KSRTC To Operate 50 AC Electric Buses

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to operate fifty 12m AC electric buses in Bengaluru on 6 inter-city routes. 15 buses out of 50 will be operated from and to Davanagere, 10 from and to Shivamogga, 8 from and to Mysuru, 7 from and to Madikeri, and 5 from and to Virajpet, and Chikkamagaluru.

Under the second phase of FAME scheme, Evey Trans Pvt Ltd, a Hyderabad based company will provide this order. The contract was signed for 12 years time period and KSRTC will pay Rs 55/km. Using electric buses instead of diesel buses will also save operational costs. Electric buses are the need of the hour as it is environment friendly.

“These AC electric buses will have 43 seats. The firm will also deploy a driver and set up charging stations at these locations. The company will run 450km per bus a day. The conductor will be from KSRTC and the fare will be the same as that aboard diesel AC buses,” said a senior KSRTC official.

“The firm will take care of cleaning and maintaining these electric buses. We identified these routes after a proper study. We are hoping these services become popular among people,” he said.

“But they should ensure electric buses are charged to cover long-distance trips. Otherwise, passengers will suffer. Steps should be taken to set up more charging stations en route,” said K Venugopal, a regular KSRTC passenger.

Under Centre’s ‘Grand e-Mobility Challenge’, Bengaluru is also set to get around 1500 electric buses. Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) unveiled a tender worth Rs 5,500 crore to induct 5,580 e-buses (5,450 single-decker and 130 double-decker ones) in the country.

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