The capital is set to see a new fleet of CNG buses on the roads as the Arvind Kejriwal-led government-approved procurement of new 1,000 low-floor AC buses, among other proposals, on Thursday.
The government also approved a proposal for procuring low-floor CNG buses for cluster services. Overall, the government said, Delhi will have 9,500 CNG buses plying on the roads by May 2020, adding 4,000 new buses to the already existing fleet of 5,554 buses.
The decision that comes months ahead of the next Assembly polls was one of the pre-poll promises of the AAP government in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections. Also, it assumes significance because the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has not been able to add a single bus in its fleet since the 2010 Commonwealth Games due to litigations and unsuccessful tenders.
The 1,000 CNG low-floor buses will be on Delhi roads between January and May 2020, said a government spokesperson. Additionally, the rollout of 1,000 standard-floor cluster buses will start from July. Also, the 1,000 electric buses would be on Delhi roads by April 2020 starting from January 2020. Then, the 1,000 low-floor cluster buses will be in from December 2019, in batches of 165 every month and will be completed by April 2020. The Cabinet also approved the proposal to award a concession to the successful bidders for 650 such buses.