The Delhi Government on Sunday inducted 100 new buses (orange) in the cluster fleet. The buses operated by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) will run in North, East and West Delhi.
Flagged off by Transport Minister Satyendar Jain and Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas at a special function held at the Delhi Vidhan Sabha on Sunday, the fares in these 100 GPS-enabled cluster buses, will be charged through e-ticketing machines (ETM).
“With these new age features and introduction of new bus routes, the Government aims to provide a better travel experience to the residents of the national Capital,” the Government said in a statement.
In the next phase, the Delhi Government will soon be introducing an additional fleet of 800 buses, of which 431 buses will be air conditioned. This move will be in sync with the capacity building of new depots, it stated.
On the occasion, Jain said, “We aim to ramp up the connectivity and frequency of bus services by integrating metro and bus services, to retain the faith of the people in public transport. Therefore, trunk bus services-on major routes - and feeder bus services on metro routes will be provided by these buses.”
“I congratulate the Delhi Government for this endeavour which will make transport easier for the common man,” said Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.
Besides conforming to the urban bus specifications and safety tests, the buses are fitted with 41 ‘anti-vandalism’ seats and have a better seating arrangement, to ensure the comfort of passengers, the Government statement said.
With the induction of these 100 buses, the cluster fleet strength has risen to 1,590 buses.
They will be largely catering to North, East and West Delhi on 8 additional cluster routes. These routes terminate at Mori Gate Terminal, Kamla Market, Ambedkar Nagar Terminal, Old Delhi Railway Station, Mayur Vihar Phase III Terminal, Inderpuri JJ Colony, Mori Gate Terminal and Shivaji Stadium Terminal.
These buses will provide crucial connectivity to well-known hospitals, metro stations and traffic interchange hubs at ISBTs like Kashmere Gate, Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan terminals.