MADURAI: The much-anticipated electric buses in Madurai will not come into operation this year and will only be introduced in 2026, according to sources in Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC).
The project announced in April, will commence in Chennai first for testing the battery, finding out the benefits and consequences before being introduced in Madurai.
The state government, which is one among the five states in the country to deploy e-buses, earlier announced the introduction of 950 electric buses in Chennai, 100 in Madurai and 75 in Coimbatore, to reduce the carbon footprint.
The state Transport Minister S S Sivashankar in April said that Chief Minister M K Stalin will introduce e-buses in Chennai in June and within two months, the buses will also be introduced in Madurai.
“This is not new for the TNSTC as the department had initially announced the low-floor buses in Madurai for the differently-abled along with Chennai. Later, the buses were introduced in Chennai first before being introduced in Madurai after many months,” a source from TNSTC said.
“Madurai roads are not like Chennai roads. Here, the roads are not laid/re-laid properly due to the ongoing developmental projects, flyover works, among other reasons, and this is a factor to be worried about when e-buses are introduced.
Though the distance between important bus stands such as MGR, Periyar, and Arapalayam is within a 10km radius, due to the traffic congestion, the durability of these e-buses needs to be calculated before introducing them in Madurai.
Even if the e-buses are introduced, they will ply only within the city limits in the first phase,” said the source, further adding that the charging ports are likely to be installed in Periyar and MGR bus terminus.