The Thane Municipal Transport undertaking (TMT), – the transport wing of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) is all set to introduce over 100 state-of-the-art electric buses. An order for the procurement of 123 e-buses, at a cost of Rs 185 crore, has been given to a well known electric bus manufacturer and the first bus from this lot is likely to be delivered next month.
The supplier will maintain the buses for the next 15 years. The TMC had introduced one electric bus on the public-private partnership (PPP) model more than two year ago, but operation of the bus was stopped after a few months.
Of these 123 new e-buses 71 will be air-conditioned (AC) while the rest will be non-AC, including 55 buses with a seating capacity of 33 passengers and 68 that will seat 23 passengers. Both types of buses will have additional standing capacity of 13-15 passengers.
Currently, the TMC has 364 buses running on 105 routes. Of these, 44 run on CNG, while the remaining 320 are diesel operated and the fleet has only 30 AC buses. Over 1.5 lakh passengers use the bus services operated by the TMC on a daily average.
Asked about the procurement plan of the new buses, TMT transport manager Bhalchandra Behare said, “All these buses will come within a year. The first 40 buses of this lot will come within the next four months.”
“An Olectra Greentech Limited (OLECTRA) and Evey Trans Private limited (EVEY) consortium has received a letter of award from TMC in this regard. The buses will be supplied on Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model basis, for a period of 15 years. EVEY Trans will procure the Electric Buses from Olectra Greentech and they will be delivered in nine months, with the first bus likely to reach Thane next month,” said the OLECTRA spokesperson.
According to KV Pradeep, OLECTRA chairman and managing director, the company already operates e-buses in Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Olectra e-buses have clocked over 3 crore km till the date, and significantly reduced carbon emissions in the state. Till date, Olectra e-buses have clocked over 7 crore km on Indian roads.
Current TMT bus fleet
366
AC buses
30
Non-AC buses
334
CNG operated
44
Diesel operated
320
Total bus routes
105
Avg daily passengers
Over 1.5 lakh
