Cool ride: Delhi Transport Corporation to induct 600 more AC buses by mid-2018

At present, over 5,500 buses, including 3,951 DTC and 1,600 cluster scheme buses, are plying across the city. However, there is a need of around 11,000 buses to deal with the growing passenger traffic.

Delhi is set to get more than 600 air-conditioned buses by mid next year.

New Delhi, India- May 10, 2015: A view of buses parked at Peragarhi DTC Bus Depot as Staff members of DTC shouts during a strike after Ashok Kumar, a 42-year-old Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus driver was beaten to death on Sunday,. The driver, identified as Ashok, was beaten by a motorcycle rider after the bus he was driving hit the motorcycle from behind in West Delhi's Mundka area, India on Sunday, May 10, 2015. (Photo by Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot told Hindustan Times that the government was preparing a a fresh proposal to procure 2,000 buses, including 200 AC ones.

Another 431 AC buses already procured will be rolled out on in a phased manner.

In a first, these air-conditioned buses are being added to the cluster or orange bus fleet operated by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) Limited.

At present, all the 1,275 AC buses plying on city roads are run by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

“The proposal for 1,000 buses each under the DTC and DIMTS will be put up before the Cabinet in two weeks. AC buses too will be inducted in the fleet,” said Gahlot.

All the buses are going to be standard floor buses, he added.

The buses will be able to seat 42 people — more than that of DTC’s 35-seater low-floor buses. “The buses will be GPS-enabled and fares will be charged through electronic ticketing machines (ETMs). All 1,693 operational buses under the cluster fleet have these features too,” the official added.

“The first batch of the buses is expected to arrive early next year,” said a senior government official. The process of floating the tenders is likely by September.

In September last year, the government had inducted 100 buses under the cluster fleet. In the next phase, it promised to add 800 buses, of which 431 buses will be air conditioned.

This year, 225 non-AC standard floor buses are already being inducted in a phased manner. However, there is no information available on the remaining 144 buses that were part of the tender.