to move forward on basic transport infrastructure. The capital city of the country should have acted long back. That said, here's to a green future without the rampaging bluelines.
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