The process of phasing out Blueline buses has begun. As part of its policy to let corporate bodies run the Capitals private bus network by auctioning routes to separate operators,the Delhi government has awarded the first bid to a city-based bus operating firm,Starline Bus Services. In all,17 bus clusters are up for bid each cluster contains several bus routes. Officials said Starline operates Blueline buses at present; it also runs a tourist carriage bus service. The bid won by Starline includes routes along the Bus Rapid Transit corridor running between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand. It comprises 30 bus routes in total,covering Mori Gate,Lajpat Nagar,Red Fort,Mehrauli,Nizamuddin,Okhla,Ambedkar Nagar terminal,Anand Vihar,Kamla Market,Anand Parbat,New Delhi railway station,Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium,Vasant Kunj,Minto Road,Bara Tuti,Dhaula Kuan and Badarpur Border. The bus operator would be required to provide at least 250 to 300 buses along the cluster, Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta said. The operator will be in charge of managing the system this includes installing GPS in these buses. All buses running along the BRT corridor are GPS-enabled and can be tracked on the official website of the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS),which operates the BRT corridor. Running at least 300 Passenger Car Units is the basic requirement of bidding for the Blueline clusters. That way,Mehta said,bus operators can be monitored strictly they are not single bus operators; they would have all infrastructure necessary. He said the Delhi government will collect the fare and would strictly monitor all operations. The operator will be given a fixed salary, he added. While there are 352 bus routes operational in the city at present,DIMTS has planned 657 routes and distributed profitable and non-profitable routes evenly among the 17 clusters planned. The number of routes was increased to include feeder stretches,as also to increase accessibility,officials said. The government had submitted the route-cluster model to the Delhi High Court following a spate of fatal accidents caused by Blueline buses in 2007. The government has said the DTC will increase its fleet to about 10,000 buses by next Octobers Commonwealth Games. The Bluelines,currently about 4,500 in strength,are to be phased out gradually as their permits expire corporates will take over running of private buses. Next stop: Blueline Inc.*n 17 bus clusters across city*n Approximately 30 routes and 250-300 buses in each cluster* Profitable and non-profitable routes divided evenly among each cluster to encourage operators * Corporatisation expected to cut competition,speeding,and thereby accidents
