Delhi Govt writes to Centre seeking 3,300 e-buses to strengthen green public transport 

The PM E-DRIVE Scheme is an initiative of the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by providing financial incentives with an aim to improve air quality.  Under the scheme, the Centre also helps the states in strengthening the charging stations and installation of fast chargers.

After reassessing the bus requirements, according to the CMO, a demand has been placed for buses of different sizes to ensure connectivity from narrow streets to major arterial roads. Under this proposal, the government has sought 500 buses of 7 metres to serve narrow streets and provide last-mile connectivity to residents, 2,330 buses of 9 metres to operate on smaller roads as feeder services, and 500 buses of 12 metres to  be deployed on main routes and heavily congested corridors.

The new buses, the CMO said, will curb the public dependence on private vehicles and lead to a significant reduction in harmful emissions. Low-floor buses will make travel safer and more comfortable for women passengers and senior citizens, said officials.

“Keeping the interests of Delhi’s citizens paramount, the CM has made it clear that if any technical hurdles arise with regard to subsidies, the Delhi government is fully prepared to bear the cost itself to ensure that there is no delay in procuring the buses,” underlined the CMO in a statement.

Currently, the Capital has 5,335 buses,  of which 3,535 are electric buses. These include 1,162 nine-metre DEVI buses, 2,273 12 metre buses and 100 feeder buses.   After the induction of 2,800 buses under PM E-DRIVE (Phase-1), the total number of buses in Delhi will increase to 10,430. Following the induction of 3,330 buses under PM E-DRIVE (Phase-2), the total fleet will increase to 13,760.

More electric buses will be operating on Delhi’s roads by March this year, an official statement cited the CM as saying. “Our target is to raise the number of buses to 7,500 by the end of this year and further 11,000 in next two years,” Gupta was quoted as saying in a statement.

Gupta said that her government has requested the Central government and the Ministry of Heavy Industries to include this additional requirement, apart from the already allotted quota of 2,800 buses, under the subsidy model.