Metro begins feeder bus service today

New Delhi, Nov 5 (UNI) The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation today introduced its feeder bus service with buses plying between Shastri Park Metro station and Vasundhara Enclave in the initial phase.

A special feature of the buses, operated by the Metro, is that special control rooms will track the buses with the help of the GPS technology which will permit real time tracking of the vehicles based on location, speed and time.

The GPS equipment will also provide critical alerts such as overspeeding, deviation from route, over stopping, unauthorised stopping, emergency alerts and SMS through control centres.

Twelve buses will ply on the route between Shastri Park Metro station and Vasundhara Enclave, passing via Geeta Colony Road, Akshardham Temple, Noida Link Road, Mayur Vihar Phase-1, Mayur Vihar Phase-1 Extn., Chilla Sarda Bangar and Dharamshila Cancer Hospital. These buses, fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, will be available at intervals of about ten minutes, DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dyal said.

More buses are expected to start shortly on another route which will be a ring service from Pitampura Metro station. The services will initially be on a trial basis. This route will pass via Durga Mandir, Rohini Sector 7 and 8 crossing, Sector- 7A Part-I, Naharpur Village, Ayodhya Chowk, Vikram Chowk, Rithala Mor, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital, Rithala Metro station, Rohini Sec-11, Ambedkar Chowk, Rohini Sec-16, Sec-15, Sardar Colony, Pocket B2 and Manav.

The number of buses will increase to 120 over the next few months and they will be introduced on 19 more routes. Some of the Metro stations which will be covered by these routes are Welcome, Vishwa Vidyalaya, Netaji Subhas Place, Rohini West, Indraprastha, Mandi House, Janakpuri West, Dwarka Sector-17 and Dwarka Sector-10.

The number of buses will progressively be increased to 419 and will cover 36 routes, the spokesperson said.

Each bus will have a seating capacity of 18 to 20 with a standing capacity of 10 with fares of Rs five and Rs eight. The buses will have two stop buttons by pressing which passengers can intimate the driver that they intend to get down at the next stop.

The safety features of the buses are as per Metro standards with the flooring made of fire-retardant plywood and fire extinguishers available in all buses. They have public address systems, are fan-cooled, have environment-friendly Bharat Stage III engines and run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).

The bus drivers have been given special uniforms and training.

The existing RTV feeder buses will continue plying as well.

UNI