Proposal revolving around phased induction of buses sent to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for approval

The Delhi government’s Transport Department has planned to float tenders for over 4,000 buses to bridge the gap between the existing size of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) fleet and an ambitious target of 10,000 buses as per Supreme Court directions, sources claim.

A proposal, revolving around phased induction of both low-floor vehicles under the DTC and standard-floor buses under the cluster scheme, has been sent to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his nod.

“The size of the public transporter’s fleet will grow in phases throughout the year. A 1,000 buses under the cluster scheme and 1,000 low-floor DTC buses are expected to be rolled out from June. The tenders for the additional buses are expected to be issued by the end of the year,” said the source.

Government estimates show that the 50 DTC depots in Delhi have a capacity to hold 6,100 buses, which is sought to be increased to 7,687 by the end of the 2017-18 fiscal.

“In the meantime, the department has planned gradual induction of over 4,000 buses in phases till December,” the source added.

No buses have been added to the low-floor fleet of the DTC since 2010 with only vehicles being operated under the cluster scheme increasing, added a source.

Sources said the department aims to float tenders for the vehicles throughout the year.

The DTC fleet currently comprises 5,600-odd buses, of which 4,000 are low-floor and around 1,600 are operated under the cluster scheme. An estimated 400 DTC buses remain off roads daily due to maintenance-related issues.

The post-procurement maintenance of buses is the most significant issue related to unsuccessful back-to-back attempts made by the Delhi government to expand DTC’s fleet, prompting a bid to build its own maintenance facility which was, however, abandoned soon afterwards. An internal survey undertaken by the Transport Department after the AAP formed the Delhi government in February 2015, peg the total requirement of public buses in the Capital at 10,000.

Sources, however, claim that the figure has now gone up to around 16,000.