Odd-even: 60 more buses to ply on Noida-Delhi route

Delhi Transport Corporation will ply 50 buses on routes reaching Noida, UP will provide 10 additional buses to Delhi

Noida: Sixty additional buses are likely to pressed into service from Monday to facilitate travel of residents between Delhi and the twin cities during the ongoing odd-even road rationing scheme in Delhi.

Delhi Transport Corporation will ply 50 buses on routes reaching Noida, UP will provide 10 additional buses to Delhi. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The Delhi Transport Corporation will ply 50 additional buses on the routes connecting Noida to various destinations in Delhi, while the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) in Noida is likely to add 10 buses that will ply between the city and Delhi, depending on the demand.

Noida is a hub of industries where people from Delhi-NCR visit every day in large numbers for various purposes. The odd-even plan restricts their daily movement in private vehicle for a 16 days, from April 15 to April 30. Since a large number of offices remained closed from April 15-17, the real impact of the road rationing plan will be visible from Monday.

A DTC spokesman had said that the agency will add 50 more buses for Noida during the period, even before the start of the second edition of road rationing on April 15.

UPSRTC officials said that the number of buses will be increased as per the demand of the passengers.

“We may increase the number of buses if we observe that passengers are facing inconvenience and more buses are required. We had a similar plan in January ,during the first phase of odd-even scheme by the Delhi government. This time we have 10 extra buses that we can use for passengers travelling between Delhi and Noida,” SK Verma, assistant regional manager (ARM) of UPSRTC, Noida, said.

The official said that UPSRTC also has another plan to facilitate smooth commute of passengers.

“At present, we have 20 buses plying from Delhi to Noida and Greater Noida. These buses generally make 30 trips daily. We could also restrict movement of these buses up to Noida. These 20 buses will make double the number of trips and can bring much relief to those travelling between Noida and Delhi,” Verma said.

UPSRTC officials said they did not observe any additional passenger load in January.

“Maybe some people opted for carpooling, finding it a convenient to commute between Noida and Delhi. But we have to keep our eyes on the passengers using buses to travell between Noida and Delhi. We will increase the number of buses only if there is a genuine requirement. At present, our buses stop at four locations in Delhi -- Ajmeri Gate, Kashmiri Gate, Nehru Place and Sarai Kale Khan -- as maximum number of passengers board our buses from these points,” the ARM said.

Meanwhile, city residents who travel to different parts of the NCR or those working in Noida and travel from Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad have been planning for a way out through the scheme by carpooling.