AAP govt plans to bring back odd-even scheme in July

The government will wait till September before making the scheme a permanent feature

The AAP government has begun making plans to implement the odd-even car rationing scheme again. The second round of the scheme ends on Saturday.

Some feel the next round should be implemented in the next two months when the schools are closed. (Sushil Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

A section of officers said the next round should be implemented in the next two months when the schools are closed.

The government, on the other hand, may implement the scheme in July. Till then, it expects to add more buses to its fleet through the bus-aggregator scheme.

Sources said the government would wait till September before making the scheme a permanent feature, when it would run it for two weeks every month. By September, new stations being built under phase 3 of the Delhi metro will start opening.

“The months of May and June are ideal for implementing the third phase of the odd-even scheme. There will be summer vacation in schools then. In phase 2, dealing with parents picking up their children from school was our biggest challenge,” said a senior transport department official.

“But the minister has asked for a detailed plan, suggesting the scheme should be run after June when the bus-aggregator plan is in place. We are expecting to add 1,000 buses to our fleet through the cluster scheme and 1,000 premium buses through the aggregator scheme,” he said.

The government launched the bus aggregator scheme last week, allowing any private firm to run buses in the city. The companies can start registering themselves from June 1.

“We need premium buses in the city to encourage car owners to take public transport. We can’t run the scheme in the next couple of months as we won’t have good public transport till then. In July, premium air conditioned buses with Wi-Fi will be on the road,” the official said.

On Saturday, transport minister Gopal Rai said a review committee would be formed to assess the impact of odd-even 2 and recommend suggestions for the next round. Sources said women and two-wheelers would still be exempted in the next round.

Rai said they would decide on the third round of the scheme after analysing the surveys and the committee report. Sources said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wanted to hold a referendum before the third round.

“The government thinks that phase 2 was a success. It wants to have all systems in place before running the scheme regularly,” the official said.