Govt is sure,see last of Bluelines today

Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely had earlier said January 31 will be the “last day” for the remaining 840 Blueline buses in the city. He had said the government-run Delhi Transport Corporation will able to meet the transportation needs of the people.

Officials said the “complete phase-out” of the fleet is “on schedule” and notices have been issued to Blueline operators to surrender their permits by Monday.

On January 20,the Delhi High Court had reserved its order on the government’s plea to not allow Bluelines to return to city roads. It,however,has turned down bus operators’ plea for an extension of the permits of one-third of the 2,000 Bluelines,which had lapsed.

Justifying its decision to phase out Blueline buses,the government had told the court that the private buses are six times more accident-prone than DTC buses.

A Delhi government official said any Blueline bus plying on the roads after January 31 will be impounded as permits have been suspended. “We now have a fleet of 6,200,including 3,575 low-floor buses. We are confident of being able to handle the situation. There will be no problem. On any given day,at least 5,000 DTC buses are on the roads,” the official said.

Meanwhile,the government’s ambitious cluster bus service scheme is likely to take off next month,with the first of cluster routes becoming functional.

The Delhi government had in 2009 divided the 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.