Delhi’s AAP govt readies scheme to launch premium city buses, seeks LG’s sign-off

Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi Premium Bus Aggregator Scheme envisions a first-of-its-kind bus service that will allow people to book their seats from a mobile and web apps

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has finalised a scheme to launch a mobile application-based air-conditioned bus service to encourage office-goers to leave their cars at home and travel by public transport, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday.

The premium bus service announced by Arvind Kejriwal on Monday will have WiFi, CCTV, GPS, panic button, and other facilities (Twitter/ArvindKejriwal)

The Delhi Premium Bus Aggregator Scheme envisions a first-of-its-kind city bus service in the country that will allow people to book their seats from a mobile app, Kejriwal said at a Press conference at his official residence.

These buses will not have any standing passengers and the fare will be higher than for other buses owned or operated by the city government’s Delhi Transport Corporation. Also, women will not be entitled to free rides on these buses. “The fare of the premium buses will be market-driven, so there will not be any free rides for the women,” said an official.

These premium buses, which will have WiFi, CCTV, GPS, panic button, and other facilities, will not be run by the government but by private operators.

“Under the scheme, the buses will be run by private aggregators who will have to obtain a licence from the Delhi government by paying a licence fee. CNG and electric buses, which are not older than three years, only can be used in the premium bus service. The licence fee of the electric buses used in the service will be waived off,” said Kejriwal.

The chief minister added that the scheme will be placed in the public domain for comments after it is approved by lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. “We are sending the file of the premium bus service scheme to the LG for consideration,” Kejriwal said.

Currently, Delhi has 7,379 public buses (3319 cluster buses and 4060 DTC buses) including 300 electric buses which ply on more than 600 bus routes.

To be sure, this is not the first time that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has mulled the introduction of such a scheme. It first approved the proposal for a premium bus scheme in May 2016 but the proposal was blocked by then LG Najeeb Jung because the elected government hadn’t taken his approval. The government again worked on the plan in 2017 and 2018, but it fizzled out because of permit issues.