Ludhiana’s wait for electric buses gets longer

Manav Mander

Ludhiana, July 4

City residents have been eagerly wait for the e-bus service to be launched in the city under the e-bus Sewa Scheme, but the wait seems to be getting longer and till then the Municipal Corporation (MC) has decided to continue with its existing city bus service and plans to involve Punjab Roadways Transport Corporation (PRTC) in the running of the city bus service.

The city was supposed to get 100 electric buses under the scheme and will operate on a public-private partnership (PPP) model and four bus depots will be set up as charging centres where fast charging points will fully charge the e-bus in 45 minutes and bus can run approximately 250 kilometers.

Sandeep Rishi, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, said it will take some time to start the e-bus service in the city and till then the city bus service will continue.

“In the last meeting, it was discussed and we plan to hand over the running city bus service to PRTC as it is also government run and there will be no hassle of issuing tenders,” said MC chief Rishi.

He further added that the private firm’s contract was terminated in February this year, which led to the return of 29 buses out of the 82 from the company.

The e-bus service, which was expected to start in the city in May, got delayed due to the Lok Sabha elections. Now, the tendering process will start soon.

“The city bus service is at present available on only two routes in the city and the e-bus service will take another three months to launch,” said Rishi.

Gagan, a city resident, said it has been nearly 10 months since the announcement of the launch of e-bus service, but the wait seems to be getting longer. “It is a step taken in good direction, keeping in view the environment and authorities should launch it soon as it will be a step towards the greener city,” she said.