Preeja Prasad By Express News Service BENGALURU: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is running buses which are not roadworthy and has added only two new vehicles this year to its vast fleet of around 6,500. It is found that 1,234 buses which are more than 11 years old or have clocked over 8.5 lakh km are still in operation. But now, BMTC has placed orders for 350-odd new diesel buses and they are expected next year. BMTC officials attribute the delay in induction of new buses all these days to a National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) February 27 order which made it clear that it will allow only procurement of buses that run on clean energy such as electricity or natural gas. Then BMTC wanted to purchase 1,000 Bharat Stage IV-compliant diesel buses. According to a BMTC official, the buses are scrapped when the old ones complete the stipulated time period. But if a bus is in good condition and has been maintained properly, they continue to ply. “To maintain the balance as of now, we keep these buses as a back-up,” the official stated. Another source explained that purchasing new buses is a process when the old ones are scrapped. “With NGT’s restraint on inducting new diesel buses, we are bound to operate the old ones.” The number of buses that are being scrapped is much more than the additional buses being brought in. This is despite the corporation receiving at least 30 requests per month from citizens across the city to bring either feeder or extension services. In 2018-19, around 450 buses were scrapped and 300 were brought in, overseeing a vast difference of 150 buses and another 33 buses since April this year. Experts say that the corporation requires a fleet of 10,000 to cater to the city. However, after a five-year-long wait, the corporation has now finally floated tenders for 300 electric buses, expected to hit the roads by 2020. The former Managing Director of BMTC had earlier told The New Indian Express that the operational costs for CNG buses were too high and hence requested that BMTC would continue to purchase diesel buses just as private operators. C Shikha, who took over as the managing director recently, told TNIE that along with electric buses, the tendering of 350-odd diesel buses had also been made. “According to the order, 2,558 diesel buses are allowed and we have requested for it within that quota itself. All 650 buses have to come in before March 2020 as after that the BS6 norms come in effect,” she said.

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