Delhi To Roll Out ‘Mohalla Buses’ Within Next Few Months In Contract With DTC

Delhi government would be rolling out the Mohalla bus scheme within a few months and for this, it is likely to sign a contract with the Delhi Transport Corporation to obtain electric buses within this week.

Written by: Tahir Qureshi

Updated: September 27, 2023, 4:33 PM IST

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https://www.india.com/news/india/delhi-mohalla-buses-within-few-months-with-dtc-delhi-transport-corporation-mohalla-bus-scheme-kailash-gahlot-arvind-kejriwal-6360200/ Copy

Officials said the distance from Noida to Ayodhya is nearly 650km and, in this case, the Noida Depot will arrange a CNG filling facility in Lucknow to cover the distance.

Mohalla Bus Scheme: ‘Mohalla bus scheme’, the Delhi government’s ambitious project is likely to be rolled out within the next few months for which the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is likely to sign a contract to obtain electric buses within this week, said an official on Wednesday. The ‘Mohalla bus service’ was announced in the 2023-24 Delhi budget with an aim to deploy shorter, easily manoeuvrable nine metres long electric buses to boost last-mile connectivity in areas with roads that have less width or are crowded.

“We are likely to sign a contract with the e-bus manufacturers this week or early next week for procurement of buses. The delivery of buses will take anywhere between three to five months,” said an official.

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, last week, in an interview with PTI, said strengthening last-mile connectivity is a key focus area of the government.

“We have held several consultations and also constituted a committee. I will also be holding one-on-one meetings with MLAs, and councillors to get first-hand experience. We are also planning to hold public meetings in different areas. After these consultations we will finalise the routes of the service,” he said adding that these buses would ply in a circular motion in a mohalla so that people could reach nearby metro stations, markets, or hospitals.

Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has planned to procure more than 2,000 feeder buses to operate on routes that cannot be accessed by 12-metre buses. A technical committee was constituted by the transport minister in May to decide on routes and operational characteristics of the new bus scheme.

The committee has completed the route survey based on the public feedback.

“Now the survey data is being tallied with the population data of those, road infrastructure, and width of roads,” the official said.

The mohalla buses will be specifically designed to cater to areas where the width of the road is less or areas that are too crowded for regular 12-metre buses to ply.

(With PTI inputs)