26.8.08

Delhi to add 3,000 more low floor buses


With the number of buses in the Capital set to double before the Commonwealth Games, the transport department has sought at least 75 more bus depots for the city. For this, land for nine depots has been acquired from gram sabhas. In a first, the government is also planning to cover half the drains at Barapullah and Burari to construct double-storey bus depots spanning across several kilometres.The DTC fleet is going to increase from 3,000 to 6,900 buses, and another 5,000 buses which will come as a replacement for Bluelines also need to be provided parking space. So far, only the DTC buses were parked in depots. The private bus operators parked buses on the road-side. But with corporatization, they will be provided space in DTC depots after paying a nominal lease amount to DTC. ‘‘Parking space for an additional 7,700 buses needs to be created before March 2010 as the existing DTC depots can accomodate only 4200 buses. Land from gram sabhas is being taken over and two nallahs will also be covered to create double-storeyed bus depots,’’ said transport minister Haroon Yusuf.Each of the depots needs to be developed on an area of minimum five acres so that it can accommodate 100 buses. After a survey, the department has identified land for depots in Gadaipur, Dera Mandi, Mitraon, Asola, Dhansa, Chhawla, Raghopur, Bakkarwala and Kair villages and formalities have been initiated for the transfer. Two nallahs at Barapullah and Burari will also be covered half to create two storey bus depots. Meanwhile, the government, in Monday’s Cabinet meeting, has taken a decision to redevelop DTC depots and terminals as per the recommendations of Master Plan 2021, wherein multi-level structures will be created for parking buses and part of the area will be opened for commercial development. This is aimed at reducing DTC’s dependence on the government and would also help the corporation in taking up further improvement. This process of re-development would be initiated from the Vasant Vihar Depot, decided upon after an extensive survey by DIMTS. The Cabinet also approved purchase of 3,000 low-floor DTC buses, which include 1250 AC buses. This is 25% more than the number of buses decided for earlier. ‘‘The decision has been taken with the aim of augmenting intra service bus fleet of DTC. The new buses will include both low-floor AC and non-AC buses and the Cabinet has directed DTC to initiate negotiations for purchase of buses,’’ said an official.

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