As Delhi gears up for the 15-day trial period of restricting private cars on roads from January 1, both the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) announced that they would add more trains and buses and deploy more staff. Under the traffic formula, odd numbered cars will ply on odd days and even-numbered ones on even days.
Additionally, car stickers will be made available at 114 CNG stations to help identify CNG vehicles, Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai said at a press conference here on Monday, adding that special buses to Delhi will be run for commuters from Gurgaon and Noida.
DTC has brought in an additional 2,800 private buses into its fold of 4,500 fleet, which will be paid on a per km basis. It has also hired 1,000 bus conductors on a contract basis, adding to its 13,000 conductor staff, RS Minhas, DTC spokesperson, told
DMRC said in a release that it would run 3,192 total trips, against 2,827 trips that it ran during the similar period in January 2015. It will be running 198 trains daily to achieve these trips, which is more than the 196 trains used on August 28 this year, when DMRC had the highest ever ridership of over 32 lakh.
DMRC also plans to deploy additional shifts of guards or customer facilitation agents at major stations, and more manpower to handle the ticketing load. It also plans to augment manpower in its Helpline No. 155370.
Cab aggregators, too, are bracing for D-Day. For instance, Ola has launched a free ‘CarPool’ feature to allow residents in Delhi-NCR to pool rides using their private cars through Ola’s App, while Rai also pushed Poocho App to help Delhiites with car pooling.
“We are launching a new number: 9243007040. People who have smartphones can give a missed call at this number and they’ll get the link to download the App,” he said, adding that App would also connect commuters to autorickshaws.
Meanwhile, some analysts hailed the move.
“The Delhi government move is in the right direction to control the vehicle population on the roads. With many exemptions and inadequate public transport system, the success of road space rationing policy largely depends upon all stakeholders support and how this policy gets implemented,” said Abdul Majeed, Partner, Price Waterhouse, and an auto expert.