DIMTS’s women conductors a surprise hit with commuters

NEW DELHI: For many travelling on the Teevra Mudrika between Punjabi Bagh and Lajpat Nagar, the journey during work hours on an orange cluster bus has become “safer”. Across town, commuters on route 623, between Shahdara and CPWD colony Vasant Vihar, have also given their vote of confidence for the new setup on the route. So what’s different? Both are routes where the orange cluster buses are running—with female conductors on board.
A spokeswoman for DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System), which runs these cluster buses, said, “The DIMTS customer care department has received very positive feedback from commuters regarding female conductors in the bus. There are 50 female conductors in the system and most operate on four major routes including the Teevra Mudrika.” Now, DIMTS says it is planning to put more female conductors on more routes.
With the introduction of women conductors, DIMTS claims it is hoping to make public commuting a safer option for its bus users. While only 50 of the 3,000 conductors on its rolls are female, DIMTS says the impact can already be seen. DIMTS runs around 1,000-plus cluster buses. While commuters have claimed that they feel safer, DIMTS says that unscheduled stops and ticketless travel has come down as women are perceived to be chary of getting into a nexus with the drivers.
In fact, DIMTS says that the schedule of the female bus conductors has been deliberately kept to reflect regular office hours. “The idea is to cater to the office crowd and basically make all working women who travel by bus feel comfortable,” said the DIMTS official. The customer feedback was particularly positive about the female conductors’ “polite behaviour” and “public dealing” ability. Women commuters also felt safer and more secure, especially in the evening hours.