LG, Kejriwal launch 350 e-buses, Delhi’s fleet now 1,650

Delhi's lieutenant governor and chief minister have added 350 new electric buses to the city's public bus fleet, bringing the total to 1,650. Delhi now has the largest number of e-buses among all cities in India and the third-largest globally. The buses are equipped with GPS, CCTV, and panic buttons, and can travel up to 225km on a full charge. The move aims to reduce pollution and replace CNG buses with electric ones. The buses were provided under the FAME-II scheme, with 900 of them financed by the Indian government.

Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday inducted 350 new air-conditioned low-floor electric buses into the public bus fleet of Delhi, increasing the number of such buses to 1,650.

The LG and the CM flag off the buses on Wednesday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

The buses were flagged off by Saxena and Kejriwal at Baansera, a bamboo-themed park at Sarai Kale Khan. Kejriwal said that now, Delhi has the largest number of e-buses among all cities and the third-largest such fleet globally. Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said that the country with the most number of e-buses in the world was China, followed by Chile.

“Delhi has become the first city in the country with the most e-buses and the third such city globally. These buses will help control pollution. Previously, Delhi’s roads had blue line buses running on diesel/petrol. Then CNG buses were introduced in Delhi, and now electric buses are being introduced. Our effort is to replace CNG buses with electric buses,” Kejriwal said.

LG Saxena in a post on X said: “900 e-buses of the total 1,650 have been provided by the Govt of India under FAME-II Scheme, for mitigating vehicular pollution in Delhi & creating a robust green public transport infrastructure in the city.”

The newly inducted e-buses are differently-abled-friendly, noise-free and equipped with GPS, CCTV, and panic buttons connected to a two-way centralised command and control centre. The buses can operate for 225km on full charge. They will operate on different routes from Sukhdev Vihar, Rohini Sector 37 depot II, and Burari bus depot I, officials said.

Gahlot said that among the 350 buses, 50 have been deployed with the Delhi Transport Corporation and 300 are deployed under the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited (cluster scheme).

“For the first time, 300 e-buses have been included in the cluster scheme, while 50 buses are included in DTC. Earlier, all e-buses were included in the controlled depots of DTC. Depots have been built in Rohini Sector 37 and Burari to operate DIMTS buses, while DTC buses will be operated from Sukhdev Vihar,” Gahlot said.

With the induction of the e-buses, the city’s public fleet has a total of 7,582 buses. According to the Statistical Handbook 2023, an average of 4.1 million passengers commuted daily on public buses in the Capital in the year.

The induction of e-buses began in the city on January 17, 2022, with the deployment of a prototype bus. The first batch of 150 e-buses was deployed on May 24, 2022, while the last one before Wednesday was on December 14, when 500 e-buses were inducted.

“From 2022 until now, 1,300 electric buses have been running on Delhi’s roads,” Gahlot added.