TN CM flags off 250 buses; MTC defers opening of bids for e-buses again

A senior transport department official said the remaining buses would be inducted as and when they are delivered by the manufacturers.

CM C Joseph Vijay flags off an AC e-bus at the Secretariat on Tuesday   Photo | P Jawahar

CHENNAI: Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Tuesday flagged off 250 new government buses meant to be deployed across the state, at an event held at the Secretariat.

This includes 130 AC low-floor electric buses for MTC e-buses, procured at a cost of Rs 234.5 crore, which is part of a project to induct 750 AC low-floor electric buses at a cost of Rs 1,337 crore, according to a transport department release.

The remaining 120 conventional buses, procured at a cost of Rs 55.6 crore, will be deployed across eight state transport corporations and is part of the department’s plan to procure 1,614 buses at a cost of Rs 756 crore. A senior transport department official said the remaining buses would be inducted as and when they are delivered by the manufacturers.

The tenders for the 750 e-buses and 1,614 conventional buses were floated during the previous regime, with deliveries now under way. Under the tender conditions, manufacturers have time until March 2027 to complete deliveries. However, the department is pushing to have all the scheduled buses delivered by the end of this year, the official said.

Of the 130 new e-buses, 50 have been allotted to the Central depot and will be deployed on 10 routes – 2C, 7H, PP21, 29A, 40H, 40A, 88Kct, 221, 72 and 25 – having five buses on each route.

The remaining 80 buses have been allotted to the Alandur depot for operation on 15 routes. Routes MAA1, MAA3, 113, 76A, 500P, 570R, 114R, 515P, 119, 170C, 9M and 70V will get five buses each. MAA2 and D70 will get eight buses each, while four buses have been allotted to route 105.

With Tuesday’s addition, MTC’s AC electric bus fleet has increased to 755. The new buses will also be operated under the the gross cost contract model.

Meanwhile, MTC has again deferred the opening of bids for tenders to operate another 1,000 AC low-floor e-buses and 520 small buses, this time to August 27. The bids were initially scheduled to be opened on July 15, before being postponed to July 30 and August 19. Officials attributed the repeated postponement to administrative reasons.