NEW DELHI: Public transport services from Najafgarh area will be launched today under the first phase of the city government’s ambitious ‘Connect Delhi’ project to boost last mile connectivity in the national capital. Though Delhi has highest road density of 21km/sq km in the country, a large part of its population is unable to access public transport services. Even today over 30% of its population travels by bus but this figure can be improved by providing good quality, reliable and accessible public transport.
‘Connect Delhi’ aims at rationalising the bus and feeder services with a vision that all residential areas and villages in Delhi are connected with a reliable public transport facility within 500 metres of walking distance, at a frequency of 15 minutes. Under the first phase, 70 buses will connect four activity centres with Najafgarh to improve service to various villages.
To fully understand the public transport and its access to the public, the Delhi government had asked the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) to carry out a study. The report highlighted how lakhs of public transport commuters face issues such as low accessibility, high waiting time, overcrowding of buses and overlapping routes with other feeder services.
Once the project is implemented, Delhi will move towards a future bus network with Trunk routes, connecting all zonal hubs in Delhi, that have services at a five minutes frequency, said a statement by the government. In this plan, the government has put a special focus on the villages and outer areas of Delhi where the connectivity is weaker.
“With the available fleet of 70 buses, the implementation of Phase 1 of proposed Najafgarh Pilot Study would witness improvement in service level of various villages,” the statement added. This would improve connectivity of Najafgarh to Mori Gate Terminal (ISBT Kashmere Gate) via Uttam Nagar and Inderlok, Nehru Place Terminal via Palam, Ambedkar Nagar Terminal via Kapashera, among others.
No efficient planning
Overlapping routes with other feeder services has become a major issue, which results in under-utilisation of existing services and also reduces the efficiency of services in peak hours wherein most services will be competing with each other