NEW DELHI: A day after its grand inauguration, one of the 150 new electric buses broke down near the Rohini Depot-3 on Wednesday. Authorities said that the temperature of the vehicle had exceeded the specified limit. It was one of 150 e-buses launched on Tuesday by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
According to videos and photographs shared by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) Karamchari Union, bus number DL 516G D2610 broke down on the day of its maiden service. The buses were launched at 12 pm from IP Depot.
“The e-bus had an indication of increased temperature beyond specified/designed limit and therefore vehicle stopped automatically, due to its inbuilt safety feature. The response team immediately attended the bus and put it on the road within two hours,” DTC wrote on Twitter.
The Rohini depot, along with the two at Mundela Kalan and Rajghat, were also inaugurated on Tuesday. These are electric bus depots with around 80 charging stations and 25 fast chargers. After the launch, Kejriwal along with Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, had taken a ride in an e-bus from IP depot to Rajghat. Kejriwal had announced that 150 more e-buses will be added to the fleet by August and 1,500 will arrive by the end of the year.
Transport, DTC officers to take weekly bus journeys
With an objective to encourage use and adoption of the public transport system and to have a feedback mechanism to improve it, the government made it mandatory for group A & B officers of the state transport wing and the DTC to undertake at least one journey per week in Delhi’s public buses.
A circular issued by the transport authorities on Wednesday also mentioned a feedback mechanism by which the officers have to fill in a proforma on various parameters. Through this initiative, the government also aims to spread the message that shifting to sustainable public transport is a lifestyle change needed for betterm health of citizens and environment.
3 new charging stations
Authorities are set to introduce EV charging & swapping stations at Patparganj, Bawana Industrial Area Sec-5 and Narela Sec-B to make the recharge process easy. This decision was taken in a meeting of Delhi State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation on Wednesday