New Delhi: In an effort to make traffic in the city cleaner, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged off 97 high-tech electric buses on Wednesday.
He announced at Rajghat Depot that 8,000 e-buses are set to arrive in the city by 2025. He added that by November 2023, Delhi will have the highest number of e-buses in India with 1,800 new additions.
The AAP chief said the Delhi government is phasing out old-polluting buses and replacing them with electric buses. "We have developed world-class education and healthcare models in Delhi. It is now time to transform Delhi's transport sector into a model for the world to reckon with."
Delhi already has 153 e-buses. With the new fleet of 97, the city's traffic will have 250 clean buses. Another 50 are set to be added to the lot next month.
By the end of 2025, the number of buses in Delhi will increase to 10,380 and 80% of them (8,180) will be e-buses. Right now, the city has 7,373 buses. The CM said this is the highest number of buses Delhi's transport department has had.
Delhi is also set to welcome more women as bus drivers. Some women were given appointment letters to join DTC buses on Tuesday. 200 more are going to be trained.
The capital city is infamous for air pollution way above the healthy level and traffic jams. Winters are particularly bad for the NCR due to smog.