25 more buses under cluster scheme soon in Delhi

NEW DELHI: After getting a batch of 25 non-AC standard-floor buses with hydraulic lifts last month, the capital is all set to get another 25 buses under the cluster scheme soon.
A hundred more buses, which are part of the 1,000 standard-floor buses being inducted into the cluster scheme, will be added by the end of this month. “The second lot of 25 buses has already arrived from Tata Motors in Delhi.They are being checked,” an official said. Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot recently visited Tata Motors’ bus plant in Lucknow to ensure timely induction of buses. Gahlot was accompanied by transport commissioner Rajeev Verma, managing director of Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) M Ramsekhar, special commissioner (transport) KK Dahiya and other senior officials. “TATA has assured to ramp up its production line of buses,” Gahlot tweeted.
The state government is going to offer free rides to women on Delhi Transport Corporation and cluster scheme buses from October 29 and is also going to implement the third edition of odd-even road rationing scheme from November 4-15. According to sources, the government plans to induct at least 300 new buses by the end of October.
The number of public transport buses in Delhi during the first and second editions of the odd-even scheme in 2016 was 5,721. At present, they number 5,485. However, the cluster scheme fleet has seen some increase. Sources said the government wants the number of buses on the roads to at least match the 2016 figure.
The 25 standard-floor buses, which were launched in August, marked the end of the seven-year-long drought of public transport buses in the capital.
Apart from these 1,000 buses, Delhi government will also induct 1,000 low-floor air-conditioned buses under the cluster scheme, which will start to roll out from January 2020. The state government also has plans to induct 1,000 electric buses in phases.
DTC is also procuring 1,000 low-floor AC buses, tenders for which have been floated. The transport corporation is also going to issue tenders for 300 electric AC buses, which are being procured with assistance under FAME II scheme of the central government.