Delhi buses to run with full capacity from Nov 1; face mask mandatory, standing not allowed

As per the revised order, it is mandatory for commuters to wear face masks during travel and no passengers will be allowed to stand in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Cluster scheme buses. The travellers are also asked to maintain physical distancing.

At a time when Delhi is witnessing a surge in the number of daily Covid-19 cases, Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot on Saturday allowed passengers to occupy all seats of Delhi buses from November 1. The Capital breached its record for the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases four times this week.

Commuters queue to board DTC buses at Pandit Pant Marg near Central Secretariat in New Delhi.(Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

As per the revised order, it is mandatory for commuters to wear face masks during travel and no passengers will be allowed to stand in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Cluster scheme buses. The travellers are also asked to maintain physical distancing.

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“From tomorrow, passengers can travel by sitting on all the seats of buses. However, no passenger will be allowed to travel standing up. Wearing a mask is mandatory and I appeal to all travellers to maintain social distance to prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot said on Twitter.

Earlier, only 20 people maximum were allowed to travel in buses, in view of the Covid-19 spread in the city. The number of DTC and Cluster buses seat up to 40-45 passengers.

There are around 3,800 buses run by the DTC and over 2,600 run under the cluster scheme of Delhi integrated multi-modal transit system.

With 5,891 new cases on Friday, Delhi set a new record for the highest single-day new infections for the fourth day in a row, pushing the total number of cases to 381,644.

As many as 5,739 cases were recorded on Thursday, and 5,891 infections and 47 deaths on Friday.