First lot of Metro feeder buses to hit Delhi roads by February-end

“Beginning December 2013, 30 buses have been procured so far. The deadline for procuring the remaining buses has been extended to March 31,” the official said.

DMRC decision to finally put the buses on the road comes more than a year after DMRC signed two for 100 and 300 buses, respectively, with separate contractors.

“The delay was caused because of manufacture and testing of a new design and specifications. Buses with such technical specifications are not currently on the roads anywhere in India,” the official said.

Officials of TATA Motors, one of the manufacturers of these buses, are hopeful of being able to deliver the rest of the buses in the next two to three months.

“We began production early in January and we will handover the first instalment of buses in the coming week. In the next two to three months, we should be able to deliver the entire order,” the official spokesperson of TATA motors said.

“The new buses will ply on 80 different routes in the capital, as opposed to 17 routes covered currently by 117 feeder buses. These buses will also have eight different depots at their disposal,” Anuj Dayal, executive director, corporate communications, DMRC, said.

The 17 routes on which the feeder buses ply on are operated by two contractors.

The five routes that are longer than 10 kilometres include Shastri Park-Mayur Vihar Phase III, Kirti Nagar-West Enclave, Dwarka Sector 21-Najafgarh and Hauz Khas-Chhatarpur. Three of the 17 are only 5-km long — Hauz Khas-JNU, Pitampura-West Enclave and Dwarka Mor-Najafgarh.