Dushyant Singh Pundir
Chandigarh, February 13
In order to provide eco-friendly and green transportation in the city, the UT Transport Department has planned to procure 80 more electric buses to add to the existing fleet of 80 such buses this year.
The procurement of the buses will give a major boost to the plan of the UT Administration to replace the entire fleet of diesel buses of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU), running on local or suburban routes, with electric ones by 2027-28.
Transport Director Pradhuman Singh said they had demanded funds for the procurement of more electric buses. After the allocation of the funds, tenders would be floated, and the process was likely to be completed by September this year, he added.
The second lot of 40 intra-city electric buses was put on commercial operations in November last year after an agreement was signed with M/s Volvo Eicher.
The Department of Heavy Industries, under the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India, had sanctioned 80 electric buses for the UT under the Phase-II FAME India Scheme. The first lot of 40 buses has been in use since November, 2021.
Under the contract, M/s Volvo Eicher has been running the buses at the rate of Rs 44.99 per km, which is cheaper by Rs 15 per km in comparison to the work allotted earlier for the 40 buses in the first phase. Earlier, the contract to run 40 electric buses was allotted to Ashok Leyland at the rate of Rs 60 per km.
After being charged, a bus will be able to cover a distance of nearly 130 km. It will take nearly two or two and a half hours to fully charge a bus. Each bus has a seating capacity of 36 people and a maximum of 54 people will be able to travel at a time, and it will run 200-300 km a day.
A charging station has been set up at Depot No. 3 in Sector 25. The buses have also been fitted with a fire detection and alarm system. To improve connectivity with neighbouring states, the Transport Department will soon double its services on certain long-route sections by procuring 60 more non-AC diesel buses.
Pradhuman Singh said the process of procurement of 60 new buses was likely to be completed by April this year. Arrival of the buses would provide better transport facilities to people on long-routes at reasonable rates, he said, adding that the department had permits for several states and the timings of the buses had also been finalised.
After the arrival of buses, routes of the CTU to cities in other states would double, saving people the time of waiting for long periods to board a bus. The facilities in these buses would also be better than the older ones.
The department wanted to add the buses to the existing fleet of 167 vehicles on profit-making long routes. The number of buses plying on certain profitable sections would be doubled.
Procurement by Sept
Transport Director Pradhuman Singh said they had demanded funds for the procurement of more electric buses. The process was likely to be completed by September this year.
No UT e-buses for long routes
While some private transport companies are already running electric buses on the Delhi-Chandigarh route, the UT Administration is yet to take a call on operating green buses on long routes.
Existing fleet: 80
- Charging station set up at depot in Sector 25
- It takes 2 hours to fully charge a bus
- Covers nearly 130 km on single charge
- Has seating capacity of 36 people, a maximum of 54 persons can travel at a time
- Fitted with fire-alarm system
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/jX0fo4M
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