The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi Metro arranging for feeder services

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 09, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Delhi Metro arranging for feeder services

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

RTVs ruled out, focus on mini-buses

NEW DELHI: At a time when the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is on the verge of completing the 65.10 km-long Phase I of the Delhi Metro project, it is now faced with a peculiar problem of arranging feeder bus services to improve its ridership as the Transport Department of the Delhi Government is not willing to allow the plying of Rural Transport Vehicles (RTVs) for the purpose.

The refusal of the Transport Department to allow RTVs on the city routes -- on the ground that they are not fit for use as public transport in urban areas due to their high chassis -- is now making the DMRC to look for other alternatives. The focus now is on having a mini-bus service, on the lines of the one existing in Kolkata, to serve as feeder vehicles for the Delhi Metro. Bigger than RTVs and easier to climb on to and alight from, these vehicles would seat around 30 passengers comfortably.

But the problem is that the time left to sort out these issues is very short as the Kashmere Gate-Central Secretariat line is due to open this June itself, while the Dwarka-Barakhamba section is due to open in December this year and the last section of Phase I, the Barakhamba-Indraprastha line, would open in March next year. So with just nine months to go for the phase to become fully operational, the DMRC is keen to have the permits for the feeder services in place quickly.

However, that is not happening at the desired rate. A senior DMRC official said while the Transport Department has given the permits to about 20 persons who had applied to the Corporation, it is not ready to allot permits to the RTV owners. As such now private bus operators have CNG vehicles with a lower chassis are being invited to bid for the routes.

The urgency for getting the services into place stems from the fact that in order to live up to the expectation of having a ridership of 23 lakhs by the end of Phase I, the Delhi Metro needs a proper feeder bus service in order to encourage people to leave their cars and two-wheelers at home and take the Metro to work. "The Metro would now be reaching places which are destinations in themselves and so people would like to travel by it. But in order to make that happen we need to provide feeder services at the other end,'' says DMRC Director, C.B.K. Rao.

Already the demand to include more routes and feeder services is growing, he adds. And with the ridership set for a quantum jump from the present level of around 1.5 lakhs per day, the need for an efficient feeder service has also grown. While several private bus routes have already been allotted and the Delhi Transport Corporation also running buses to a number of Metro stations, concerted efforts are needed to meet the future needs.

Meanwhile, there is also the demand from residents to connect the Inderlok station on Line 1 and the Kirti Nagar or Moti Nagar station on the due-to-be-opened Line 3 through either a Metro corridor or a feeder bus service in which the Metro tickets remain applicable. Several citizens, like Hari Nagar resident and Central Pollution Control Board official J.S. Kamyotra, have sought connectivity of these two corridors for the benefit of a large number of travellers.

But Mr Rao says that while a corridor will not be feasible for the less-than-three-kilometre section, a feeder service could be possible. As for the continuation of the tickets on the feeder buses, he said, that however would not be possible immediately.

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