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In a bid to combat air pollution in Delhi, the national capital will be rolling out its first DTC electric bus on Monday. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be flagging off Delhi Transport Corporation’s (DTC’s) first electric bus at noon from the Indraprashtha's depot. Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot will also be present during the ceremony.
The Delhi government has finalised the routes of the e-buses. They will be running in a 27-km-long route in the city. The e-bus has been manufactured by JBM Auto Limited.
50 buses by February:
The prototype of the DTC electric bus has arrived at the IP depot. The prototype bus will n 27-kilometre-long Route E44 (Pragati Maidan to IP Depot via ITO, Safdarjung, Ashram). According to the transport minister, 50 more electric buses will be available by February this year. The e-buses will be added in batches of about 50 every month, Gehlot said.
There are 2,300 total electric buses in the pipeline. Out of these, 1,300 will be procured by the DTC and the rest 1,000 will operate under the cluster scheme.
DTC electric bus routes:
The bus will start running from E 44 Indraprastha depot from today (Monday). As per the pre-decided route, the e-bus will run till Pragati Maidan via ITO, Tilak Marg, Mandi House, Barakhamba Road, Connaught Place, Janpath, Rajesh Pilot Marg, Prithviraj Road, Arvindo Marg, Safdarjung, Ring Road, South Extension, Ashram, Bhogal, Jangpura, India Gate and High Court.
The prototype bus will help the Delhi Government to understand for how long the battery backup of the bus and other technical problems. Only then, the other buses will be added to the fleet.
The Delhi government will equip bus depots with charging stations for these electric buses in a phase-wise manner. Besides, the DTC will build four “hybrid" bus depots, which will be a combination of electric and CNG buses. These will be the Subhash Place depot, Rajghat depot, Hasanpur depot, and Bawana. In 2018, the Delhi Government decided to induct e-buses. In the future, the Delhi government will procure only electric buses.
