New Delhi: National capital has received the first air-conditioned electric bus and will be deployed on the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) route that connects South Delhi to Central Delhi.
Fifty more low floor electric buses tend to arrive in a month.
“Happy Delhi! After a long wait, the first 100% electric bus prototype DTC has reached Delhi! Hon’ble CM Arvind Kejriwal will soon be this electric bus flag,” Transport Minister Delhi Kailash Gahlot Tweeted on Sunday night.
The prototype was part of a 300 low floor bus approved by the Delhi Cabinet in March this year for involvement by DTC.
After the inspection and approval needed, the prototype will be deployed for the trial.
Gahlot told TOI that the relatively shorter route has been chosen for the operation of Delhi’s first electric bus, which will see buses producing 8 to 10 day trips that connect important locations such as AIims to Indian gate, Ito, etc.
“This is the first bus and 299 more will arrive, with 50 more buses targeted in the first week of February,” he said, adding that the bus registration was finished and it would be immediately seen on the streets of Delhi.
In 300 electric buses involved by DTC, buses and drivers will be provided by private entities, while the corporation will operate it on the route and spread the conductor.
The electric bus, which will now begin to arrive, must be parked at the Depot in Rohini, Subhash Place, Mayapuri, Rajghat and Mundela Kalan.
Two bus depots in Rohini and those in Mundela are ready and have been provided with power connectivity through transformers for charging buses.
As scheduled, around 280 buses arrived in 2021 and 20 buses left in January 2022.
The second wave of Covid-19 cases, however, influenced the sending of electric buses.