NEW DELHI: The Delhi government may soon replace the CNG-run buses in the cluster scheme with the electric ones. Sources said that the move is being proposed in the draft of EV policy 2.0 which is in the draft stage and expected to be implemented this year onwards.
According to officials, procurement of low-floor and 12-meter-long e-buses has received in-principle approval from the city government. The new cluster e-buses will come with latest amenities.Officials said that the cluster buses will be integrated with the GPS. Also, air conditioning, CCTV cameras and panic buttons will be installed in them that will be connected with the control room.
Besides, the department has planned to bring uniformity in colour scheme of the cluster buses. The buses will colour coordinate with the e-buses run by the DTC which are identified by Green and Red colours. According to officials, the e-buses in cluster will ditch the orange and blue colour schemes which have been operation in the current fleet run on CNG.
“While most of the old DTC buses will be off the roads and new electric buses will replace them, electric buses will also start operating under the cluster scheme. This will reduce the number of old buses on the roads and allow people to experience more comfortable cluster transport,” an official from the transport department said.“Two depots have also been prepared in Rohini for the operation of these buses, where charging and maintenance work of these buses can be done,” he added.
The EV policy 2.0 was scheduled to come into effect last year. The work on the new policy has been going on for a long time and the city government had expected it to be ready by the time the old policy expires which came to an end originally in August 2023.However, it has been extended thrice since then with the latest extension awarded till March this year.
GPS, cameras and panic button
The e-buses will ditch the orange and blue colour schemes which are in operation in the current fleet run on CNG, said officials and added that the cluster buses will have GPS, A-C, CCTV cameras and panic buttons connected with control rooms.