Delhi will soon have 500 standard-floor buses

NEW DELHI: Delhi Transport department has permitted to buy 500 standard-floor buses in the city on October 5, 2018.

Varsha Joshi, Transport Secretary-cum-Commissioner, tweeted, “Letters of acceptance awarded to successful bidders of two clusters for a total of 500 standard floor CNG buses as per permission granted by Hon’ble Supreme Court. They shall be fitted with hydraulic lifts for differently-abled passengers.”

K.K. Dahiya, Transport Special Commissioner, said that the approved bids would entail the engagement of 350 buses from a Pune-based operator and 120 buses from a Delhi-based one. These buses will mainly cater passengers commuting between the rural belt in the south-west and central Delhi. Buses will hit the streets in instalments by the end of the current year.

A government source said, “The buses will operate from three depots located in the rural belt near Dwarka. The vendors are legally bound to provide around 90 and around 30 buses, respectively, within six months. We are confident that some of these vehicles will be made available for operation by the year-end.”