KOCHI: The Kochi Smart Bus Consortium on Friday started the state's first CNG powered private bus service here. Jaffar Malik, CEO, Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA) and Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML), flagged off the service at a function held at the Vyttila Mobility hub. The CNG conversion was carried out by Edappally-based Metro Fuels.
"Though the initial investment is a bit high, it has long-term benefits. Several bus operators will follow suit. Agencies with the required expertise to make the conversion to green energy are crucial to society’s efforts to bring down the level of atmospheric pollution," said Jaffer.
Kochi Smart Bus consortium is a group of private bus companies which has signed an agreement with Kochi Metro Rail Ltd in partnership with Axis Bank and Technovia Info Solutions to implement smart facilities (Intelligent Transport Systems) in their fleets for the safety and convenience of passengers.
According to the retrofit company, private buses which log an average 250km daily can save nearly Rs40,000 per month by switching to CNG. "The retrofit charges for buses will be around Rs 4 lakh, which the owners can recover within a year," said Geo John Palatty, MD, Metro Fuels.
Meanwhile, the buses undergoing CNG retrofit will offer several passenger-centric facilities such as Kochi1 Card-based ticketing ecosystem, on board passenger information system, AIS 140 vehicle location tracking with emergency buttons, surveillance cameras and live streaming, woman ticket inspectors and OneDi online ticketing app. Shaji Madhavan, enforcement RTO, Ernakulam, George Joseph, owner of Josco Motors, and other bus owners were present.