Tamil Nadu commuters will have to do with the old surface transport busses. In an initiative to make travelling better for the commuters in the state, the Tamil Nadu government’s plan to buy 525 electric buses has hit a roadblock. The first two e-buses, which were being operated in Chennai on a trial basis by Ashok Leyland in 2019, have been grounded without any announcement.

The air-conditioned buses that cost Rs 1.5 crore each were being run on Thiruvanmiyur-Central Railway Station and Koyambedu-Broadway routes.

However, a month before the lockdown, the bus services were stopped. Ashok Leyland refused to comment when asked why the trial had stopped and if it had shared any report with MTC. MTC sources said they were not aware of the project results. Last August, the Union heavy industries ministry had sanctioned procurement of the 525 e-buses.

According to the scheme, Coimbatore, Madurai, and Trichy is supposed to get 100 buses and smaller cities, including Salem, Erode, Tirupur and Vellore, will get 50 vehicles each. Another 25 buses have been sanctioned for Thanjavur under Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (Fame) II in India scheme.

However, the scheme guidelines mandated a gross cost contract (GCC) between the state transport corporations and the successful bidders. There will be no outright purchase and the private bidder will own and maintain these buses. Since GCC doesn’t recommend the deployment of government bus drivers too, it faced stiff opposition from the transport workers’ union, which saw the scheme as a step towards privatisation of bus operations in the state.

But Transportation activist R Rengachari said, “There was no need for unions to fear as Telangana has implemented the GCC model for procuring 40 buses and maximised profit by operating them along airport routes. Drivers were trained on not only bus operation but also charging technology. Ridership too increased steadily. This was a better way to maximise profit and reduce pollution.”

Even as the debate continues, TN transport minister M R Vijayabaskar said the e-bus scheme will not be dropped even though funds through Fame-II got delayed due to Covid. He said the procurement of BS-VI vehicles for Chennai will continue.

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