If you’ve been complaining about the lack of feeder bus services to the nearest Metro station, here’s reason to cheer. Delhi government recently gave permits for 89 feeder routes to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Services on the routes – which cover many localities along the Blue line (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida City Centre/Vaishali) corridor – have been in the offing for a long time.
“Permits have been given to routes that required immediate feeder service. Delhi Metro has been asked to ensure that the service becomes available soon,” said a senior government official. DMRC, meanwhile, says it doesn’t have the required funds to start services on all the routes. “At present, there are three operators running 100 buses on 17 routes. More buses are required to begin the additional services. We are yet to get funds.”
The routes for which permits have been given touch stations like Welcome, Vishwavidyalaya, Pitampura, Rohini, Pragati Maidan, Janakpuri, Dwarka, Yamuna Bank, Mayur Vihar, Chattarpur, Geeta Colony, Jorbagh, Badarpur and Nehru Place besides several other localities. Interestingly, of the 89 routes for which permits have been given, DMRC is running the feeder service on 17. Services on other routes will become operational in some time.
At present, other para-transit options like Gramin Sewa vehicles operate on a parallel basis with feeder buses. Private services like RTVs also offer the feeder option, especially in border and rural areas. On the more popular routes near Dwarka, Yamuna Bank and Pragati Maidan metro stations, a tussle between the DMRC’s feeder bus service and private vehicles is a daily affair, said officials. Recently, DMRC had complained about Gramin Sewa eating into their feeder service pie.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com