Electric Bus starts in Chandigarh, runs on PGI – Madhya Marg Route

Chandigarh, 11th August ( H S ) : V.P Singh Badnore, Governor Punjab & Administrator, UT Chandigarh flagged off the Electric bus today from Raj Bhawan in the presence of Sh. Dharam Pal, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator and other senior officials of Chandigarh Administration. He also travelled in the same bus from Raj Bhawan to Police Station, Sector 17 and thereafter to India International Centre, Chandigarh.

The Proto bus will be on trial basis under city conditions for approximately 20 days. Initially, during trial the bus will be operated on PGI- Manimajra via Madhya Marg Route. The bus will be put under operation for general public tentatively from 1st week of September 2021. Further 19 buses are likely to be received by 30th September 2021 and other 20 by October 2021. The procurement of another 40 Electric Buses is under process and expected to be received in next year, i.e., 2022.

Department of Heavy Industries, under Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Govt. of India has sanctioned 80 Electric buses under Phase-ll FAME India scheme. For first lot of 40 buses, agreement has been signed with M/s Ashok Leyland for 10 years. The Model of Contract is Gross Cost Contract and Scope of Operator/Company includes procurement of buses, installation of adequate number of Chargers for charging of buses along with LT Charging Infra up to Transformer, Maintenance of buses, providing of Drivers for 10 years

The Transport Department has planned to replace all the 358 diesel buses in Tri-city with electric buses by 2027-2028.