Delhi up for public transport overhaul

NEW DELHI: Providing buses in remote areas, reducing waiting time for buses to five minutes, feeder buses for last mile connectivity — these are some of the steps that will be part of the Delhi government’s route rationalisation for buses.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday presided over a high-level review meeting to expand bus connectivity to every single corner of Delhi through Route Rationalisation.

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot was also present in the meeting with senior officials of the concerned departments. In order to put the recommendations of the Route Rationalisation Study into practice, the Transport department presented a roadmap to the Chief Minister during this meeting, said a government statement.

Through this presentation, it was shown how bus service could be extended to Delhi’s yet uncovered urban and rural areas, as well as how residents of any part of the city could travel from one part to the other in lesser time and cost after the rationalisation.

In the meeting, several other modes of transports were discussed such as e-rickshaws, auto rickshaws, taxis, international bus routes, RTV and DMRC feeder routes for last mile connectivity.

Also discussed was redrawing of city routes of DTC and cluster buses, interstate bus routes, better ISBT utilisation, and overall infrastructure upgrade.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “How to use the existing fleet of buses in Delhi most efficiently? How many more buses do we need? How to integrate all modes of transport? Today, I had a discussion with senior officials of the transport department on the “Route Rationalisation” proposal. We will soon seek public feedback on the same.”