1,100 low-floor buses ready to join DTC fleet

 The city cabinet on Monday gave its nod for purchase of 1,100 buses for the DTC. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting presided over by chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Dikshit said there is an urgent need to replace 1,886 standard floor buses that have completed their prescribed lifespan for economic run.

The continued plying of such buses is not only causing loss to DTC but also affecting its image, she said.

“The government is committed to provide a comfortable and dependable public transport service in Delhi and steps are being taken to augment the DTC fleet,” said Dikshit.
“We have now decided to procure 1,100 standard flo-or, 900-mm-long, fully-built CNG buses for DTC,” added Dikshit.

She said these will be bought with maintenance surety for 7.5 lakh km or 12 years’ of operation, whichever is earlier. The buses will cost approximately Rs 330 crore and will be procured through a global tender.

State of the corporation

Currently, the DTC has a fleet strength of 5,667 buses, of which 3,781 are modern low-floor buses bought over the last five year.

The remaining 1,886 buses are obsolete and not dependable. Apart from this, corporate entities are plying 316 buses under five of the 17 approved clusters.

Dikshit said 1,725 non-AC buses will be bought at the earliest in the next financial year.
With addition of 1,720 buses and more buses under the cluster scheme, it is expected that DTC will be able to extend its services on more routes across the city.