NEW DELHI: Stating that Delhi is moving towards cleaner and greener travel modes, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said addition of more electronic buses would set Delhi’s standards further high. The main aim behind buying E-buses is to reduce air pollution. The Delhi government had recently launched a ‘Switch Delhi to EV’ campaign, to encourage citizens, especially private vehicle owners, to switch to E-vehicles.
“I’m very happy to see Delhi’s shift towards non-polluting modes of transport. With the EV policy, we have already set the bar high by both incentivising and creating awareness on the importance of sustainable transport, through the recently launched #SwitchDelhi campaign,” said Gahlot.Furthering its green drive, the Delhi Transport Department has decided to procure 875 electric buses, the tender for 575 of them has already been floated. “From the fleet of buses fuelled by CNG, which is already regarded a clean source, we are moving to cleaner and greener modes. Apart from the 575 buses purchased under the cluster scheme, we will also add 300 electric buses into the DTC fleet,” the minister told The Morning Standard.
According to officials, under the cluster scheme of Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), a total of 575 buses will be procured in three different clusters — 210 buses in E1 category, 110 buses in E2 and 190 buses in E3. These will be private air conditioned (AC) electric buses.
The state-of-art buses will be low-floored, battery-powered, air-conditioned and will also be equipped with GPS, CCTV cameras and panic buttons and will be disabled friendly. The tender has been floated and the estimated cost will be Rs 17.25 crore. The bids will be opened on March 16 and the buses will start arriving from May-June. Currently, there are 2,897 buses under the cluster scheme.
575 buses under three clusters
According to officials, under the cluster scheme of Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), a total of 575 buses will be procured in three different clusters — 210 buses in E1 category, 110 buses in E2 and 190 buses in E3. These will be private air conditioned (AC) electric buses. The state-of-art buses will be low-floored, battery-powered, air-conditioned and will also be equipped with GPS and CCTV.