Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with Deputy Manish Sisodia and Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, on Thursday flagged off the third lot of 100 new standard floor buses fitted with hydraulic lifts under the cluster scheme. The target of AAP Government is to deliver 1,000 buses by end of the year.
The buses which will give a sigh of relief to the commuters in Delhi are especially designed for the divyangs. The orange colored standard floor buses are equipped with ultra-modern facilities such as GPS trackers, panic buttons, CCTV camera, and hydraulic lifts for the convenience of the divyangs.
Out of the targeted 1,000 buses, the Government has flagged off 229 buses. Further, a total of 3,000 lower floor buses, 1,000 electric buses is expected to hit the roads of Delhi by mid 2020. "Delhi is being recognised all over the world for quality education, health, we are also trying to strengthen our transportation system. 3,000 buses will hit the roads of the national Capital in the next 6-7 months, out of which 1000 will be electric buses which is the biggest electric bus deployment ever. The buses are equipped with all modern advancements for the safety of the commuters," said CM Kejriwal.
"Earlier, we used to witness issues with the last-mile delivery of various services. Budgets have been sanctioned even by the previous governments for maintaining schools and hospitals, but only this government has worked on maintaining schools and hospitals with that budget. In the same way, this government will ensure timely maintenance of all the features of the buses," he added further.
The newly launched buses are 37 seater and installed with 14 panic buttons inside the bus. Besides, three CCTV cameras are also installed inside the buses. The buses will run on seven routes from Narela to Mori Gate Terminal, Palla to Old Delhi Railway Station, Nilwal to Karampura Terminal, Uttam Nagar Terminal to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Narela to Old Delhi Railway Station, Adarsh Nagar to Central Terminal and Nangloi to Narela.
As per the officials, another 650 Low Floor buses under Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) whose contract was recently awarded by the department will start coming from from January 2020. The tender for remaining 350 buses will be soon floated.
Further, the Delhi government is also inducting 1000 Electric buses in phases. In the 1st phase, the tender for 300 Electric Buses (Low Floor, 12 meters) was floated on 15th October. The last date for the submission of bids is 13th November 2019. The financial bid for 1,000 low-floor, air-conditioned (AC), CNG-run buses has also been opened.
