CTU to add 60 buses to its long-route fleet
The Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) will add 60 more diesel buses to its existing fleet of long-route buses.
Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria will flag off the buses from the ISBT, Sector 17, tomorrow. Each 51-seater non-AC buses will ply on 31 routes to Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other states.
According to officials, these buses were acquired to replace condemned buses. Procured at a cost of nearly Rs 22 crore, the buses were purchased through the tendering process. The officials said several buses would run on new routes, while a few discontinued routes would also be restored.
Meanwhile, the CTU will get 100 new electric buses later this year under the PM e-Bus Seva scheme for local routes. At present, 80 electric buses are operational in the city. The UT Transport Department has planned to convert the existing fleet of 358 diesel buses on local routes and 36 buses on suburban routes with electric ones by 2027-28.
Apart from 100 electric buses, the UT Administration has also sought 328 more electric buses for the city from the Central Government under the PM e-Bus Sewa scheme.
The new 60 diesel buses will operate from depot number 2 on long routes. The existing fleet of 168 includes 119 AC diesel and 49 ordinary buses, which ply on inter-state routes. The CTU is also running service to religious destinations such as Khatu Shyam and Salasar Dham in Rajasthan; Ayodhya, Mathura, Vrindavan in UP; Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand and Manali in HP.
Officials said the CTU was making efforts to bring its fleet utilisation to above 90 per cent. With a total of 146 routes, it has a daily ridership of nearly 1.43 lakh passengers with the buses covering nearly 1.42 lakh km daily.