CHENNAI: Metropolitan Transport Corporation will come out with a vision plan to transition to electric buses from 2026. They are also considering converting some diesel engine buses to CNG, said sources.
This comes in the wake of Niti Aayog and Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA) citing observations after the Department of Economic Affairs recently gave clearance to Tamil Nadu’s proposal for seeking a $400 million grant from World Bank for Chennai City Partnership -- Urban mobility and Spatial Development in Chennai Metropolitan Area. The total cost of the project is $572 million.
The clarification on Niti Aayog and Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs observations by the state is important as it is one of the conditions before availing of the loan.
Niti Aayog has observed that the state has to prioritise and incentivise clean fuel technology for public transport services. Sources said that under Phase-1 of Chennai City Partnership, MTC is already in the process of procuring 500 electric buses and there is also a proposal to replace 100 buses with electric buses through KFW funding.Meanwhile, MTC is managing the parking of 3,436 buses across the existing 31 depots and has already identified land for parking of additional 500 buses. Similarly, the process of mobilising land for additional 500 buses is on.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has suggested providing parking spaces while keeping in mind the needs of the Chennai Metropolitan Area. The parking spaces should also be planned to take into consideration the number of buses per lakh of the population as prescribed by the ministry’s service level standards while undertaking transit-oriented development for the bus depots, the ministry has suggested. Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority will likely address the issue of identifying depots or bus parking spaces for future requirements as MOHUA’s service level standards as part of the Comprehensive Mobility Plan.Niti Aayog has suggested a road safety action plan for Chennai Metropolitan Area besides designing streets with the ‘pedestrian first’ principle.