With unavailability of parking space marring the ambitious cluster bus scheme, the transport department of Delhi Government has decided to provide these buses shelter at DTC terminals and depots.
The department, in turn, will provide DTC with a six acres land piece at Anand Vihar. Delhi Government's ambitious cluster bus scheme, initiated as an alternate to the blueline buses, has been plagued by severe space crunch to park these buses.
Fearing that the arrival of over 800 buses under clusters 6, 7 8 and 9 can be further delayed, an intra-departmental meeting on Monday decided that 220 new cluster buses could be accommodated at three DTC bus depots.
Transport Commissioner Puneet K Goel said, "It has been decided that 220 new Delhi Transit buses will be accommodated at DTC depots. These include 100 buses at Dishad Garden, 80 buses at Rajghat and 50 buses at Mayur Vihar. In return of providing the parking space, DTC will be allotted six acres of land pocket at Anand Vihar."
He added that 800 new Delhi Transit buses are expected to hit the roads by September. "To accommodate the new arrivals, I has also been decided that 350 buses can be parked at Kair depot, 100 buses at Okhla and another 100 at Dwarka, allocated for the cluster buses. Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS), which operates the cluster bus scheme, has also been asked to accommodate 50 buses at existing depots," he added.
To provide an alternative to the discontinued blueline bus service in the city, the bus routes in the national Capital were divided into 17 clusters. Under the cluster scheme, operations of the bus routes under a cluster were handed over to a private company. Presently, buses are plying under four bus clusters. Though DIMTS has chosen companies to operate another four clusters - 6, 7, 8 and 9 and has completed the required formalities, there is no space available to park new buses during night.
The proposal for allotment for space for these new buses is biting dust in the files with Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Though the government has identified parking space at various DTC bus depots, the requirement of independent depots for cluster buses will continue. Though the transport department has chalked out a plan to share the parking space of DTC depots, DIMTS wants separate depots for the Delhi Transit buses so that sharing system does not lead to day to day disputes. Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami, however, sounded optimistic that more cluster buses will hit the roads soon and the hindrances in the process will be resolved soon.