With just two days to go for the implementation of the odd-even restrictions on private cars in the national Capital, the big question everyone is asking is whether the public transport of Delhi is equipped to handle the extra rush? The 15-days of odd-even formula is going to test the already-stretched public transport system of the city.
The city has 2.7 million registered private cars. Half of these vehicles are expected to be off the road daily, which means thousands of people will need some mode of transport.
The total number of city buses stands at 6,000, which includes 1,500 buses that run under the cluster scheme. These buses cater to over 4 million commuters daily. After deciding to roll out additional 6,000 buses for odd-even scheme, the state government has scaled it down to 3,000 buses---of which some would be mini buses, with lesser capacity.
DTC spokesperson R Minhas told HT that while they do not have an exact estimate of the increased demand in lieu of the road rationing scheme, the additional buses would be adequate to cater to the extra rush. “Most of these additional buses would be rolled out on the operational routes. While there is no estimate of the exact demand, they are capable of catering to around 1.5 million commuters daily,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}DTC spokesperson R Minhas told HT that while they do not have an exact estimate of the increased demand in lieu of the road rationing scheme, the additional buses would be adequate to cater to the extra rush. “Most of these additional buses would be rolled out on the operational routes. While there is no estimate of the exact demand, they are capable of catering to around 1.5 million commuters daily,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}While the government has been impressing upon that car users could take a Metro which would run at peak hour frequency through the day and would make extra trips, sources in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said the additional 70-odd trips from January 1-15 would help in carrying an additional two lakh commuters only.
Delhi Metro currently makes 3,122 trips a day. The average daily ridership with the current set up is 26 lakh and it could be enhanced to 30 lakh. With additional 70 trips during the scheme period, the carrying capacity could be augmented by another 2 lakh commuters,” a DMRC official said.
The efforts of the transport department to issue additional auto permits has hit roadblock due to the alleged ‘scam’ in permit allocation. There are 82,000 autos in the city and the government has decided to issue another 10,000 auto permits.