Are Buses Socialist? A case of Delhi Public Transit in Post -Independence Period 5 2

Abstract

Public transport subsidies have historically occupied a pivotal position in urban policy debates, particularly in societies that have viewed mobility as a social right rather than a market commodity. In post-independence India, and especially in Delhi, subsidies came to be embedded within a broader socialist policy framework that prioritised welfare, redistribution, and state responsibility for essential services. Subsidies, understood as direct fiscal support or deliberate fare concessions, were designed to keep public transport affordable for the urban poor and lower-middle classes, even when such policies generated chronic operational deficits for state-run transport undertakings. But historical enquiry indicates half-hearted socialism and loans instead of subsidies as financial support that adversely affected century old public transport system in Delhi.