Monday, 10 October 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
E-buses to be regularised on route if pilot project succeeds
The Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) will soon start a pilot project to run electric buses on the Dehradun-Delhi route. The Delhi government recently announced that it will only allow the operation of BS VI vehicles to tackle the issue of air pollution in Delhi. Though the Delhi government has sent an advisory regarding its proposal to allow the operation of BS VI vehicles as per the officials, the operation of old buses from other States can be stopped anytime in Delhi. Considering that the UTC operates about 300 Roadways buses to Delhi daily carrying about 25,000 passengers, the corporation has started taking measures to ensure Roadways continues the operation without any hindrance in the coming days. The officials informed that most of the Roadways buses are eligible to operate in Delhi and the corporation is already floating tenders for new buses for the operation of new buses of the BS VI category. In addition to these steps, the corporation has also approved a pilot project in which a private Mumbai-based company will run a three-month trial of five electric buses on the Dehradun-Delhi route. The officials informed that Roadways is planning to deploy its own conductors in these electric buses during the trial phase and the fare will be fixed as per the prices of Volvo buses. When the trial begins, the schedule for these buses would be made available online and the passengers can book their tickets online like the other Roadways buses. The general manager (operations) of UTC, Deepak Jain said the operation of five electric buses is a pilot project which would be run for three months to analyse their functionality on the Dehradun-Delhi route. He said that the Roadways will analyse and verify their operation on the route and feedback from passengers along with other necessary factors to consider the operation of more buses on the route on a regular basis for the long term. If the trial is successful, UTC will start working on the smooth operation of electric buses like providing places for charging points for buses among other facilities, added Jain.
