How to track any Delhi bus live

Last updated: 16 July 2026

The single most useful fact about Delhi's buses is one most riders don't know: almost every DTC and cluster bus broadcasts its GPS position publicly, in real time. You never have to stand at a stop wondering whether the bus is two minutes or twenty minutes away — the answer is published every few seconds.

Where the data comes from

Every DTC and cluster bus carries a GPS unit (a legacy of the cluster scheme's monitoring requirements). The Government of NCT of Delhi publishes these positions on its Open Transit Data (OTD) portal in GTFS and GTFS-Realtime — the same open formats used by transit agencies worldwide. The realtime feed refreshes roughly every 10 seconds and covers thousands of buses at any moment.

Because the feed is open, anyone can build on it — which is why several apps can show you the same live buses. The data is the government's; apps differ in how usable they make it.

Ways to see your bus live

One Delhi — the Delhi government's official app: route info, live positions and mobile tickets.
BusPe — our app (this site) shows every broadcasting bus moving on one map, colour-coded DTC green / cluster orange, with stop-to-stop journey planning, per-stop arrival estimates and a stop alarm that wakes you before your stop. It's built on the same official OTD feed. Join the beta on Google Play.
General map apps — mainstream map apps carry Delhi bus schedules and some live data, usually surfaced as departure times rather than a watchable live map.

Disclosure: BusPe is our own app — we're naturally biased. The OTD feed underneath is the same for everyone.

Reading a live map well

Watch the movement, not just the dot. A bus sitting still at a terminal may be on a break; a bus crawling on a known-jammed stretch tells you your real wait.
Arrival times are estimates. Any ETA is computed from position and typical speeds — Delhi traffic makes every estimate soft. Treat "4 min" as "soon", not a promise.
Some buses go dark. A small share of the fleet isn't broadcasting at any given time (equipment faults, depot runs). If a scheduled bus isn't on the map, it may still be coming.
Route variants show separately. A 543 and a 543A are different routes in the data — make sure you're tracking the one that stops where you need it (see route numbers explained).

Why this matters more than timetables

Delhi's buses don't run to printed timetables the way trains do — headways stretch and compress with traffic. Live tracking replaces the timetable question ("when should it come?") with the only question that matters: where is it right now? Once you switch to thinking that way, you leave home later, wait less, and never sprint for a bus that was still three stops away.

Related reading: what your ticket should cost, and why some buses are orange.