E-bus boost for city; more routes likely by mid-2023
The state transport department said that 550 electric buses are being procured for Haryana of which 50 buses each will be handed over to the GMCBL and FMDA
GURUGRAM: The routes covered by the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) may double up by the middle of next year with the induction of new electric buses, said officials.
Officials added that GMCBL will procure 50 air-conditioned electric buses by April-May 2023 for Gurugram city, adding that 50 more similar buses will also be provided to the Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (FMDA).
According to GMCBL officials, if all goes as per plans, then the existing 50 GMCBL buses presently running in Faridabad will be redeployed in Gurugram, increasing the overall fleet strength to 258 buses.
Till the end of September this year, GMCBL was operating 26 routes in Gurugram with a total of 150 buses and 11 routes in Faridabad with 50 buses. Four routes in Gurugram were shut in October due to poor road conditions, officials said.
When contacted, GC Yadav, GMCBL manager (administration), said though it is too early to make a comment, but once they get the new buses, new routes will surely be launched.
“Bus frequency on the existing routes may also be increased looking at the demand. New routes will be charted once the buses start arriving,” Yadav said.
Yadav said the decision on reusing the 50 GMCBL buses in Gurugram, which are presently plying in Faridabad, will be taken when the new buses arrive for both the cities.
Officials said that once they procure the 100 more buses, the number of routes in Gurugram may reach 45-50 with proper planning and charting as per demand and load.
“GMCBL has plans of increasing connectivity in the internal areas of Gurugram by procuring nine-metre CNG buses and will use them as feeder service for their main routes. The electric buses will complement the plan,” said a senior GMCBL official, seeking anonymity.
Officials said that on a normal working day, GMCBL is catering to an average 95,000 commuters in both the cities, which is expected to touch 120,000 to 140,000 with increased concentration of buses in Gurugram.
SP Parmar, joint transport controller of the Haryana transport department, said that 550 electric buses are being procured for the entire state of which 50 each will be handed over to GMCBL and FMDA.
“Of the 550 electric buses, 175 will be nine-metre long while the rest will be 12-metre in length. Both Gurugram and Faridabad will get the nine-metre buses. None of these buses will be low-floor as they are likely to get damaged on poor roads,” Parmar said.
Parmar added that the Union power ministry’s Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) is handling the tender to procure these buses, which will close on December 15.
“The CESL will finalise the top three lowest bidders for us. They are tendering to procure 6,250 electric buses for Delhi, Gujarat and other states, including Haryana,” Parmar said. He said that on Friday, CESL officials said that they will finalise the top bidders in 45 days and the supply of vehicles will start from May 2023.
Officials said that an electric bus will have a range of above 200 kilometres once charged fully. They said that a nine-metre-long bus will cost about ₹95 lakh and the 12-metre buses will cost at least ₹1.3 crore each.
Officials added that the buses will have a lifespan of 12 years or 1,000,000 kilometres, whichever is achieved earlier. Annually, these buses are expected to cover around 70,000 kilometres, they added.
GMCBL officials said that the buses will run on a ‘gross cost contract’ concept where private companies will own, maintain and run them for the government agencies.