CHENNAI: The procurement cost of an electric bus, proposed to be introduced in Chennai, is likely to be less than Rs 1.5 crore, with the Centre agreeing to look into the matter, Tamil Nadu Transport minister M R Vijayabaskar said here on Tuesday.
He said that a delegation of C -40, a Cities Climate Leadership Group based in England, is expected to visit Chennai in the next 10 days to study the feasibility of operating electric buses.“Based on the recommendations of the C-40 delegation, routes for operating electric buses will be finalised,” he said.
Noting that the State government has proposed to buy 200 electric buses, he said a proposal to purchase 70 e-buses during the first phase has been sent to the union transport ministry. “Cost of a bus had been reduced from Rs two crore to Rs 1.5 crore. The cost may go less than Rs 1.5 crore,” he said.
To a query on conductorless buses, the minister said the buses had got overwhelming patronage among commuters as travel time drastically reduced. “The travel time of a Chennai - Tiruvannamalai bus has reduced by an hour and 15 minutes, while travel time in Karur - Coimbatore section has come down by an hour,” he said.
Responding to apprehensions raised by transport workers union over safety of bus operations without conductors, he said that depots are equipped to handle technical faults and repairs in the buses.
To a query, he denied there was any reduction of ordinary buses in Chennai. He claimed that ordinary services had been increased based on commuters demand.