Though the Delhi Transport Corporation has come out with a global tender to procure around 1,400 new buses, the situation for those living in rural and outer Delhi areas is unlikely to improve.
They are largely catered to by the standard-floor buses of the DTC, which have outlived their utility. While they have been forced to live with the problem of frequent breakdowns of these buses, now they are also facing a low frequency service as the DTC has started phasing out these buses without replacements.
Sources in the DTC said around 300 standard-floor buses have been phased over the last two months. The officials said more buses are likely to be phased out due to their frequent breakdown and their high operational cost (almost double of the low-floor buses).
“Even if the DTC identifies a company for procurement of buses, it will take at least one year for the process to be completed and for buses to hit the roads,” a DTC official said.
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With the Delhi Metro Rail project turning out be a huge success, there was a talk about setting up a similar transport service project called the “Personal Rapid Transit”, popularly known as the pod car,, but little has happened on the ground.
In 2011, Delhi Government had ordered preparation of a detailed project report on priority basis for the elevated City Pod Car System, but little progress has been made three years down the line. Following a presentation on the system, the then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had said the government was prepared to consider a new modern, convenient, pollution-free and affordable City Pod Car System.
The Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited and the Transport Department were also asked to prepare the DPR at the earliest. In the initial stage, a pilot project was to be taken up in areas such as Pragati Maidan, Dwarka Sub-City, Karol Bagh, East Delhi and Delhi University North Campus to supplement the existing modes of public transport and to encourage people to give up the use of their private vehicles.
In neighbouring Gurgaon also, the Haryana Chief Minister had directed the agencies concerned two years ago to complete all formalities to start work on the project within three months. Bhupinder Singh Hooda had asked the Ultra-Fairwood Holdings, the company which has been awarded the contract for the project, to commence work on the first and second phases of the project together and complete it in two and a half years. But so far nothing concrete has happened on the project in either of the two States.
(By Vishal Kant and Ashok Kumar)
