Bengaluru is well on its way to green commuting. The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will secure 150 electric buses by the end of September.
“Electric buses are sustainable as they require lesser maintenance compared to fuel-run buses. Their operational cost is less as opposed to diesel vehicles and they are eco friendly,” said BMTC Managing Director Ekroop Caur.
The BMTC board has approved the Union government funding under the Fast Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric vehicles scheme.
This scheme was part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020. “This is the first time BMTC is procuring so many vehicles at a time,” said BMTC PRO, V Nagaraj.
The 150 buses will be piloted and if it is a success, BMTC may bring in more electric buses, he added.
The BMTC board is also mulling over introducing a mobile app, which integrates different modes of transportation.
“We could use the data collected from BMTC’s Integrated Transport System (ITS) for integration of various multimodal transport. This will ensure better coordination of BMTC, Metro and Taxi Services. It will ensure that data sharing will attract citizens to use public transport,” Caur said.
The app aims to improve efficiency in planning, operations, fleet management and also provide options for cashless transactions. The ITS will provide ETA (estimated time of arrival) to its passengers and people can avoid missing buses and plan their travel accordingly.
“If public transport is more reliable, affordable and also offers cashless service, then people may shift from using private vehicles to public transport. The number of two-wheelers has increased and this has led to the rise in road accidents,” V Nagaraj added.