Distribution of buses across 17 routes in Najafgarh has been rejigged and timings reworked to ensure regular service in the area, with the Delhi government promising that no resident will have to walk more than 500 metres to catch a bus. Advertising Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot made the announcement on Friday. Najafgarh, in the city’s south-western fringes, has 10 towns and 41 villages, many of which fell out of the transport map over the years due to the depleting bus fleet. The plan, which will be launched on Saturday, is the outcome of a nearly eight-month-long study undertaken by various transport agencies and domain experts, chief of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission Jasmine Shah said, adding that the entire city will be brought under its ambit in five to seven phases. “There were extensive surveys to identify demand, including routes that were not attracting enough commuters. Accordingly, buses have been re-assigned. A new route has been created. A total of 306 buses will now connect Najafgarh with the rest of the city. The final plan is being put into place following trials over two months. The primary promise was to ensure availability of buses within 500 metres of every household ,” Shah told The Indian Express. Among the 306, 70 buses have been brought in from various routes that are witnessing low demand. A major part of the study was to identify routes where various modes of transport — rural transit vehicles, gramin sewa autos, metro feeder buses — were competing with each other, resulting in needless overlapping. Shah added that all of Delhi will be covered by the plan following its execution in five to seven phases, after the procurement process of around 3,000 buses is completed. A three-layer hierarchical route arrangement, like the one which is being put in place at Najafgarh, comprising truck, primary and feeder routes, will criss-cross the city. Advertising “The trunk routes, connecting all zonal hubs in Delhi, will run every five minutes. Zonal hubs are areas that are most frequented by people for work, recreation etc. These trunk routes shall be fed by primary routes, where buses will run at less than 15-minute frequency, which in turn shall be fed by village connectivity or feeder routes where frequency shall be less than 20 minutes,” an official statement said.

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