New Delhi : The Delhi government’s ‘mohalla’ bus service could be rolled out in January next year with the delivery of the first lot of buses after necessary approvals, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said on Thursday.

The ‘mohalla’ bus service, announced in the 2023-24 Delhi budget, aims to deploy shorter nine-metre electric buses to boost last-mile connectivity in crowded areas and those with narrow roads.

These buses have been specially designed to cater to such areas.

“The delivery of the nine-metre buses is likely to start from next month and we are waiting for that. Except for one company that had supplied such buses to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, no company has such buses ready.

“Before they are supplied, a prototype is made and the certifying agencies assess its roadworthiness. After the roadworthiness is certified, they (buses) are given to the Transport Department and it carries out an inspection. Then the trial happens,” Gahlot said at a press conference.

“We held a meeting with the OEM and we are confident of getting the first lot of buses by January. Once we get them, we will flag them off and dedicate them to the people of Delhi,” he added.

According to officials, certain areas like outer Delhi, Sangam Vihar, Deoli, Chhatarpur, Vasant Kunj, Dwarka, Rohini and Najafgarh have been identified for deployment of these buses as they do not have proper connectivity to bus stops and metro stations.

The Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government plans to procure more than 2,000 feeder buses to operate on routes that cannot be accessed by 12-metre buses. A technical committee was constituted by the transport minister in May to decide routes and operational characteristics of the new bus service.

As part of research for the launch of the ‘mohalla’ bus service, Gahlot will also be meeting MLAs of southeast and outer Delhi constituencies to understand issues of areas lacking last-mile connectivity.