Less turnaround time, more daily buses at Delhi’s ISBTs: Transport dept data

Fifty more buses are using the three Inter State Bus Terminals (ISBTs) in Delhi every day since lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena on September 15 revised parking charges for state and private buses, reduced parking time, and ordered that only buses with FASTags would be allowed inside ISBTs, officials said on Saturday.
Traffic congestion outside the ISBTs is visibly lower now, and a report from the traffic police has also been sought to ascertain the impact of reduced turnaround timings on traffic and pedestrian movement outside the ISBTs, officials from the LG office said.
“The new rates or stand fee and norms introduced at ISBTs after the LG’s intervention has achieved desired results right since its notification. LG had suggested equal parking rates for government and private buses to achieve optimum use of facilities, and also reduced parking time to achieve higher turnaround and faster circulation which is evident now,” said an official from the LG office.
“The impact on traffic outside the ISBTs is exceptionally good. We’ll soon submit our report in this connection to the LG,” a senior Delhi traffic police officer said.
Delhi’s three ISBTs are at Anand Vihar, Kashmere Gate and Sarai Kale Khan.
The average turnaround time for buses at the Anand Vihar ISBT has come down from 208 minutes (3.5 hours) in August and 212 minutes on September 14 to 24 minutes on September 15 and 22 minutes on September 19, according to data provided by the transport department. The turnaround time has been 23 minutes as of September 26, transport department officials said.
“As a result of this, the number of buses to and from Anand Vihar has risen substantially from around 852 per day in August to 912 on September 17,” a transport official said.
At ISBT Kashmere Gate, the average turnaround time has dropped from 45 minutes in August to 29 minutes after the new order, averaging 19 minutes since then. The number of buses to and from the terminal was 1,373 per day on average in August and is now 1,644 per day.
At Sarai Kale Khan ISBT, the average turnaround time has dropped from 216 minutes (3.6 hours) in August and is averaging 18 minutes since the order.
LG office officials said that the revised stand fee charges are being collected only through FASTag and no bus is allowed to enter and operate from the terminal’s premises without a FASTag.
“The underuse till now was because of rate differences between government and private buses, poor management of parking bays, bus staff using terminals as resting places and systemic issues like staggered circulation due to extended turnaround time, which in turn leads up to traffic gridlock outside ISBTs. Under the new system, private and government interstate buses are paying the same fee for parking and using the bus bays. Till the new orders, private buses were charged more, which led to a situation where they unauthorisedly parked and picked passengers on roads outside ISBT complexes, resulting in traffic snarls and passenger and revenue loss to state buses,” said the official from LG office.