Delhi to decide on return of Blueline buses after Oct 25

NEW DELHI - The Delhi government Monday said it will take a decision after Oct 25 on whether to bring around 1,600 Blueline buses back on the city’s roads, and maintained it was committed to phase out these privately owned public transport vehicles.

The Bluelines were taken off to decongest some of the roads ahead of the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games.

Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely told reporters: The nearly 1,600 Blueline buses which were asked to go off the roads on the Games routes and New Delhi areas, will remain so till Oct 25. Any decision on them will be taken only after that.

He also stressed that the government was fully committed to phase the Blueline buses as the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) now has enough buses to ferry the capitals commuters.

He said the red and green DTC buses that were used to carry athletes and officials during the Commonwealth Games would roll out Tuesday, and with these the DTC would have a fleet of 6,400 buses.

As many as 200-250 red buses are in the pipeline and will join the DTC fleet soon, he added.

A transport department official said the Delhi government will also file an affidavit to apprise the Delhi High Court about the ongoing case on phasing out of the Blueline buses.

The Delhi government had earlier planned to phase out all the Blueline buses before the Commonwealth Games. The Blueline bus operators had approached the high court, where the matter is pending.

The city has a total of 2,800 Blueline buses.