Urban transport, a sector hitherto open only to either civic authorities or small trasnporters, is now open for corporates, with the launch of the cluster bus service in Delhi on Thursday. The service will be run jointly by the Delhi transport corporation (DTC) and Star Bus Services Private Limited, a Tata Motors front.

Green (G) bus is the new corporatised name for Delhi’s cluster bus service. The first G bus plied from Delhi Secretariat to Ambedkar Nagar Terminal.

The service includes 231 buses, of which 50 hit the road on Thursday, are equipped with the global positioning system (GPS) which will provide real-time information to passengers through web and SMS. Just like the Metro the buses have an internal voice announcement system which will announce the next bus stop. They have wireless communication system and CCTV cameras have been installed in these buses on pilot basis.

To resolve the complaints of the commuters of being over-charged by the conductors, the G bus service has trained its conductors to operate the electronic ticketing machines for issuing tickets. There is also a special screen installed within the bus to display time and temperature.

The drivers have attended a special technical training programme organised by Tata Motors. Apart from this, they have also undergone a special behavioural training session by DTC along with medical tests. All drivers will hold driving license and commercial badge from only Delhi.

Ajay Singh, chairman and managaing director of Star Bus, told Governance Now: “This project is going to change the face of urban public transport in the city. G buses are very eco-friendly because they run on CNG. It is a perfect PPP (public-private partnership) model in a 60:40 ratio. The idea was to install accountability and efficiency into the system.”

In the initial phase of the G bus, buses will operate from Ambedkar Nagar to Mori Gate, Old Delhi railway station and Rajendra Place, using the bus rapid transit corridors.

The scheme of corporatisation of the 'private stage carriage buses' was launched in 2008, wherein the Transport Department of the Delhi government had given its first contract for the operation of the first cluster buses to Star Bus. These buses will now operate on 32 routes in South Delhi areas as per the unified time table and will operate in conjunction with DTC buses.