3 bus clusters to be launched by Nov 14

The next cluster bus service — to benefit north and west Delhi commuters — is all set to be functional by November 14. The next service will include clusters 3, 4 and 5.

The next cluster bus service — to benefit north and west Delhi commuters — is all set to be functional by November 14. The next service will include clusters 3, 4 and 5. The transport department will make functional a total of 300 new buses.

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“The next service will start operations from November 14 from the Kanjhawala depot. A total of 400 buses will ply in the city under the cluster service by this year-end. This will take off load from the existing buses. Another depot near Rajghat is also being prepared which will be used for the first cluster buses,” said Arvinder Singh, Delhi transport minister.

For cluster 3, 182 buses will ply on 29 routes; for cluster 4, there will be 148 buses on 20 routes; and in cluster 5, 120 buses will run on 20 routes. Clusters 3, 4 and 5 will be launched before cluster 2 as the depot in Kanjhawala in northwest Delhi falls near the cluster routes.

The fate of the other bus clusters is still uncertain as no other depot is ready. About 17 clusters were to be launched in Delhi. So far, only one cluster in south Delhi is operational. This cluster on which 100 buses ply was flagged off in May this year. The launch of the first cluster too had been delayed due to a lack of depot space.

The plan to divide all the 650 routes in the city into clusters and let a consortium of private investors operate them was mooted a few years ago.

The project, however, had got mired in various controversies and been delayed several times.

Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) is the consulting company that drafted the scheme for corporatisation of private bus operations and will supervise cluster bus operations on behalf of the Delhi government.

Delhi’s 657 bus routes have been divided into 17 clusters. More than 4,400 buses would be run in these 17 clusters.