50 e-buses likely to join Delhi fleet in a fortnight

Amid the ongoing controversy about alleged irregularities in the proposed procurement of 1000 low floor CNG buses, 50 electric buses are likely to join DTC fleet in a fortnight.

The Delhi transport body will get 50 more electric buses in a fortnight, as part of a partnership agreement with private players, officials of the state transport department said.

A fleet of DTC electric buses at Rajghat Bus depot, in New Delhi. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

Under the agreement, known as a gross cost contract, the electric buses will be purchased and operated by a private entity (either an individual or a group), while the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) will hire the buses and pay for them on a per-kilometre basis, apart from providing depots and charging infrastructure, the officials said.

The government corporation last year decided that it will only procure e-buses, as it aims to eventually phase out internal combustion engines from its fleet, in a bid to control the Capital’s pollution levels, to which vehicular emissions are a significant contributor. DTC has already added 250 e-buses to its fleet.

Buses are still the most popular form of public transit in Delhi, with around 4.2 million people using the system every day. DTC alone ferries 3.3 million passengers on an average, almost a million more than the Delhi Metro.

Delhi transport commissioner Ashish Kundra said: “Delhi currently has around 7,200 buses under DTC and the cluster scheme. Of these, 250 are e-buses and the rest are run on CNG. Our plan is to increase the strength of the fleet to 11,000, and to ensure that 70-75% of all public buses in Delhi are electric ones by 2025-26.”

He added that the Delhi government is planning to add 1,500 more electric buses by end-2023.

“The 1,500 e-buses will start next year,” said Kundra.

Delhi currently has 7,081 buses of which 3,762 are DTC buses and 3,319 are cluster buses.