New Delhi: Delhi's lifeline, DTC bus services, are set to test a change in bus routes from 2nd October, and accordingly, new routes will be fixed from October 15 onwards. DTC bus service had a fixed route since 1996. The transport department is going to introduce 91 new routes and modify 42 existing ones, based on the recommendations of a route rationalization and last-mile connectivity study it commissioned a few years ago.
As per the government’s route rationalization plan, the government will divide bus routes into six categories, central business district (CBD) circulators that will provide connectivity between major CBDs of the city, with buses operating at a frequency of 5-10 minutes; trunk routes, which will carry passengers from major hubs (sub-CBDs) to CBDs at a frequency of 5-10 minutes; primary routes, that will provide transportation from residential areas to sub-CBDs and will have buses at an interval of 10-20 minutes; airport service routes, which will connect sub-CBDs to the airport at an interval of 10 minutes; last mile feeder bus routes, which will link residential areas and villages to trunk or primary routes, including metro stations, with a frequency of 7-15 minutes; and NCR routes, for those commuting from NCR cities to Delhi, with a frequency of 20 minutes
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The department has also identified 53 feeder routes, where mini-buses will be deployed. Apart from connecting around 30 Delhi Metro stations with residential areas and villages, these routes will also link these areas with trunk and primary bus routes at a frequency of seven to 15 minutes.
Delhi government plans to increase its fleet of buses from the current 7,300 to 11,000 over a period of four years. In the coming years, the government also plans to place orders for mini- or medium-sized buses that would be 9 meters long, the current DTC and cluster buses are 12 meters long.
