Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Monday flagged off a fresh lot of 32 air-conditioned low-floor CNG-propelled cluster buses from Rajghat Cluster Depot. The addition of these world class buses takes the tally of Delhi’s fleet of buses to 6,793 of which 452 BS-VI compliant buses are being added since March 2020.
Speaking at the flagging off ceremony, Gahlot said, “Under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, since March 2020, the Delhi government has launched 452 BS-VI compliant buses, including 32 that are being dedicated to the people of Delhi today. Equipped with world-class latest technology, special care has been taken for the comfort, convenience and safety of the passengers in all these buses.”
The safety of female passengers has been ramped up. If a female passenger feels any discomfort, she can press the panic button. On pressing the panic button, an alert goes to the command centre and all the agencies that are there get to know the live location of the bus, he pointed out.
“We will continue to bring such new buses on the roads of Delhi in the same way in future also,” Gahlot added.
The first lot of 100 AC low-floor buses was launched on the city route network in February 2020 under the cluster scheme. During the pandemic period from March 2020, 452 new buses have been inducted under the cluster scheme.
The total number of DTC and Cluster buses running on Delhi’s roads till now is 6,793 of which DTC is having 3,760 buses and the Cluster is having 3,033 buses. Currently, Cluster buses are operated on 306 city routes network in Delhi. The additional 32 buses will be deployed on four additional Cluster routes — 93,380,390 and 244.
These BS-VI compliant buses feature modern technology, including real-time passenger information systems, CCTV cameras, GPS, a fire detection and suppression system, live video streaming in the case of an emergency, pink seats reserved for women, panic buttons for women’s safety and other modern facilities along with being differently-abled friendly.