Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Transport Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh and Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu flagged off the 200 electric buses last week. Some of the new buses will operate 56 women-only services across 28 routes. These include 30 Ladies Special trips on 15 high-demand routes and 26 University Ladies Special trips on 13 routes serving female students.
The 200 new electric buses comprise 112 nine-metre and 88 twelve-metre vehicles. The smaller buses are part of Delhi’s DEVi (Delhi Electric Vehicle Interconnector) initiative. They are designed to connect residential neighbourhoods, particularly those with narrow or congested streets, with major bus corridors and metro stations.
The nine-metre electric buses appear to be PMI Electro Mobility Solutions’ Regio model, which is available with either 23 or 26 seats. As with the Regio buses already deployed in the DEVi fleet, Delhi appears to have opted for the 23-seat version, which can also accommodate 13 standing passengers. If the specifications are unchanged from the previous batch, the new buses should also offer a range of more than 200 kilometres. The twelve-metre electric buses appear to be JBM Auto’s Eco-Life 12dl model.
