New bus routes going to be big relief to city commuters: Kailash Gahlot

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Saturday said that with the start of new bus routes, the commuters will now be able to plan their journey better. The city government is starting trial runs on 26 new bus routes proposed under a route rationalisation study from Sunday.

Service on these new routes will start with 50 per cent deployment of buses. There will be three new routes on the Central Business District (CBD) Circulators, two on Super Trunk Routes, 18 on Primary, and three on Airport Service routes.

The routes under NCR and feeder routes, which were also part of the study done by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), will not be part of this trial for now. The wait is finally over. This is the beginning of a new phase of public transport towards our mission of making bus services more reliable and preferred mode of travel in the city.

With strict adherence to the schedules and availability of buses every five to 10 minutes on these trial routes, the citizens of Delhi can plan their journey to their offices, homes and more in a better way, Gahlot said. The proposed routes have been classified based on the function and operational level of services. The CBD Circulators are expected to improve connectivity between major business districts of Delhi. These routes will be operational at a frequency of five to 10 minutes.

The Trunk Routes will connect the CBDs with major hubs of the city. These routes will be operational at a frequency of five to 10 minutes. The Primary Routes will provide connectivity to the sub-CBDs from residential areas and other sub-CBDs.

These routes will be operational at a frequency of 10 to 20 minutes. The Airport Service Routes will connect the airport with major hubs of the city. These routes will be operational as airport express routes with a frequency of 10 minutes.

In August, after the review and go ahead for the implementation of the route rationalisation by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it was decided to start the trial run on October 2, marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The government had also issued public notice last month to invite suggestions and feedback from all the stakeholders, which they can till November 21 on delhirrcell@gmail.com.