Commuters in Delhi can look forward to relief as the much awaited and much delayed cluster bus service is going to be functional from Thursday. The scheme, which aims at adding a fleet of buses jointly run by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and a cluster of private parties, will be inaugurated at Delhi Secretariat. The first cluster of 231 buses will ply on 32 routes in South Delhi.

The fares will be equal to those of the DTC buses and the DTC passes will be valid in the cluster buses too.

“The cluster scheme buses will be equipped with the global positioning system (GPS), which will report their location in real time. The private stage carriage buses cluster will influence the quality of mass transit service in Delhi and its attractiveness. All the technical aspects of these buses will be monitored by DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System),” said a Delhi Transport Authority official.

Star Bus Private Limited will flag off the first cluster, which will provide the drivers for the buses while the conductors will be from the DTC. These low-floor buses will be orange in colour as they are non-air-conditioned and will be run in a 40:60 partnership between the Delhi government and the private players in a unique public-private partnership (PPP) model.

The second cluster, to be launched next month, will have 232 buses covering 32 routes. Delhi has a total of 657 bus routes which have been divided into 17 clusters by DIMTS.

The cluster scheme was slated to be launched in time for the Commonwealth Games but it was delayed due to continuous disputes between stakeholders and non-completion of work of depot facilities.