Courteous staff add to the world-class bus experience

Courteous staff add to the world-class bus experience
11 Jun 2008, 0210 hrs IST, Megha Suri,TNN

NEW DELHI: The changing face of public transport is all set to change the way Delhi travels. Small cars are passe, it's the age of the AC buses. Says transport commissioner R K Verma, "We are looking at a completely world class public transport network and that experience cannot be complete with indifferent or unhelpful staff. We have trained all drivers and conductors of the low-floor buses and are planning to extend the programme to staff in all buses." Delhi Metro has also put in a clause about positive feedback being an essential service condition of the private company running the feeder buses. It will also have provision for installation of a smart-card based ticketing system. Though a decision on fares of these buses is pending, they could be a bit higher than what commuters are paying at present. The 300 AC buses that DMRC is about to procure, will run on feeder routes connecting metro stations to nearby localities. This means that all but 119 of the Metro feeder bus fleet will be AC. DTC is procuring 525 low-floor buses in the first lot of which 25 will be AC. It has already received 250-odd non-AC buses and 8 AC buses. The Delhi Metro AC buses will all be 24-28 seaters and like the rest of the public transport in the city, will run on CNG. In the tender, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has specified that the bidder should have at least three years experience of manufacturing buses or providing after sales. Further, the manufacturing unit where the buses will be produced must have a ISO:9001 certification and supplied at least 300 buses in any part of the world in the past two years. "We wanted to raise the levels of the feeder bus service to make it comparable to the world class experience that our trains provide. So a decision was taken to provide people better service in the form of airconditioned buses. The last date for accepting bids is July 31," said Anuj Dayal, DMRC's chief spokesperson. DMRC has got a permit from the State Transport Authority to run 419 feeder buses on 36 pre-identified routes. An order for 120 buses was placed by DMRC last year, of which 93 buses are already operational. The remaining are expected by June end. But, even as these buses are not airconditioned, they have proved to be a big hit. DMRC has been flooded with requests from resident welfare associations (RWAs) and individuals asking for feeder routes covering their areas of residence.