The year going by was one of several new beginnings for the Capital’s public transport sector both in terms of policy as well as infrastructure — conditions, however, continued to apply in relation to both aspects.
Announcements after announcements were made but the city failed to see the addition of even a single bus due to reasons ranging from court cases to bus vendors pulling out — especially in relation to procurement of low-floor buses for the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).
Two in one
The Transport Department was able to evolve a policy related to electric vehicles, relaunch the Delhi Metro Rail Card — now called the “One” card which can be utilised in both Delhi Metro trains and State-run buses — and procure three electric buses for trial runs. Following this, the department will take its final decision regarding creation of its proposed 1,000-strong fleet of e-buses.
A significant policy related to regulation of app-based cabs in the Capital, however, continues to remain in the pipeline despite being readied in May.
On the other hand, after many initial hiccups, the Department was able to oversee the smooth transition of its Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) to e-RTOs offering applicants for drivers’ licences to other mandatory documentation relief from queues by making prior appointments online.
The Delhi government was able to break an almost decade-long jinx in relation to its attempt to add more buses to the State-run bus infrastructure in the city — albeit solely under the cluster scheme in which the city government bears the viability gap to meet the deficit between actual payment to be made to the concessionaire and revenue via fare collection – of which 1000 each, under the standard floor and low floor categories, will begin hitting the streets next year.
Meanwhile, yet another tender for the procurement of low-floor buses for the ailing DTC fleet, which includes 2,506 non-AC low-floor buses, 1,275 AC low-floor buses and 101 standard-floor vehicles, failed.
Around 1,648 buses, which are operated under the cluster scheme by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), bring the total number of public buses in Delhi to around 5,432 — a little over half the judicially mandated figure of 11,000.
Delhi Transport Department records show that on January 30, 2008, the DTC had floated its last successful tender for procurement of 1,875 non-AC low-floor CNG buses and 1,250 AC low-floor CNG buses. The first successful tender for procurement of 625 low-floor non-AC buses and 25 AC buses was floated in September 2006.
Over a dozen similar tenders floated since 2008 have failed. The public transport sector received a fillip with the Delhi government approving phase-IV of the Delhi Metro, which includes six new corridors spanning a total of 103.93 km, around four years after the proposal was first passed by the DMRC board in 2014.
The six corridors in phase-IV include Rithala to Narela, Janakpuri West to R.K. Ashram, Mukundpur to Maujpur, Inderlok to Indraprastha, Aero City to Tughlakabad and Lajpat Nagar to Saket G-Block.
With a total of 79 new stations, phase-IV will take the total length of the Delhi Metro network to 453 km.
The Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) between Delhi-Meerut and Delhi-Panipat, however, could not see the light of day due to “difference of opinion” related to construction of an interoperable hub with Sarai Kale Khan as its backbone.
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation’s (NCRTC) proposal to build an elevated station here, supposed to serve as the nerve centre for the Delhi-Meerut corridor at a cost of an estimated ₹34,697 crore, was rejected by the Delhi government.
Sarai Kale Khan is geographically hemmed in between an inter-State expressway, an upcoming metro station, an under-construction extension of the yet-to-materialise phase-III of Barapullah flyover and a railway station.
Sources said the NCRTC has proposed elevated walkways, foot overbridges, lifts and escalators to link the elevated RRTS station with the nearby metro station, the ISBT and railway station.
