Delhi govt set to roll out new route rationalisation project
New Delhi: The Delhi government is set to roll out a new route rationalistaion project to improve airport connectivity, city connectivity, and night bus service, to ensure women safety in the country's Capital. A report by the Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC) on the existing and new routes of public service vehicles including buses in the city have been prepared and submitted, and is awaiting a final nod from the Delhi Transport Department headed by Kailash Gahlot. A total of 36 new bus routes have been recommended in the report, including three new routes for airport bus services.
Currently, buses run on 21 routes at night and all of which will be extended. Along with route length, the number of bus stops will also increase. Apart from this, 10 new routes have been recommended to begin in the night service. According to the study recommendations there will be 14 new bus routes of 15 to 32 km in length.
An official said, "To ensure women safety, the scope of bus services at night is also being extended. At night, when the bus usually runs at an interval of 30 minutes, it exposes passengers (including women) for a long time at bus spots hence the report suggests that the frequency of buses in the night should be increased to 15 to 20 minutes."
Three new routes have been recommended for airport bus service, of which a 30 km new route from the airport to Azadpur will be made. Apart from this, the newly proposed bus route from Rithala to Airport Terminal 2 will be 29.6 km and the bus route from Terminal 3 to Najafgarh will be 22 km. Currently, DTC's airport bus service includes five routes. These include routes from Terminal 2 to Badarpur, Terminal 2 to Anand Vihar ISBT, Noida Sector 62 to Terminal 2, Terminal 3 to Kashmiri Gate and Airport Terminal-II to Tikri Border. By adding the three new routes there will be a total of eight bus routes to the airport, a report stated.
A senior Delhi government official said that according to a 2017-18 report, about 6.57 crore people visit the airport every year and a large number of them use public transport. Based on the report, the routes of DTC and cluster scheme buses will change in the first phase. Following that, routes of minibuses, RTVs, rural service, and other public service vehicles will be changed. Any decision on routes of minibuses will be based on the interaction with the bus operators and their opinion. A unilateral decision will not be taken on the basis of the report alone. Changes in busy routes of minibuses are less likely to happen.
