These buses will have a low floor and will be equipped with hydraulic lifts. The facility will allow passengers on wheelchairs to board the bus easily.
The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) will soon welcome a fleet of electric buses in the national capital. After a considerable wait period, New Delhi will see the first prototype of an electric bus soon.
Taking to his social media account, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot informed that Arvind Kejriwal will flag off the electric bus in the coming days. He also mentioned that this step could be a major boon in the fight against pollution.
“Congrats Delhi! After a long wait, the prototype of DTC’s first 100 percent Electric bus has reached Delhi! Hon’ble CM @ArvindKejriwal will soon flag off this Electric bus,” Gahlot wrote on Twitter. He also shared a few photos of the first prototype that arrived in the national capital days ago.
According to a Hindustan Times report, in February this year, the first set of these electric buses is likely to be introduced for mass public transportation.
Everything you need to know about the first prototype of an electric bus:
These buses arrived on Sunday (2 December) and are currently being tested by the vehicle manufacturer JBM Auto Limited and the state transport department.
DTC is procuring 300 e-buses whose delivery was due in November last year owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
These buses will have a low-floor and will be equipped with hydraulic lifts. The facility will allow passengers on wheelchairs to board the bus easily.
Other features added to the bus are GPS trackers, CCTV cameras, panic buttons among others.
For these e-buses, the Delhi government will install bus depots with charging stations. Furthermore, this process will be done in phases.
DTC will also build four ‘hybrid’ bus depots for both CNG and electric buses. Additionally, these bus depots will be in areas including Rajghat, Subhash Place, Hasanpur and Bawana.
A total of 2,300 electric buses are in the pipeline which will cater the people of the city. Out of these, 1,300 will be used by DTC and the other 1,000 will function under the cluster scheme. However, it will take at least six months before the cluster electric buses are introduced.
After the first roll out in February, the e-buses will be added in batches of about 50 in number every month.
Delhi first introduced this plan for e-bus in July, 2018.
Keywords: Delhi News, Kailash Gahlot, e-bus, Delhi Transport Corporation, electric buses, Delhi Transport Minister, Arvind Kejriwal