The fleet of low-floor diesel buses are expected to ply inside Gurgaon as city buses since only CNG buses can enter Delhi territory. ``These buses have reached our depot. But we are in the process of recruiting drivers and conductors. Once we get additional staff, these buses will start plying, perhaps by this month. This would bring some relief to commuters inside the city,'' said J S Arya, general manager of Haryana Roadways, Gurgaon. Sources said that the fair for the diesel buses would be normal in these buses.

According to the plan, Faridabad would also get such buses for inter-city transport facility. Even though the CNG-fuelled AC buses have got drivers and conductors to run them, it is yet to become popular among commuters. Though the routes of these buses have been designed to cater to the need of passengers, lack of assured and frequent service has been the major reason for its failure to get loyal users.

To top this, the buses almost stop plying by 4 and 5 pm, though the evening peak hour demand of passengers is very high as commuters either head towards Gurgaon from Delhi or return to their Delhi homes. Officials said that they were finding it difficult to ply these buses beyond early evening hours since the shift of drivers and conductors ends by that time. ``As per the provisions, any staff working overtime on local routes (Delhi-Gurgaon is considered local) is not entitled to get overtime and hence the staff onthese buses never showed interest in plying them after their daily shifts,'' said an official.

But Arya said that they have found a solution to the problem after taking it up with higher authorities. ``Very recently we got permission to pay overtime to the staff even on local routes and particularly in case of these buses. We have plans to ply them till late night so that we get more passengers. We are taking all steps to make this service a success,'' Arya added.

He added that they were expecting more passengers to shift to AC buses as summer approaches and as the frequency of buses improves.