1,000 lowfloor buses may be added under DTC’S cluster scheme
AUGMENTING TRANSPORT FLEET The Delhi transport dept is hunting for adequate space for the additional cluster buses
NEW DELHI: In another attempt to augment the city’s bus fleet, the Delhi government is preparing a proposal to add 1,000 low-floor CNG buses under the cluster scheme. The plan comes after the state transport, last week, sealed the purchase of 500 standardfloor buses under the same model.
The initial plan for the project was chalked out on Monday by transport officials in a meeting held by minister Kailash Gahlot.
“Compared to buses under the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), more buses are needed under the cluster model to meet the 5,500 mark. We are doing the procurement in a phased manner and so discussions are on for getting another 1,000 buses,” he said.
Currently, Delhi has 5,443 buses against a requirement of 11,000. Both, the DTC and the cluster buses ideally should have 5,500 buses each. But, out of the total operational buses, only 1,662 are under the cluster scheme while the rest (3,781) are under the DTC.
The department, however, is facing issues in finding parking space for these 1,000 buses. “For the proposals that are in the pipeline, we have found parking slots for 1,000 electric buses, 500 standard floor buses and 1,000 DTC buses that are to be taken on a joint ownership model. We are still hunting for adequate space for the additional 1,000 cluster buses that are being planned,” an official said, on condition of anonymity.
Officials said the transport department has asked the DTC to give parking space to the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS) to give shelter to the new buses.
On Friday, the transport commissioner had announced that a new batch of buses will be rolled out from January 2019 as the Delhi government issued a letter of acceptance to successful bidders for procuring 500 standardfloor CNG buses. These 500 buses will also be fitted with hydraulic lifts to help differently abled and wheelchair-bound passengers have easy access.
Standard-floor buses, which currently are running under the cluster scheme, have a higher ground clearance compared to low-floor buses and, hence, are out of bounds to the differently abled.
Buses were last added to the city’s fleet in 2011, under the clus-
Electric
low floor CNG
ter scheme, and before that in 2008, by the DTC.
On June 9, the Delhi high court stayed the government’s proposal to buy 2,000 standard-floor buses saying it infracts the mandate of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. The court slammed the government saying that it is bent upon treating the disabled as “non-existent”, or, in any case, as not having any rights. “The respondents have not even conceptualised, let alone, bothered to take a single step toward ensuring accessible transport in Delhi,” the court said.
standard floor CNG Shortage of buses Shortage of buses to be bought on jointownership basis