Delhi Adds 150 New Electric Buses To Public Transport Fleet

Following the recent news on Mumbai's BEST acquiring 2,000 new electric buses over the next 12 months, Delhi's DTC has inducted 150 new electric buses to its fleet. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday flagged off the new fleet of air-conditioned electric buses along with announcing that a further 150 would start plying on Delhi roads in June. Kejriwal said that the final aim was to have 2,000 electric buses on roads of Delhi by next year. Alongside the induction of the new electric buses Kejriwal also announced the set-up of three new electric vehicle charging depots opening in Rohini Sector 37, Mundelakalan and Rajghat-2. The new buses are being pressed into service in the DTC fleet and get features such as CCTV cameras, panic buttons and GPS tracking.

In a tweet, Kejriwal said, “Delhi has written a new chapter in the fight against pollution today. From today, 150 electric AC buses have started running on the roads of Delhi simultaneously. I also travelled in the bus; it has all the modern facilities.”

प्रदूषण के ख़िलाफ़ जंग में दिल्ली ने आज नया अध्याय लिखा है। आज से दिल्ली की सड़कों पर एक साथ 150 इलेक्ट्रिक AC बसें चलना शुरु हो गई हैं। मैंने भी बस में बैठकर सफ़र किया, इसमें सभी आधुनिक सुविधाएं हैं। दिल्ली की शानदार इलेक्ट्रिक बस में एक बार आप भी सफ़र ज़रुर करें।#IrideEbus pic.twitter.com/NGWByo6uIJ

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 24, 2022

Kejriwal revealed that the Delhi State Government planned to invest a total of Rs. 1,862 crore over the next 10 years to procure electric buses with a further Rs. 150 crore coming from the Central Government. He also said that the government would be looking to create more electric charging depots across the city to facilitate the growing number of electric buses that are set to make their way onto Delhi roads.

Speaking to the media, Kejriwal said that the latest acquisitions took the total number of buses plying in Delhi to over 7,200, the highest number yet to roam in the national capital.

“Till date, this is the most number of buses in Delhi. There were never so many buses on the roads of Delhi”, he said before adding that the government also planned to add about 600-700 new CNG buses citing that electric buses were not yet being manufactured in substantial quantities.

He went on to says that “in principle, from now, all new buses that will come will be electric-only” with the final goal to convert Delhi's bus transport network to 100 per cent electric.

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