Sh. Banwarilal Purohit, Administrator Chandigarh flagged off the prototype electric bus of the second lot of 40 electric buses to be procured by CTU.
Department of Heavy Industries, under Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Govt. of India has sanctioned 80 Electric buses under Phase-ll FAME India scheme. Under the scheme maximum subsidy amounting to Rs 45 lacs per bus is granted by Department of Heavy Industries, Government of India.
For first lot of 40 buses, agreement signed with M/s Ashok Leyland amounting to Rs. 154.01 Cr for 10 years. The buses have been launched and under operation from November, 2021 onwards. For Second lot of buses, the agreement was signed with M/s Volvo Eicher in February 2022 amounting to Rs. 115.44 crores for 10 years. The fare collection will be done by the CTU. The buses are having below mentioned features:-
1. Pneumatically Controlled Passenger Doors.
2. Air Conditioning System.
3. Mobile Charging Points for each row of seat.
4. Seating Capacity of 31 Passengers and 8 Standee.
5. Air Suspension at Front and Rear.
6. Panic Button in case of Emergency.
7. Passenger Information Screens at Front, Rear, side and inside saloon area.
8. Fitted with Automatic Location(GPS) Device along with Bus Driver Console.
9. Fire Detection and Suppression System.
For second lot, the Proto Bus has been Flagged Off today and will be on Trial Run for approximately 20 days. Initially, during trial the bus will be operated connecting Maloya to Manimajra via PGI routes along with other routes connecting ISBT 17 & 43. The bus will be put under operation for general public tentatively from 2nd week of August 2022. Further 19 buses are likely to be received by 20thJuly 2022 and balance 20 by 20th August 2022.
Transport Department is committed to replace Diesel Buses in Tri-city with Electric buses by 2027/2028 as a part of Green Mobility Initiative of Govt of India