Transport department to introduce over 800 public transport vehicles in Dehradun
Friday, 16 February 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Considering the increasing traffic congestion on Dehradun roads, the Transport department is planning to introduce over 800 city buses and mini buses to operate across the district. The whole project is estimated to be worth around Rs 50 crore, the regional transport officer of the Dehradun division Sunil Sharma said. He informed that the department is considering operating 320 city buses and 520 mini buses in Dehradun to prevent traffic congestion caused by the operation of large numbers of inefficient public transport vehicles. The city buses will operate on 10 trunk routes and mini buses will operate on feeder routes to ensure connectivity of rural areas to the main city. This proposal was passed in the last meeting of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) with the approval of all senior officials of the department. However, the budget required to buy over 800 vehicles is also huge.
“According to our estimation, the department will need about Rs 50 crore to buy these vehicles. We have sent the proposal for approval to the Finance department making them aware of the funds we need. It is currently under consideration,” Sharma said. On the question of whether the introduction of more public transport vehicles will make people use them in daily life, the RTO said that the public will use them if they are provided efficient services at affordable rates. “The traffic congestion on Dehradun’s roads has become one of the prominent issues in recent years which is getting worse with time.
According to my calculation, the congestion will reduce by 60 to 70 per cent if operation of these 800 buses and mini buses commences in Dehradun. It will also connect rural areas to city areas as many people still have to change multiple vehicles to reach main city areas,” he added.
