For Delhi Metro, feeder buses out, e-autos in

More e-autos, totalling up to 136, will be rolled out in the coming months.

“E-rickshaws are permitted in several places such as Gurgaon, Noida and in some parts of Delhi, but they are largely absent in several places where people find it difficult to find connectivity. So, in such places, the DMRC has decided to ply e-autos. Recently, the transport department also gave us the permission to procure e-autos,” said Kumar, adding that tenders have been floated.

Apart from the 136 e-autos, the Delhi Metro will procure another 663 e-autos for the city.

Kumar said, “E-autos can also cover long distances while e-rickshaws are better for short distances and are not viable for busy roads.”

“The last-mile connectivity services will be implemented in phases. An aggregator will be hired to operate these autos,” he said.

Explaining why the DMRC prefers e-autos, Kumar said, “We have witnessed that there is a viability gap and people are not using feeder buses in large numbers. We have decided to give these feeder buses to the Delhi government. Since the transport department already runs normal buses, it can run both city transport and feeder buses from now. There will be optimum utilisation of these buses.”

He added that the DMRC has requested the transport department to take over the feeder bus services.

“They have agreed and given in-principle approval,” said the MD.

According to a Delhi transport official, the Delhi government will ply these feeder buses on connecting routes under their route rationalisation program where buses are infrequent.

The Metro chief also said that the DMRC faced huge losses due to the under-utilisation of feeder buses.

Currently, 47 AC feeder buses are being run by the Metro from nine stations and 100 e-feeder buses will be procured for last-mile connectivity in two clusters. Now, all these buses will be taken over by the transport department.

The Metro may also introduce smartcard ticket purchasing systems in e-autos once the National Common Mobility Card system is implemented across the nation, Kumar further said.

The DMRC chief added that the fares in these e-auto services would remain the same as other e-autos across the capital.