21 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Students in Delhi need U-Shuttles, Not U-Specials
Last week CM Rekha Gupta announced the reviving of U-Special bus services. 'The Delhi government is once again starting the youth special, which will be on DU's route with a little bit of music playing in the bus. This is my gift to students today,' Gupta said while addressing a crowd of students during the inauguration of a new academic block at the university's Social Centre School last week.
U-Specials was a Delhi Transport Corporation run bus fleet which operated from different parts of the city mainly to the Delhi University main campus in North Delhi. Their service was at its peak in the 1970s and 80s, when hordes of buses would arrive at Maurice Nagar and Patel Chest Institute intersections early morning to help students catch 8.30 classes. For the outward movement, there were three schedules, 12.30 pm, 1.30 pm and 3.30 pm.
The travellers in these buses were also users of the pink colour Student Pass. Many teachers, who lived at distance from the campus, would also take this service and they were accorded due respect offering them the available seats.
The teachers who lived closer to the campus mainly used scooters and motorcycles.
There were few who owned Fiat and Maruti 800. Some more stylish would have a Maruti Wagon. These buses had a unique 'academic'culture. While in college one makes friends with classmates, department mates but if were using U-Specials you could also make friends with bus mates. There are also stories about the marriages which were made not in the heavens but in the buses.
By 1990s, the monopoly of DTC buses were over as the government allowed private operators under Redline (later Blueline) services, who refused to entertain student passes.
These buses also lacked the exclusive culture of U-Specials. By the turn of the century the Metro train had started to run.
While the private buses were boarded out and DTC fleet revived ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the U-Sp cials could not be resuscitated.
