Students of the Delhi University (DU) will soon see the return of a familiar ride. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday announced the relaunch of the 'U' special bus service on DU routes. The aim is straightforward: provide students with a more accessible and engaging way to travel.
"The Delhi Government is once again starting the 'U' 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. The new academic block building was inaugurated in Maurice Nagar, while the inaugural ceremony was organised at the convention hall of Vice Regal Lodge.
Once a lifeline for college students in Delhi, the chief minister recalled when she herself was a student, there used to be a youth special bus. The U-special had limited stops and reached DU faster than normal buses, which would halt at all bus stops on the way. The U-Specials, although not as popular after the metro service picked up, was used by students from economically weaker families. The service was stopped in March 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown.
According to data by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), the corporation ran 63 U-Specials in 2007-08, which came down to 17 by 2019-20. The launch of the Kashmere Gate-Vishwavidyalaya metro route, which directly connects North Campus with various parts of the city, significantly diminished the demand for the buses. The service, designed specifically for students, did not make a comeback when the lockdown eased. For decades, U-Specials plied from the Patel Chest Institute in the North Campus area to various destinations across Delhi. Long before Vishwavidyalaya was a Metro station, students depended on these buses for their daily commute to their colleges.
According to DTC officials, the concept of 'U-Special' buses was introduced as dedicated transport services for college students in the 1970s. These buses operated from various prominent localities across the city, ferrying students to major college campuses, including Delhi University's North and South Campuses. Only students were allowed to board these buses, which were known for their convenience and affordability. They would make return journeys post noon, serving as a dependable transport option for thousands of learners. However, with the emergence of private Red Line and later Blue Line buses in the 1990s, DTC's fleet began to dwindle, and eventually, the U-Special service was discontinued.
"Hundreds waited at bus shelters across the university for that green bus with a yellow stripe in the middle (DTC buses looked like this long before they became low-floor and trendy) with a board on which "U-Spl" was written in either white paint (or chalk when the depot ran out of paint). The conductor would often be seen standing in the middle of the bus, wondering why he was on it when almost all the passengers used their student concessional passes for trips," said a retired IAS officer, who graduated from DU.
The buses were also the first victims of any protest on the campus, as students preferred to vent their ire on them if they had any grievance the university was not attending to. They also used to be the most common promise for university politicians. More U-specials, regular services, better buses - these used to be among the common promises on the manifesto of any person who has ever contested an election on the campus.
