The Capital’s vehicular population saw an addition of more than five lakh vehicles till March 31 last year, registering an increase of over 4%, according to the Delhi Economic Survey 2020-21.
Even as the total number of vehicles registered in the city went up to 1.18 crore from 1.13 crore — consisting of almost 67% two-wheelers followed by cars — ridership aboard public buses increased slightly but the average number of passengers on the Delhi Metro dipped sharply.
According to the survey, the daily ridership of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses increased to 33.31 lakh in 2020-21 compared to 30.15 lakh in 2019-20.
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Before the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, the survey stated average daily passenger journeys aboard the Delhi Metro to be about 57 lakh. These were suspended from March 22, 2020 to September 6, 2020.
Since September 7, 2020, when train service resumed in a graded manner, the average daily passenger journeys have presently decreased to about 10 lakh, according to the survey.
While the DTC operated 3,849 buses on 437 city routes and eight NCR routes according to the Delhi Economic Survey 2019-20, in 2020-21, the DTC’s fleet size reduced to 3,762 buses plying on 448 city routes and seven NCR routes.
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On the other hand, the fleet size of cluster buses increased from 1,803 to 2,910 in addition to an increase in daily ridership from 12.24 lakh to 17.71 lakh. During 2019-20, 10.58 crore free trips in DTC and 8.72 crore free trips in cluster buses were made by women passengers
Projects undertaken
Meanwhile, after the Kashmere Gate ISBT, the Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar ISBT projects are scheduled to be redeveloped by the Public Works Department (PWD). The agency is also undertaking the construction of eight infrastructural projects in the city, including flyover, bridges and corridors.
In Phase-I of the project related to the installation of CCTV cameras throughout Delhi, the survey stated, approximately 1.31 lakh cameras were installed at various locations in the city till December, 2020, and work regarding more was in progress.
There are 58 operating bus depots in the city and, according to the survey, construction of 12 more are in progress while ones at Mundelakala and Ghummanhera have been completed.
One of the two depots at Rohini is also nearing completion with the other scheduled to be completed by March, while new bus terminals at Sector 4-Dwarka, Sector 12-Dwarka, Vikashpuri and Narela are under process, the survey stated.