Delhi: Prototype arrives, DTC to get 50 more e-buses in February

NEW DELHI: The national capital has received its first air-conditioned electric bus and it is going to be deployed on a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) route connecting south Delhi to central Delhi. Fifty more low-floor electric buses are likely to arrive within a month.
“Congrats Delhi! After a long wait, the prototype of DTC’s first 100% Electric bus has reached Delhi! Hon’ble CM Arvind Kejriwal will soon flag off this Electric bus,” Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot tweeted on Sunday evening.
The prototype is part of 300 low-floor buses that were approved by the Delhi cabinet in March this year for engagement by DTC. After inspection and necessary approvals, the prototype will be deployed for trial runs.
Gahlot told TOI that a relatively shorter route has been chosen for the operation of Delhi’s first electric bus, which would see the bus make 8 to 10 trips a day connecting important locations like AIIMS to India Gate, Delhi High Court, ITO, etc.
“This is the first bus and 299 more are going to arrive, with 50 more buses targeted by the first week of February,” he said, adding that the registration of the bus has been completed and it will soon be seen on Delhi’s roads.
In the 300 electric buses being engaged by DTC, the buses and drivers will be provided by private entities, while the corporation will operate these on its routes and deploy its conductors.
The electric buses, which will now start arriving, shall be parked at depots in Rohini, Subhash Place, Mayapuri, Rajghat and Mundela Kalan. The two bus depots at Rohini and the one at Mundela Kalan are ready and have been provided power connectivity through transformers for charging of the buses.
As per the schedule, about 280 buses were to arrive by 2021 and the remaining 20 buses by January 2022. The devastating second wave of Covid-19 cases, however, affected the delivery of electric buses.