Dearth of land for construction of bus depots is holding back Delhi Integrated Multi-Model Transit System (DIMTS) to press into service more cluster buses for the convenience of commuters in the national Capital.
“We have several concessionaires who want to run their buses under cluster scheme, but as the Government has not provided land to us for constructing depots, we are now not adding more buses to our fleet,” a senior DIMTS official said.
It’s been almost three years since the Delhi Government launched the bus cluster scheme. At present, only 1,157 buses — 4,343 less than the required number of 5,500 buses — are plying on several routes. The Government had told the court at the time of phasing out Blueline buses that 11,000 buses would be pressed into service, of which 40 per cent would be provided by DTC. The rest would be supplied by private entities or clusters, all managed by DIMTS. However, the reality is that around 5,000-odd buses run by DTC meet the needs of Delhi.
“Till now, the only space available was at the Sunehri and Kushak Nullah parking lots where buses from cluster 3, 4 and 5 as well as cluster 2 are to be parked.” According to sources, 15 acres of land had been allotted in Paschim Vihar but it was later declared a green area, with only five acre remaining available to the department.
DIMTS officials said their clusters buses are presently parked in 10 depots, including some sharing depots with DTC. The officials said DIMTS was ready to run more cluster buses for facilitating commuters in the national Capital, but the Delhi Government has failed to provide land for depots despite several requests for it. DIMTS, which is currently running buses in nine clusters, has to run buses in 17 clusters as per agreement.