The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will start the trial run of an electric bus from Thursday. The 12-metre-long AC electric bus has been provided by a Hyderabad-based company.
A BMTC official said that for the first 15 days, the trial run will be conducted without passengers on 10 routes to assess its performance. “In the last six years, a lot of technology advancement has happened. We have to see whether the e-bus meets our operational requirement in the city,” said the official.
The BMTC has made several attempts in the past to lease e-buses under the FAME scheme of the Union government but failed due to various factors. The Corporation is making one more attempt to lease 300 e-buses through a private player in the coming months.
The BMTC has plans to lease 90 e-buses under the Smart City Project to provide feeder services to Namma Metro. However, prior to operating them, the cash-strapped Corporation has to make sure that the initiative will be a sustainable option.
