Govt will add 1,000 buses to cluster bus fleet, says Kailash Gehlot

New Delhi: In a bid to augment the public transportation system in the city, the Delhi government will add 1,000 new buses under the cluster bus scheme. The scheme, which was supposed to add 6,000 buses to the national capital’s bus fleet, has lagged behind miserably with just 1,825 buses being operated under it in the last decade. 

Transport minister Kailash Gehlot said that in order to address the shortage of buses in Delhi, 1,000 new buses will be added under the cluster bus scheme this year. This will be in addition to the 1,000 buses that will be added to the DTC’s fleet. He said that the Aam Aadmi Party is serious about strengthening the public transportation in Delhi.

The city’s transport department was directed by the then Sheila Dikshit government 2007 to bring an alternative to the killer blue line buses, which had claimed the lives of many. The cluster bus scheme was launched as a substitute to the blue line buses, the operations of which were handed over to Delhi integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS). Though the blue line buses were removed in the phased manner, new buses could not be added to Delhi’s bus fleet.

As per the cluster bus scheme, the 657 bus routes in the national capital were divided into 17 clusters. The government then decided to operate 11,000 buses on these routes, of which 60 per cent of the buses will be operated by the Delhi Transport Corporation and 40 per cent under the cluster bus scheme. This plan was later modified to 60 per cent buses being run under the orange coloured cluster bus scheme and rest by the DTC. As per the terms and conditions, only one company could operate buses in a particular cluster.

In 2008, DIMTS prepared a blueprint for the operation of the buses under various clusters and it was decided by 2010, the buses would start running under the cluster scheme. However, buses could not hit the roads even after more than two years later and it was only in May 2011 that DIMTS succeeded in bringing buses on roads under select clusters. Till now, only eight of 17 clusters are operational with the highest number of buses (295) under cluster 8.

Delay in availability of the depot space has repeatedly delayed the buses getting operational under the scheme. DIMTS still does not have enough space to park new buses.