To provide crucial connectivity to commuters in the Capital, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia along with Transport Minister Satyendra Jain on Friday flagged-off 100 new GPS-enabled buses outside the Delhi Secretariat. Jain said that 450 new AC buses and 250 non-AC buses would be inducted soon to provide better service for the commuters of the Capital.
These new buses will ply on nine routes. Speaking during the function, Transport Minister Jain announced to bring transparency in the transport system within a couple of months, “We are committed to make Delhi corruption free by converting it into an e-transport authority.”
Aimed at enhancing the public transport in the city, 450 air-conditioned and 250 non-AC cluster buses will also soon be incorporated to the cluster fleet. “In the next two months 250 buses will be added to Delhi roads. During the current year, 450 air conditioned buses will also be introduced. “The new cluster buses are GPS enabled with e-ticket machines to cater hassle-free ride to commuters,” Jain said. A plan is also being processed to facilitate a multi-level parking at bus depots to ease any traffic congestion and parking woes, he added.
Addressing the gathering, the Transport Minister added, “The Delhi Government has planned to develop 31 DTC bus depots at multi-level buildings and are awaiting approval finalisation of some norms from DDA in this regard. In Narela, Bawana and East Vinod Nagar, three depots are being developed as multilevel depots. “Seven new bus depots are being developed to cater to more buses and 3,000 new buses will also be added to city’s roads by the end of this year,” Jain said.
“This will enable not reliant much on Government budget. It’s been six months that we are laboring day in and out to wrap up all licence related pending works. The move for a better travel experience will cater the passengers to hold on to their faith in public transport,” the Minister added.
With the ageing vehicles that need to be phased out, the induction of new buses will soar up the cluster fleet strength to 1,725 buses. Jain said that, presently, there are around 6,000 buses including DTC and cluster. We will accelerate the pace of acquiring new buses and will take it upto10,000 buses to cater to commuters in the capital.
To ease the problems of learning driving licence, he said, “We are also planing to begin doorstep services where relevant documents will be collected from the people for facilitating a smoother process,” explained Jain. The Government is also exploring tie-ups with city-based colleges where tests can be conducted for learner’s licence.
“Owing to the lack of bus depot space, it was difficult to induct new buses so far. Over the last few months, eight new buses are being added which will have 1,100 buses,” said KK Dahiya, Special Transport Commissioner. “Approximately 20 acre land is being utilised in Bawana and Narela to develop new bus depots that will have multi-level parking” Dahiya added.