By IANS,
New Delhi : Delhi’s privately owned Blueline buses, which earned the sobriquet of ‘killer buses’, will pass into history as the entire fleet goes off the road from Tuesday.
“Today (Monday) will be the last day for Blueline buses. They will not ply on Delhi roads from tomorrow (Tuesday),” Delhi Transport Minister Arvinder Singh told IANS Monday.
A new fleet of ‘cluster buses’ is set to replace the Blueline buses, which have been blamed for the death of hundreds on Delhi roads.
The cluster buses will have several modern facilities, including GPS, temperature reader and clocks, electronic ticketing machines and onboard passenger information system on the lines of Delhi Metro through which commuters will be able to know about the upcoming bus stops and expected time of arrival.
The transport minister said that 44 cluster buses will ply on the south Delhi routes by the end of the first week of February and gradually, a fleet of 44,000 buses will start operating.
Modelled on the lines of the bus service in London and several other European cities, the cluster buses will be run by Star Bus Services Pvt Ltd.
Asked about the problems that may arise due to the removal of Blueline buses, the minister said that the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses will meet the needs of the people till the cluster buses start operating.
Last month, 823 Blueline buses of a total of 2,052 were shunted out and Jan 31 was set as the last day for the entire fleet.
Delhi’s 657 bus routes have been divided into 17 clusters by the transport department to facilitate the new arrangement.