1,800 of 3,700 GPS devices go missing from DTC buses

Around half of the 3,700 GPS devices, fitted in various DTC buses in the national capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2010, have gone missing.
According to a senior DTC official, around 1,800 such devices have been stolen since their installation in 2010.
The development comes as a setback for Delhi Transport Corporation's aim to make operations of DTC buses more effective in terms of punctuality and to keep a tab on their whereabouts in real time.
DTC had installed GPS devices in 3,700 buses, including AC and non-AC floor buses with an aim to improve bus service ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Corporation had also installed passenger information systems at various bus shelters across the national capital in order to track bus operation.
"Of the 3,700, nearly 1,800 GPS devices have been stolen from AC and non-AC floor buses since their installation. DTC has also registered several FIRs in this regard and nobody has been able to know who are involved in these thefts," said a senior DTC official on condition on anonymity.

The official also added that there have now been around 1,800 GPS devices left in DTC buses, many of which are not working properly due to which our plan of making bus operation effective in terms of punctuality has seemingly failed.

Some of the devices in DTC buses have been found tampered with.
Sources said that drivers could be behind all this as if a GPS device works properly, movement of the bus can easily be tracked by control room set up at Millennium Depot.
"We are very surprised that GPS devices are missing at a large scale, which is spoiling DTC's aim of keeping tab on bus movement in the national capital," the official added.