With the arrival of cluster buses running behind schedule, the crisis of buses in Delhi is expected to aggravate. The Transport department was expecting at least 500 buses to hit roads by October, taking the fleet strength to cross the 1,000 mark. However, scaling up the fleet of cluster buses has been mired in delays and only 100 new orange coloured buses have hit the roads.
Unavailability of land for parking of new buses has been the major reason for the delays in arrival of new cluster buses. However, as a temporary solution, the department has provided parking space for these buses at the Delhi Transport Corporation’s (DTC) bus depots. “At present, a total of 752 buses are operational under the cluster bus scheme. At least 200 more buses are expected to hit roads soon,” said Transport Commissioner, Puneet Goel. The cluster bus scheme — a joint venture between State Government and private companies — has faced inordinate delays in bringing buses on roads.
According to the present status, Cluster 1, which is supposed to have 231 buses plying on 32 bus routes connecting south Delhi with central Delhi has 100 buses operational till now. The buses in this cluster have been provided parking space at Millennium depot. Cluster 2, which consists of routes based in South-East Delhi, has 195 buses operational at present. The buses in this cluster are parked at Kushak Nullah. A total of 427 buses are plying under Clusters 3, 4 and 5, which comprises 29 routes connecting the arterial Ring Road. The buses in these three clusters combined are being parked at Okhla, Sunehri Pulla, BBM and Kanjhawala depots.
Thirty buses under Cluster 6 have been provided space to park at Dilshad Garden depot. The buses in this cluster will have routes connecting South and Central Delhi. “This apart, 50 buses under Cluster 9 have got approval and will be registered soon. The buses plying under this cluster will connect northern and outer parts of Delhi. These buses will also be accommodated at Okhla, Sunehri Pulla, BBM and Kanjhawala depots,” added Goel.
Once the buses are registered under Clusters 7 and 8, they will be provided parking space at Rajghat and Kair depots respectively. Delhi’s 657 bus routes were divided into 17 clusters to provide an alternate to the ‘killer Blueline’ buses. However, Delhi Government’s ambitious scheme has been hit by several delays, which proposes to add 6,600 buses under 17 clusters to the city’s bus infrastructure.