Photo: Kool Nerd 123 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
The Delhi government plans to put 200 new electric buses on the road on October 14, a step that officials say will push the capital’s public bus fleet beyond 7,000 for the first time. The buses are due to be flagged off as part of the Seva Sankalp Abhiyaan, a month-long government campaign.
What the new buses offer
The batch includes both full-size 12-metre buses and shorter nine-metre models, which are meant to serve a wider range of routes across the city. According to officials, all of them are fully electric, low-floor and air-conditioned, and they will join the Delhi Transport Corporation’s (DTC) electric fleet.
Each bus is fitted with:
- CCTV cameras and panic buttons for passenger safety
- a real-time vehicle tracking system
- accessibility features for persons with disabilities
Govt is working to make public transport more accessible, and adding more buses is a step in that direction.
A Delhi government official
Where the fleet stands now
DTC currently runs about 6,840 buses out of 52 depots, officials said. Of these, 5,088 are electric and 1,752 run on CNG, which means electric buses already make up nearly three-quarters of the corporation’s fleet. On a normal day, the network carries around 40 lakh passengers.
The government has said the steady addition of electric buses is part of a wider effort to modernise the capital’s transport system and cut vehicle emissions. Unlike CNG buses, electric buses produce no tailpipe exhaust on the road.
Why it matters
Delhi has set itself a target of running close to 14,000 buses by 2028-29, roughly double today’s fleet. The long-term aim, officials say, is to persuade more commuters to leave private cars and two-wheelers at home and switch to buses.
Hitting that target would mean adding several thousand more buses over the next few years. The 200-bus batch is a small but visible step towards it, and it takes the fleet past the 7,000 mark.
What happens next
The flag-off ceremony is scheduled for October 14. The Seva Sankalp Abhiyaan, which runs from September 17 to October 17, was launched to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 25 years in public service, and the government has been using it to inaugurate and lay foundation stones for infrastructure and welfare projects across Delhi. The bus induction is one of several transport initiatives planned under the campaign.
