Here is something that might be strange to you but is something that I have been noticing for past few days and it looks extremely innovative to me.

Look how.

Look at some of the numbers of vehicles registered in Delhi:

DL9C N 0144
DL8C A 5876
DL6C H 546
DL2S 8989
DL1R 5645
DL1R 4234
DL1T X 7865
DL1V 6754

Did you notice the common thing between them (other than that they are begining from DL) or the format that they follow?

Let me tell you what I have noticed.

They all follow a common nomenclature i.e.

DLXY A ZZZZ

Where:

DL stands for Delhi

X – is the running digit.

Y – the most important part of the number that identifies the type of the vehicle.

C – Car
S – Scooter
R – Rickshaw
V – Van
T – Taxi

X and Y together identifies the transport authority that they belong to.

A – running alphabet

ZZZZ – runing 4 digit numeric to identify the vehicle.

This may be an assumption but it is what I could make out from the numbers.

If you think otherwise, do let me know.

Update: 21st Aug 2010

X is not a running digit but is alone responsible to identify the authority and Y identifies the class of the vehicle.

Delhi has 9 authorities:

I am just guessing we have one in Vasant Kunj, recently opened, if I am right, then yes we have 10 authorities.