NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday flagged off 50 new low-floor electric buses from Rajghat Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) Depot. He said that after the addition of these new e-buses, the fleet now has a total of 300 e-buses. Currently, around 7, 379 e-buses are plying on the roads of the national capital.
“We are taking over 100 DMRC electric buses and will ply them on the metro’s feeder routes ourselves from now on. First phase of induction completed with these 300 electric buses and now under phase two, 1,500 more e-buses will be inducted by December 2023,” the chief minister said.
“Delhi will have a total of 10,480 buses by 2025, of which 8,280 will be electric buses, which is 80 percent of the total bus fleet. 56 bus depots are being electrified, three have been done, 17 depots will be electrified by June 2023 and 36 depots by December 2023,” he said.
He said that besides being equipped with CCTVs, panic buttons and all other modern technology, these buses are very eco-friendly. Pollution is amongst the biggest woes of the capital and these buses are going to radically aid the cause of curbing pollution.
“Delhiites have been making succinct efforts against pollution and just this morning it was reported that 2022 was the least polluted year in the last seven years. There’s always scope for more, but this acquisition will greatly help this fight,” Kejriwal added.
Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said this is a great start to the year 2023. With the induction of these buses, Delhi has now completed the 1st phase of on boarding a total of 300 zero pollution electric buses.
Kejriwal also inaugurated an ultra charging station and also reviewed all the facilities available at the charging station. Ultra charging points are such points where buses can be charged in a very short time.