BENGALURU: The state government is all set to privatise operations of state-owned road transport corporations including BMTC and KSRTC. The government which has initiated the process of shifting to electric buses is aiming to convert the entire fleet into electric buses by 2030, Transport Minister B Sriramulu said. He said buses will run on contract basis for a period of 12 years under Gross Cost Contract system as per which the vehicles will be owned and maintained by the bidder besides appointing its own in-house drivers.
‘E-buses will help state govt cut costs’
Replying to Congress MLA Tanveer Sait, who asked for details on electric BMTC buses, Sriramulu said, under Smart City scheme, 90 electric buses have been taken on contract basis. Under Union government’s Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles -2 (FAME-2) scheme, 300 buses will be taken on contract, of which 75 buses are already plying on Bengaluru roads.
This apart, an order has been placed for 921 electric buses under Convergence Energy Services Limited. With diesel cost increasing, switching to electric buses will help us save cost and it is eco-friendly too,” he said. He said presently 35,000 buses are plying under BMTC, KSRTC, NERTC and NWRTC. He said the bidder will have to maintain the buses. The bus depots and bus stations will be managed by the corporations concerned. In his written reply, Sriramulu said the operating cost of diesel buses is around Rs 68.53 per km, while electric buses costs Rs 54 to Rs 64 per km.
A Transport Department official told TNIE that there is no plan to purchase electric buses. “All our SRTCs will be going for electric buses. We cannot procure or buy but will prefer to go for contract,” the official said. Sources from the department also said that the move might affect drivers and conductors in the coming days if agencies start plying buses on contract.