‘CNG buses, not e-buses, the answer to shortage’
NEW DELHI: To swiftly meet the court- mandated fleet size of 11,000 buses, Delhi government needs to take the tried- and-tested path of CNG buses instead of electric buses, experts said.
The reaction came a day after the Delhi government said it would procure 500 e-buses to augment public transport from the unutilised fund of ₹829 crore that was collected as an “environment compensation charge.”
At present, Delhi has 5,425 buses against the need of 11,000 which is mandated by the Delhi High Court.
While electronic buses have a marginally low operational cost compared to the CNG low-floor buses plying in the city, the problem lies in their high procurement cost. Air-conditioned CNG low-floor buses that are currently running on Delhi roads cost around ₹85 lakh each, while an AC electric bus costs ₹ 2.5 crore.
“Electric buses might be a good idea in the long run. However, they need an entire ecosystem including charging, maintenance, battery disposal, etc. In addition, they are significantly more expensive than CNG buses. That will only put the operations deeper in red,” said Shreya Gadepalli, South Asia director of the Institute for Transport and Development Policy.
She added that Delhi can start with initial trials. “But the majority of buses required in the short- to-medium-term will probably have to be CNG-powered,” Gadepalli said.
Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) had operated a single electric bus on a trial basis from March 10 to July 2 last year. After the trial, the corporation had planned to introduce 25 such buses on a pilot basis after which more were to be inducted. The electric buses were to be air-conditioned with Wi-Fi and CCTV cameras.
But, the plan never took off due to the massive capital cost involved .“The cost of an AC electric bus is three times that of an AC CNG low-floor bus. Both have the same seating capacity of 31 passengers. So, it was decided that we could wait until the market price drops,” a DTC official said.
During the trial run, the e-bus had recorded an operational cost of ₹17.25 per km, which is ₹0.35 lesser than a CNG AC bus. However, experts say the problem is likely going to be in the long run when batteries of these buses will need to be changed.
“Replacing the batteries would be an expensive affair as the cost of one battery itself may run into a lakh rupees or more,” said a public transport researcher from World Resources Institute, India.