GMCBL to get 300 e-buses,tweak routes to meet demand
GMCBL officials said that they are awaiting procurement of 300 electric buses after which new routes to connect the developing areas of the city and to provide frequent services for Delhi, Faridabad and neighbouring cities can be launched. The procurement of these e-buses has been delayed at least thrice over the last two years
Gurugram: The Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) will rework several of its existing routes and increase stoppages to meet the demands of commuters despite dealing with poor fleet strength, officials said on Thursday.
GMCBL officials said that they are awaiting procurement of 300 electric buses after which new routes to connect the developing areas of the city and to provide frequent services for Delhi, Faridabad and neighbouring cities can be launched. The procurement of these e-buses has been delayed at least thrice over the last two years. A hundred more electric buses are expected to be procured for Faridabad too, officials said.
GMCBL officials said that one of the routes to Farrukhnagar from Gurugram interstate bus depot has been restarted. It was shut in October 2022 due to poor road conditions along with three other routes.
They said that the route between the bus depot and Farrukhnagar is one of the busiest and generates high revenue and is functioning via the Dwarka expressway as the original route through Gadoli in Sector 37 is still in poor shape.
According to officials, the route which connects Millennium City Centre to Kankrola has been modified to cater to the passengers from Sihi and connects nearby areas too.
Satish Kumar Ruhil, a senior official of the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System Limited, which manages the GMCBL bus routes, said that they have put additional buses on route number 111B which operates between Millennium City Centre and Maruti Kunj to provide connectivity to Tulip Chowk in Sector 70.
“There was a huge demand from the residents of condominiums in sectors 68, 69, 70,71 and neighbouring areas for providing public transport connectivity following which the route had to be changed,” he said.
Ruhil said that they provided dedicated connectivity for the Dwarka Expressway by deploying buses for Sector 99 but that had to be shut down since there were no passengers during the day.
“We have only 150 buses in Gurugram of which a few remain under maintenance all the time. We are trying to cater to the residents in the maximum possible way with the available count. In Faridabad too, we are extending some routes till Badarpur border in Delhi and Ballabgarh looking at the demand,” he said adding they were waiting for the arrival of the new electric buses to launch new routes.
Officials said that 50 more GMCBL buses are plying in Faridabad, but hardly 44 or 45 buses are available at a time as the rest remain under maintenance.
Colonel (retired) Rameshwar Dass Singhal, general manager (mobility) of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) under which GMCBL operates, meanwhile, said that the Central government’s Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) has floated a tender for selecting a bidder for procurement of electric buses on January 2.
He said that buses for multiple states including Haryana, will be procured by CESL under the PM’s E-bus Sewa scheme of the Central government. “Once these buses arrive, GMCBL will be able to meet the demands of the residents,” he added.
GMCBL, with a monthly ridership of about 90,000-1,10,000 passengers operates at least 25 routes in Gurugram and 12 more routes in Faridabad with some providing connectivity to Delhi deploying 200 buses procured almost seven years ago.
