By May 1, no Bluelines on corridor

All Blueline buses plying the entire 5.8 km-long corridor will be replaced by low-floor DTC buses, reports Atul Mathur.

From May 1, when the BRT corridor formally opens, all Blueline buses plying the entire 5.8 km-long corridor or touching it even for a small distance will be replaced by low-floor Delhi Transport Corporation buses.

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While there already is a plan to replace Blueline buses across the city in a phased manner, the Delhi government wants to start it with the BRT corridor. The decision was taken in a high-level committee headed by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

“Instead of Bluelines, DTC’s low-floor buses or, if needed, ordinary buses will ply on the route,” Dikshit told reporters after the meeting. Delhi government officials said the decision had been taken to keep the “so-called indisciplined Blueline buses out of the new corridor”.

Senior transport government officials said there are about 250 Blueline buses touching the BRT corridor. Starting Thursday, the government will introduce low-floor buses on four bus routes that cover the entire 5.8km stretch. “There are four bus routes — 419, 423, 521 and 522, which will have only low-floor buses plying from Thursday. These bus routes run exactly parallel to the BRT corridor. About 125 low-floor buses will be introduced on this route,” said R.S. Minhas, senior manager, Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS).

Officials said Blueline bus operators had already been served notice in this regard. “The replaced Blueline buses will ply on different routes. However, their origin and destination point will remain the same,” said Minhas.

By May 1, only DTC buses will be seen in the corridor.