New Delhi: The public transport system in Delhi is currently under severe pressure. Of the 997 buses operating under the cluster scheme managed by Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS), 462 have recently been stopped.
At the same time, the contract of the remaining buses is being considered for extension. No final decision has been made yet. On the other hand, the passengers travelling in buses daily are facing the most trouble due to the reduction in the number of buses.
On April 22, the Delhi government put 330 electric buses on the road, which brought some relief. However, this number is not sufficient considering the daily passengers. About 40 lakh passengers travel by buses in Delhi every day.
The number of buses in Delhi is still very low, and the fleet of buses should be more than 10,000. The Delhi government has set a target to achieve this figure in the next three years. According to transport experts, about 2,000 additional buses are urgently needed. Currently, about 7,000 buses are running under the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS). There are about 2,300 electric buses among them.
Problems on these routes due to removal of cluster buses: Under the cluster scheme, 462 buses running under DMTS have been removed from Dilshad Garden Depot, BBM-2 Depot, Okhla Depot and Dhichau Kalan Depot.
Due to the removal of these buses, the number of vehicles on routes such as Anand Vihar–Punjabi Bagh, Kashmiri Gate–Mangolpuri, Old Delhi–Narela, Mehrauli–Anand Vihar, and Anand Vihar–Kashmiri Gate has decreased, due to which passengers are facing problems on those routes.
Problem due to breakdown of old buses: A large number of old CNG buses that DTC has are overage and are running on special permission. Many times, buses break down on the way while running, due to which passengers have to face problems, and people get late in reaching their destination. Not only this, the breakdowns also lead to traffic jams. For this, a team has been formed by DTC. Sometimes the buses are fixed on the spot, and other times they are sent to the workshop for repairs.
Read more: BJP Crippling Delhi's Public Transport System By Taking 2,000 Busses Off Road: AAP
