A new bus cluster became operational with 16 new buses rolling out on Friday.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit flagged off the buses under orange cluster two from Delhi Secretariat in the presence of transport minister Ramakant Goswami and other senior officials.
The new private buses will connect eight prominent Metro stations — Badarpur, Tughlakabad, Mohan Estate, Sarita Vihar, Jasola-Apollo, Pragati Maidan, Chandni Chawk and Kashmere Gate.
Prominent junctions
The cluster will also link up eight prominent junctions on Ring Road and Netaji Subash Marg. Also, the frequency of buses on different routes will be improved.
M/s Indrapastha Logistics Pvt Ltd has provided the fleet as government’s concessionaire for route cluster No 2. Eight buses each on route No 405, Badarpur Border to Mori Gate, and route No 405-A, Badarpur Border to Old Delhi railway station, have started plying.
With introduction of 16 buses the total number of cluster buses on road has gone up to 316. The transport department has decided to roll out another 20 buses under cluster No 2 on route No 460, Badarpur Border to Minto Road Terminal, next month.
Special features
The new buses are having special features like electronic ticketing, announcements and scrolling system about the next bus stops.Dikshit said the transport department have given permission to the new concessionaire to introduce a total of 232 orange buses under cluster two at the earliest.
Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has a fleet of around 5,700 buses as compared to 3,740 buses in March 2005.
“The city government has decided to purchase 1,625 more low-floor buses within next two to three years. It is expected that DTC along with concessionaires will be able to bring around 1,1000 buses under intra-city transport by 2015,” said Goswami.
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