Bluelines finally on their way out

The Delhi government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Star Bus Pvt Limited to run buses on the first of the 16 clusters which the city’s private bus service has been divided into. The new corporatized fleet, that will replace the Bluelines, will be up and running by October this year as the operator has been given six months to procure the buses. The actual phase-out of the existing fleet, however, could take some more time as the high court has imposed a stay on the process. On Monday, transport commissioner RK Verma signed the MoU with Ajay Singh, managing director, Spice Jet, who is also the Chairman of Star Bus. According to sources, Singh invested in the new venture in his personal capacity to bail the company out of the financial mess.The firm has given a bank guarantee of Rs 5 crore to Delhi government for the project. ‘‘The signing of the MoU was getting delayed as the original stakeholders in Star Bus, which emerged the lowest bidder of the cluster, were unable to arrange the funds because of recessionary market conditions. Now, Singh has a 49% stake in the firm — he pumped in Rs 200 crore — and things have started looking up,’’ said sources. ‘‘We are talking to Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland for buying low-floor buses and are also looking at manufacturing them on our own at a Daewoo Motors plant which we have acquired. From October, about 40 buses will be introduced every month,’’ said Singh. He said that the company will strive to provide Delhiites clean buses which arrive on time, better trained drivers and facilities like automated fare collection systems and GPS tracking. Announcing the project, Verma added: ‘‘The funds available with the government are limited and Public Private Partnership (PPP) is the way forward. By bringing in private players, we will be able to augment the city’s public transport.’’ The start of the corporatization scheme comes as a breather for the city that has around 5,000 buses against the requirement of 11,000. Sources said the cluster will have a total 573 buses running on 32 routes. Of these, half the fleet will comprise of DTC buses. For its services, Star Bus will be paid a around Rs 85.77 crore for first year (Rs 47.4 per bus per km). The revenue from ticket sales on the bus will go into the government’s kitty. The operator will bring in all low-floor CNG buses. Of all buses, 20% could be airconditioned. The entire operation will be monitored by the transport department to ensure that stringent quality standards are maintained. The department plans to float tenders for the next 16 clusters from next month and is in the process of making the terms for the tender more stringent so that it attracts more serious bidders. The scheme, which was formulated two years ago, had a September 2009 deadline. It was approved by the Cabinet in November last year.