Nagpur: In good news commuters in Nagpur, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Monday launched 15 fully air-conditioned electric buses on city roads. With this, the number of eco-friendly Aapli Buses plying in Nagpur and rural areas has increased to 131, including 70 CNG operated and 61 electric buses, reports said.
The city bus service fare has not been revised. “Fares of the AC buses will remain the same as that of diesel-operated Aapli buses,” said reports quoting the Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B. The AC bus service received excellent response on Day 1. The minimum fare is Rs 12 while the maximum is Rs 53. In the past, NMC had operated ethanol run air-conditioned buses but the service evoked poor response due to high fare.
According to reports, the electric AC buses have started plying on six routes. Routes for three buses are being finalised and they too will start plying within a couple of days. On Monday, NMC also introduced 40 electric buses procured from a Hyderabad based firm. Of the 400-odd bus fleet, the NMC’s Transport Department is operating between 380 and 360 buses on 114 routes on weekdays, said the reports.
Notably, the NMC and Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation have already placed an order of 144 and 25 AC electric buses. 15 more AC electric buses will join the Aapli Bus fleet in February. NMC will slowly phase out standard buses that are in shabby conditions.
According to an NMC official, CNG supply to the city buses has improved significantly. Currently, NMC is operating about 45 of the 70 CNG buses in its fleet. The NMC was supposed to convert all its diesel buses into CNG.
