In a tweet, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said, the Delhi government has taken this decision to encourage people to use public transport. The Delhi Transport Corporation has a bus fleet of around four thousand buses while there are over 1,600 cluster buses.
Five days of free rides would amount to DTC losing about Rs 9.5 crore. "This will an added burden on us as we are already making losses," a DTC official said on the condition of anonymity.
According to CAG reports, the national capital's public transporter has been steadily making losses with no addition of new buses.
The cluster scheme buses earned Rs 283 crore as revenue in 2015-16. However, the expenditure was Rs 544.35 crore and the difference of Rs 260 crore was paid by the government.