Chennai: Denying that there has been an inordinate delay in launching the electric bus in the metro, State Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar said the electric buses would be launched soon.
A formal announcement on the launch in the city would be made by Chief Minis-ter Edappadi K. Palaniswami, the Minister who had in September last year visited the Transport for London (TFL) office and met Tom Cunnington, Head of Bus Business development, who briefed him on the current status of the Clean Bus Initiative, said.
The State team also made a trip to the electric bus depot at Waterloo where they met the Engineering Director of ‘Go Ahead’ Richard Harrington. The visit helped determine the broad foundation and arrangements that had to be made ahead of the introduction of electric buses in Chennai, a release said.
The state government would purchase 2,000 new electric buses with German assistance and in the first phase about 500 will be plied in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. According to an official release the State transport department had already submitted a detailed proposal on the routes and charging stations for operating the electric buses.
The government had signed a ‘clean bus declaration’ with C40 cities and this would facilitate to promote pollution-free electric buses besides 12,000 BS-IV buses.
Earlier, Mr. Vijayabaskar who reviewed the performance of the State transport corporations, here told reporters that about 3,000 worn out buses have been replaced and the government had spent Rs 1,500 crore for the replacement.
