DTC board approves funds to procure and maintain 1,000 low-floor AC buses

The buses are likely to start arriving over the next six months, senior transport officials said. The proposal was tabled and approved in the board meeting of the DTC, chaired by Gahlot, on Wednesday.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) on Wednesday approved funds for the procurement of 1,000 low-floor air-conditioned CNG buses, transport minister Kailash Gahlot said.

The new low-floor CNG buses would be equipped with facilities such as real-time passenger information system, CCTV cameras, panic buttons, GPS and other features besides being differently abled friendly. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

The buses are likely to start arriving over the next six months, senior transport officials said. The proposal was tabled and approved in the board meeting of the DTC, chaired by Gahlot, on Wednesday. The board also approved an increase in the ceiling of gratuity for DTC employees from the current Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, the transport corporation conveyed in a statement.

“We have approved funds for the procurement of 1,000 low-floor CNG buses and also for the comprehensive annual maintenance of these buses for their entire lifespan. This will help in reducing the downtime of buses and increase the overall user experience,” Gahlot said.

The new low-floor CNG buses would be equipped with facilities such as real-time passenger information system, CCTV cameras, panic buttons, GPS and other features besides being differently abled friendly.

Funds for the annual maintenance of buses up to 7.5 lakh kilometres per bus and covering 12 years’ comprehensive maintenance insurance, were also approved, the statement further said.

The DTC had last inducted buses into its fleet in 2011, a year after the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Currently, it has a fleet of 3,762 buses. Apart from these, there are the cluster buses – operated by concessionaires – with a fleet size of 2,839. The cluster bus fleet has witnessed an increase over the past few years while the DTC fleet had remained stagnant, government records showed.

In November 2019, the Supreme Court had observed that at least 11,000 buses are needed to cater to Delhi’s population of over 20 million.

Last year, the DTC had floated a tender for the 1,000 buses which first failed and was put up again. Senior transport officials said after Wednesday’s approval of funds, the DTC will now issue a letter of interest (LOI) to the bus manufacturer which will then start the process of readying the new buses.

Last month, the DTC also issued a tender to create a real-time passenger information system, which will enable commuters to access information on bus routes, estimated time of arrival, fare, location of nearest buses which a passenger wishes to board, availability of seats and best options for interchange -- all on their mobile phones.

The tender document titled “engagement of vendor to design, develop, implement, operate and maintain real-time passenger information system for DTC buses” is broadly divided into three categories focusing on a mobile application for commuters, a separate mobile app for DTC staff, and an interface to help crunch passenger usage statistics.