Delhi brings in private companies to run cluster bus services

After deciding to phase out the 'killer' Blueline buses, the Delhi government today opened the transport sector to private companies under the ambitious 'cluster' scheme.

Under this scheme, private operators will run a fleet of over 900 swanky buses on a zonal basis.

Modelled on the lines of the public transport services in London and Paris, the cluster buses, which will be on the roads in six months, will have GPS and other facilities.

The government has set a deadline of December 14 to phase out all Blueline buses.

The Delhi cabinet, presided over by chief minister Sheila Dikshit, as part of the first phase of the project, decided to give contracts to two private entities which will run the bus services in four separate areas allocated to them.

The government has divided nearly 650 bus routes across the city into 17 clusters, each comprising profitable and non-profitable routes, and decided to give each cluster to a private operator.

Surprisingly, the government has revised some of its earlier decisions, including having 60% Delhi Transport Corporation buses in each cluster against 40% buses run by private entities.

"It has now been decided that in each cluster 60% buses will be run by private entities and 40% will be operated by the  government-run DTC," an official said, adding that the government would also offer financial support to the private entities for the new clusters.

"We have decided to award clusters two, three, four and five to the successful bidders who will have to start their services within the next six months. The total number of buses in these four clusters will be 682," transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said.

The government had already awarded the first cluster to Star Bus Services Pvt Ltd, which is likely to start its services with 232 buses later this month along the BRT (bus rapid transit) corridor in South Delhi.

"Within the next six months, we will have a total of 914 buses in these five clusters, including the cluster given to Star Bus Pvt Ltd. We will start the tender process for the remaining clusters soon," Lovely said.

Officials said cluster 2 has been awarded to Indraprastha Logistics Ltd, which had quoted a minimum amount of Rs30.88 per kilometre. The operator will run 232 buses in the area allotted to it.

Clusters three, four and five have been awarded to AB Grain Spirits Pvt Ltd. For cluster three the company will get Rs36.68 per kilometre, while for clusters four and five it will be given Rs35.69 and Rs34.79 per kilometre.

As per the plan finalised by the Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS), the transport department will decide the bus fares which will go to the government while the private operator will be paid a fixed amount on the basis of every kilometre travelled.

In another deviation from the policy on cluster bus services announced earlier, the government has allowed the private operators to run buses having technical specifications as per guidelines stipulated by the Union urban development ministry for non-airconditioned buses.

For the new clusters, buses having a floor level at a maximum height of 900mm from the ground will be allowed, officials said.

Earlier, the government had said that private operators would be allowed to run either low-floor or semi-low-floor buses in the clusters. The low-floor buses introduced by DTC have a floor height of 400mm.

Lovely said all the buses will need to have GPS and other facilities like electronic display boards, apart from adhering strictly to their time table.

The minister said the operators will have to start the service within the stipulated period of six months. "Otherwise we will confiscate the bank guarantee of nearly Rs1 crore deposited by each operator," the minister said.

The government has already phased out 1,600 Blueline buses last week and decided to remove the remaining 800 buses by December 14.