The clusters and routes were formulated on December 16, 2007. But, a senior DIMTS official said, “We got feedback that it was causing confusion. The mix up was due to overlapping of routes between different corporate operators. Now, the routes are being planned in a way to avoid clash and minimise competition among private operators.”

As per the earlier plan, there were 17 clusters of bus routes, based on a total of 657 routes. But they were causing clash in terms of particular route defined for a private operator, the DIMTS official said.

The new model would have 18 clusters, with five routes in each. Each cluster would be given to a private operator, avoiding any clash and minimising competition, the official said.

The new cluster formula is expected to have less possibility of interference in others routes as it would be defined for each private operator.

“The new model has been formulated keeping this problem in mind,” the DIMTS official said. The model has been based keeping inter-route parallel destination in mind. A single private operator could bid on that and would function on these routes.

“This would avoid any clash between the operators.”