Three low floor buses were flown into service by the state transport minister, Mr Ranjit Kundu, today. The vehicles have been procured under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme.

The buses would ply on routes ~ 221, 214 and 32 ~ one each.

The impasse over a smooth and hassle-free access from the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor on Mathura Road to the Supreme Court seems far from over.

On Tuesday, Supreme Court judges and senior government officials met for the second time to discuss the issue but the meeting remained inconclusive, sources said.

The government will formulate a new transport policy to effectively regulate the functioning of private operators and the state road transport corporation will make efforts to secure agency of the Tata Motors for supply of chassis and spare parts.

MUMBAI: Even as the Union urban development minister, Jaipal Reddy, on Tuesday stressed the importance of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) for Mumbai, officials in charge of the project say it is still in the planning stage and needs seven to eight months before work on the ground begins.

The government's plan to phase out Blueline buses in the capital is likely to take more time than expected. While its "cluster" scheme, in which private players were to be invited to run buses on particular cluster of routes, seems to have encountered a financial problem, the arrival of the low-floor DTC buses may also take time.

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain said on Saturday old and junk vehicles plying in the city for more than 20 years would be removed from the roads.