Soon, electric buses on 6 main routes in city

LUCKNOW: Soon, commuters in the state capital can travel in electric buses on six different routes. A final decision in this regard will be taken on Thursday and once the deal gets finalised, the buses will arrive the city within a month, said an official with the urban transport directorate.

The directorate has prepared a plan for the routes. One of the routes could be from Viraj Khand to Airport via Husadia, Sikanderbagh, GPO and Alambagh. While the second route could be from Engineering college to Alambagh via Munshipulia, Polytechnic and Badshahnagar. Similarly four more routes have been chalked out.

In the first phase, 20 electric buses will arrive and in the second phase 20 more buses will run on the six routes. The directorate has also prepared a fare chart for these buses. These buses will have minimum fare of ₹15 which will be for the first 5 kilometres. The distance travelled between 5 to 10 kilometres will be charged ₹ 20 per passenger. The maximum up to 35 kilometre will be charged ₹45 per passenger.

Once the trial is successful, the number of buses will be increased. Electric buses were first tried in Bangaluru and Pune where they were successful. Lucknow will be the first city in Uttar Pradesh to have such buses that cause zero pollution as they run on electricity through charged batteries.