All Bluelines to go off Delhi roads by Dec 14

NEW DELHI: Finally, the fate of the killer Blueline fleet appears to have been sealed. Delhi transport minister Arvinder Singh on Monday set a deadline of December 14 for phasing out of the 2,400-odd Blueline buses plying on the capital’s roads — more than a year ahead of the original deadline of February 2012.Explaining the decision, Singh said there had been little impact during the Commonwealth Games when Bluelines were off the roads in all parts of the city except in outer Delhi and rural areas. Within days of the buses resuming service, a Blueline killed yet another Delhiite.“When I became the transport minister in 2008, there were about 3,000 Blueline buses on the road whereas now our own DTC fleet is 6,500 strong so we can afford to do away with them. Moreover the Metro network has also widened. By November 1, the first of our bus clusters would have come into existence,” Singh said.The matter of the Bluelines buses is still in court and the Delhi government, which has been under pressure from court to provide a safer means of public transport, had asked for a four-month – Timesofindia