NEW DELHI: Welcoming the Delhi government’s ‘app-based premium bus aggregators’ scheme, experts said that the policy will prove to be a game-changer for women safety in the national capital. The project which has been in the pipeline for over four years, is expected to get the nod in the next cabinet meeting. The policy first proposed in 2016, didn’t get the then L-G Najeeb Jung’s clearance.
The main aim of the scheme is to reduce vehicular pollution by attracting office goers, who use their personal cars or two wheelers for commuting. DTC is likely to rope in a developer for creating a mobile application that will function as an aggregator. The buses may be of different sizes and there will be no standing passengers.
These buses are likely to start operation in the next two months. “Currently, such services are there in Japan, Singapore and South Asian countries. The scheme will largely help in the reduction of private cars and two-wheelers on roads and will also help in decongestion,” said Anil Chikkara, a transport expert.
The buses will have CCTV cameras and will be monitored through GPS from the department’s control room, the daily mentioned. Another expert, Rajeev Sharad, Urban Force Solutions pvt ltd, Director and former consultant to transport department, said, “This bus will act as gamechanger for passengers especially working women.
It will save time with providing comfort, convenient and more importantly safety. They will be monitored by a control room centrally and regionally and you can also share the route map to keep a track.” The buses services will be operated across Delhi-NCR. Currently, there are 5,500 buses in DTC and Cluster services.