The city circular services of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) are set to receive a boost with the arrival of the first lot of electric buses procured by the corporation.
The five e-buses, the first of the 25 vehicles ordered by KSRTC- Swift from the Delhi-based PMI Electro Mobility Solutions, were formally received and inducted into the city circular fleet here on Friday.
Transport Minister Antony Raju and CMD, KSRTC, Biju Prabhakar boarded one of the buses on its maiden journey from the KSRTC- Swift hub at Anayara here.
The second lot of five e-buses will arrive in the city on Saturday while the remaining 15 will depart from Haryana on Monday. The e-buses would start operations as soon as the registration formalities were completed, Mr. Raju said. He added that moves were afoot to replace all the diesel buses with electric vehicles.
The e-bus is claimed to have a range of 120 km on a single charge of two hours. Each 30-seater bus costs ₹92.43 lakh and is equipped with mobile-phone charging units, surveillance cameras and emergency alert button.
While the KSRTC currently incurs an expenditure of ₹37 per km on diesel buses, it hopes to lower the amount to less than ₹20 by introducing e-buses. The corporation feels that the soaring price of diesel makes e-buses a viable investment. Mr. Raju said the initial plans to procure CNG buses had to be put on hold after CNG prices more than doubled in a year’s time.
The Minister said the city circular service had become popular among commuters in the capital city, with the daily ridership going up from 1,000 to 28,000. He announced that the introductory offer of ₹10 for a circle trip would be extended for three more months. Monthly season tickets would also be introduced soon.
