The Delhi government has floated tenders for inducting 640 low floor air-conditioned buses, including 190 electric buses, to strengthen the public transport fleet in the national capital.
In a notice published on Saturday, the Transport department issued the request for qualification and proposal (RFQP) for operation of 190 low floor air-conditioned private stage carriage electric buses under the Cluster scheme.
Under the Cluster scheme of Delhi Integrated Multi Modal System (DIMTS), the government has so far inducted 3,033 buses.
A day before, the Transport department published RFQP for induction of 450 low floor AC buses under the Cluster scheme.
The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) runs around 3,600 low floor buses. Together, the DTC and Cluster buses comprise the public transport fleet. Another important segment of public transport is Delhi Metro trains.
The new buses equipped with latest features like GPS, panic buttons, and CCTV cameras are expected to roll out on the city roads by mid-2022, if the bids are successfully carried out, officials of the department said.
The new low floor buses will replace old ones in two Clusters that will complete road life of 7.50 lakh kilometres by next year. This will ensure that people do not have to face shortage of buses, said a department officer.
The buses completing their road life are standard ones that will be replaced by low floor AC buses.
According to estimates, Delhi requires at least 11,000 buses to fulfil public transport needs of the people. The Delhi government has been making efforts to bring more buses.
The DTC too had floated tender for 300 electric buses recently that are expected to roll out from November this year.
