New Delhi, Oct 1 :Delhi government has decided to remove income ceiling for allowing senior citizen passes for travelling in DTC buses, Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said on Friday. The government has also decided to extende free traveling facilities to blind persons in AC buses also plying in Delhi and NCR Region.
He said free passes being issued to blind persons would be valid in all AC and non AC buses plying in Delhi and NCR Region from Oct 1.Earlier the free traveling facility to blind persons was limited to non AC buses in Delhi area only. Presently, 12,900 passes are issued annually, he added.
Lovely said, all senior citizens of Delhi, of age 60 years and above, are entitled to get Sr. Citizen non-AC pass @ Rs. 50/- per month and AC pass @ Rs. 150/- per month without any income limit from October 1. Presently 4.5 lakhs passes are issued annually for this category, he added.
DTC presently has a fleet of 6500 buses including 1270 AC Low Floor Buses and 2505 Low Floor non-AC buses catering to 45 lakh passengers. The buses make 40,000 trips a day covering 10 lakh kilometres. Last year the average passengers numbers were about 30 lakhs per day. DTC is generating Rs.3.5 crore revenue per day whereas last year it was Rs.75 lakh a day.
Lovely said GPS based automatic vehicle location system has already been implemented in about 3700 DTC buses (in almost all low Floor Buses). The speed of buses is closely monitored by GPS applications, he claimed. Passenger Information System (PIS) is going to be launched very soon by way of which passenger would know the buses of various routes arriving shortly at the bus stop.
In the first phase, 100 bus shelters will be taken up involving about 2500 DTC buses also along with cluster bus service.Electronic Ticketing Machines will be introduced soon in DTC buses, Lovely added.
