Lucknow recently saw its first electric bus being flagged off by urban development minister, Suresh Kumar Khanna as a part of a plan of 40 such buses to be run in the city within the next four months. Following this, the UP state government might be bringing this service to other cities in the state as well.
A proposal has recently been put across by the Agra-Mathura city transport service limited to the state government for this. In addition, the authority has also selected spaces for electric bus depots at Runakta.
As per the state government’s plan, 100 electric buses will be deployed between the two cities under the eco sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ). Besides these, the plan extends to cover other cities in the state, including Kanpur, Prayagraj, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Saharanpur with the services of these electric buses.
Tata Motors
Also read:?Pune Deploys 25 Electric Buses For 7 Routes Across The City With Same Fares As For The Ordinary Ones
A grand total of 580 electric buses have been estimated to power the transport operations. And as per the urban transport directorate, at least 10 buses in each of the cities will start operating within the next 3 months.
Officials mention that these buses will offer a range of 150 kms on a full charge and will have a top speed of 75 kmph. Even more impressively, the charging time claimed for the batteries of the buses is around 30 minutes only.
Tata Motors
Also read:?We Installed EV Chargers In Our Office And Here's How They Power Our Travel Needs Now
The agenda is to replace the currently operational diesel and CNG buses with the electric ones. Agra-Mathura city transport service Managing director, RBL Sharma explains, “Presently, 170 CNG buses operate in Agra and 60 diesel buses operate in Mathura. Majority of these buses are very old and require replacement. The state government has taken the decision to replace old CNG and diesel buses with modern electric buses.”
Building of the bus depots is also in focus, as Agra Development Authority (ADA) secretary, Hari Ram said, “2.86 hectare land has been identified at Runakta for development of electric bus depot. The Agra-Mathura city transport service limited has been asked to pay Rs 27.86 crore for the land. After payment of the amount, the land will be handed over to the city transport agency.”