NEW DELHI: Delhi now has the third largest electric bus fleet in the world, following Santiago, Chile. Delhi made it into the top three slots after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena inaugurated the first lot of the 350 e-buses under cluster bus service. With this new addition, the number of e-buses in the national capital has risen to 1,650.
While flagging off the buses at Sarai Kale Khan, Kejriwal said, “Delhi has become the city with the most e-buses in the country, and the third city globally. These buses will help control pollution in Delhi. Previously, Delhi’s roads had Blue Line buses running on diesel and petrol. Then, CNG buses were introduced and now, we have electric buses. Our goal is to gradually replace CNG buses in our fleet with electric buses”
Earlier, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) operated 1,300 e-buses equipped with GPS, CCTVs, and safety features for women, such as panic buttons. New buses come under the ambit of cluster bus service, which works on a public-private partnership model under the aegis of Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited (DIMTS).
Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said, “Since 2022, 1,300 electric buses have been running on Delhi’s roads…If not for these buses, at least 47,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide would have made its way to the environment.” He added, “In days to come, Delhi’s bus fleet will consist of 10,480 buses, with 80 per cent of them being e-buses. Currently, the figure stands at 22 per cent.”
The AAP government in Delhi is also planning “Mohalla buses”—small buses to connect areas in outer Delhi to the main city. Speaking about this scheme, Minister Gahlot said, “People will have to wait for sometime as it is taking a while for the process, prototype, testing, and certification phase… I hope that within the next 15 to 20 days, some buses will be dedicated to the public.”