NEW DELHI: Delhi is likely to get 650 new cluster buses in the next two months, with 25 of the buses having already arrived in the city. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to launch the new buses on the city’s roads next week. “The inauguration of the first set of 25 semi-low floor buses is tentatively expected to be on July 30. These buses are manufactured in Alwar, Rajasthan, and as soon as the products are completed, they will keep reaching Delhi for four bus depots - Dwarka, Ranikheda, Bawana and Rewla Khanpur,” said Gurmeet Singh, manager of the Rajghat Cluster Depot.
The 25 buses that have arrived will go to the Dwarka depot. The last time Delhi received new buses was eight years ago. The buses sport several new features, each of them having 14 panic buttons and three CCTV cameras, two inside and one outside, at the back. The buses are also equipped with hydraulic lifts to help the differently-abled and senior citizens get on and off the bus. As a result, the buses have fewer seats- 37 instead of 41 in the older buses. Extra space has provided for wheelchair-bound passengers, with a safety belt provided to secure the wheelchair.
“It takes exactly one and a half minute to open the hydraulic lift for the passengers in need. There is a button which the driver has to press and then a remote control facilitates the rest of the lift, which can be operated by the conductor,” Singh explained. The shortage of buses in the national capital has become a political issue, with the Aam Aadmi Party government facing criticism over the issue from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
At present, around 5,500 state-run buses ply on Delhi’s roads. Not a single bus has been procured by the Delhi Transport Corporation in the last nine years. The last time buses were added to the DTC fleet was before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The Delhi cabinet, in a recent meeting chaired by Kejriwal, ordered the induction of 4,000 new buses, including 1,000 standard-floor cluster buses, 1,000 electric buses, 1,000 low-floor buses, and 1,000 CNG-powered low-floor buses. The addition of the new buses would take the total number of public transport buses in the national capital to 9,500 by May 2020.