Delhi Mohalla buses still far from being deployed as vehicles yet to arrive

There has been a delay in the arrival of buses from the company, the department was targeting to launch these buses by the end of Aug but the launch might be delayed up till mid of Sept, official said

Delhi residents may have to wait a little longer to board Mohalla buses as the transport department is still working to finalise routes and is yet to get the vehicles.

According to officials, Delhi Transport Corporation and Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) will soon start trial run on two new routes -- Indian Airline colony/Priya Cinema to Lok Kalyan Marg Metro Station and Lok Kalyan Marg to Vasant Vihar.

The trial on two routes -- Pradhan Enclave Pushta to Majlis Park Metro Station and Akshardham Metro Station to Mayur Vihar Phase III Paper Market -- is already going on.

"The DTC and DIMTS will be starting trial run on two new routes to gain further insights. There are 16 depots that have been built for parking and maintenance of these buses. The work for installing charging infrastructure is going on at these depots and will take time.

"There has been a delay in the arrival of buses from the company. The department was targeting to launch these buses by the end of August but the launch might be delayed up till mid of September," said an official.

The Delhi government is working to finalise the routes with the help of AI.

"A meeting will be held with IIT-Delhi next week to discuss about the routes following which another meeting will be held with Delhi Transport minister Kailash Gahlot on the finalisation of routes," said another official.

The buses, painted green, are equipped with six battery packs with a total capacity of 196KW, providing a range of over 200 km with an opportunity charging of 45 minutes.

The nine-metre-long buses have 23 passenger seats and a standing capacity of 13. Six seats are coloured pink, marking them reserved for women passengers, according to a statement.

There will be 2,080 buses under the scheme and the government plans to introduce all by 2025. Of these, 1,040 will be operated by the DTC and the rest by DIMTS. Currently, the government is operating 100 buses acquired from the DMRC.