BENGALURU: By April next year, there will be 1,400 electric buses operated by Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) in the city, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said after flagging off 100 non-AC electric buses at Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday.
Siddaramaiah said that the new electric buses have been added to promote public transport in the city and reduce vehicular pollution. Hitting out the Opposition BJP for criticising the ‘Shakti’ scheme, the CM said, “Women in Karnataka have undertaken 120 crore rides in state road transport buses for free after the launch of the Shakti scheme. A total of 40 lakh people travel on BMTC daily. In this, women of all castes, all religions and women of all walks of life are travelling for free.”
He questioned why the BJP did not implement the free bus travel scheme for the welfare of people when it was in power. He went on to explain how the Congress’ guarantees have benefited the poor, labourers, farmers and women, and how it has increased the purchasing power of people and the economic activity of the state.
The salient features of the electric buses which have a seating capacity of 35 include zero emissions, a 200-km range per charge, LED destination boards with a voice announcement system, panic button for women’s safety and advanced safety features such as FDAS (Fire Detection and Alarm system), regenerative braking, and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System).