With an aim to replace the old standard-floor buses, DTC has planned to procure around 1,100 standard-floor buses to add to its fleet.
Over 2,000 standard-floor DTC buses, a majority of which have outlived their utility, still operate on the city roads. The Delhi Tranport Corporation now wants to replace the old buses in phases over the next two years as running them is no more financially viable.
“The proposal has been sent to the Delhi government. The tendering process would begin once the department gets its approval,” a senior DTC official said.
The total strength of the DTC bus fleet stands at 5,884 buses. Out of these, 2,506 buses are low-floor non-AC buses, 1,275 buses are low-floor AC buses and the rest are standard-floor buses.
The officials said, with more number of standard-floor buses gradually phased out, the number of buses in the fleet would come down to 5,200 by the end of the current financial year.
“According to plan, all the old buses would be phased out by the end of financial year 2014-15. On the other hand, the procurement of the new buses would meet the total number of buses required on the street,” a DTC official said.
The corporation officials said the DTC has been forced to operate the old buses due to lack of adequate buses plying on Delhi roads. “While the average operation cost of the standard-floor buses is Rs 60 per km, average income generated is only around Rs 29,” DTC official said.
Besides this, the cluster buses run under the cluster scheme are way short of meeting the target.