Two months on, metro feeder buses back on road

About 50 feeder buses are back on 11 different routes in the city with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation employing new operators to ply the services.

Two months after they suddenly vanished, some Metro feeder buses are now back on Delhi roads.

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About 50 feeder buses are back on 11 different routes in the city with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) employing new operators to ply the services.

DMRC had cancelled the contract given to Rajasthan Bombay Transport Corporation in March but was unable to find big-time bus operators to run the feeder bus services.

DMRC has now given the contract to small operators.

Thousands of commuters depend on these feeder buses to reach metro stations from their homes. Feeder bus services on 11 of the 15 designated routes have been resumed with over 50 vehicles plying on the road.

The DMRC has a fleet of 120 feeder buses that ply on 15 routes across the national capital. The services are now available at stations like Welcome, Shastri Park, Netaji Subhash Place, Pitampura, Rohini West, Kirti Nagar, Dwarka Sector-10 and Paschim Vihar.

“The problem is non-availability of operators. We are trying our best to resume services on all routes as early as possible,” a DMRC spokesman said. “Currently we are plying more than 50 buses on these routes, with more buses being inducted on each route almost every day. More routes are expected to become operational in the coming weeks,” he said.

While nine routes are with new contractors — Prasanna Bus Link and Vijay Tours and Travels — the DMRC itself is handling two routes — Paschim Vihar East to Tagore Garden Metro Station and Chander Vihar to Paschim Vihar East.

Around 50,000 people rely on the feeder buses to reach their homes from metro stations at minimal cost.