Proposal to buy 2,000 new Delhi buses approved

New Delhi: In a move that will strengthen public transportation system in the national capital, the Delhi Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to procure 2,000 buses, including 1,000 for the state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). These non-AC, standard-floor buses will be rolled out within a year, transport minister Kailash Gahlot said. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. 

Mr Gahlot said that DTC would be responsible for maintaining its new fleet. Earlier, DTC buses were being maintained by the company supplying the vehicles. “As per the decision, government would procure a total of 2,000 buses, which includes 1,000 DTC and 1,000 cluster buses. All these buses would be standard-floor buses. In next eight months, cluster buses will start operating. DTC’s new fleet will come in one year,” Mr Gahlot said.

The transport minister also dismissed reports that the DTC would be shut down due to shortage of buses. “After almost four years, DTC will get new buses and in view of this, it is a historic decision (to procure new buses),” Mr Gahlot tweeted. “Delhi cabinet approves procurement of 2,000 buses (1,000 DTC & 1,000 cluster). DTC to maintain its own fleet now,” he said in another tweet. 

Several bus manufacturing companies had not been showing interest in DTC’s tenders, floated several times in the past for the procurement of new buses, due to the maintainance costs.

The DTC has a fleet of 3,944 buses while the DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System) runs 1,634 buses under the cluster scheme, as per the transport department statistics. The combined strength of around 5,600 buses covers nearly 75 per cent of the identified routes in the city.