Transport minister takes stock of fleet of electric buses

NEW DELHI: Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Wednesday began on-field stock taking of electric bus technology, as the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government gives final touches to its plan to introduce a fleet of electric buses to augment public transportation in the Capital.

"The objective is to get standard-floor buses to augment the public transportation system and smaller buses to improve last-mile connectivity in areas which are not adequately connected to either state-run buses or the Delhi Metro," said a Transport department source.

The source added that 500 electric buses are proposed for procurement and details of the project would be threshed out in the coming week.

However, given the high price tag on electric

vehicles, the government is studying findings of a cost-benefit analysis to ascertain future course of action in relation to the procurement of such vehicles.

"The post-procurement cost of such vehicles, including mandatory requirement of changing electric battery which they run on, after a certain duration (usually around a year), is rather expensive that is why opinion is currently divided on the number of the fleet which is proposed," the source said.

Discussions were also held on the initial cost of such buses which, as per sources, was working out to be around three to four times that of a low-floor or standard-floor bus, which currently run in Delhi.

Not a single bus has been bought for the Delhi Transport Corporation since the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and six tenders having been cancelled owing to Tata Motors and Ashok Leyand refusing to provide fleets.