Ghaziabad: Electric bus services in this city are expected to begin in October with a plying vehicle at six routes in the first phase.
The bus will not only connect important places throughout the city, but also provide direct connectivity to Noida and Delhi.
About 50 vehicles will reach the initial road and work to build depots and filling stations in Akborpur Behrix almost end, officials said.
Electric buses are very important for Ghaziabad, which is one of the most polluted cities in this country.
Depot will be equipped with charging points for 25 buses at once.
While the longest route is between Anand Vihar and Muradnagar (40km), the shortest is between Mod Tilla and the new ADDA Bus (12km).
“We hope the service starts at the end of October,” said Mahendra Singh Tanwar, Commissioner, Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation.
“Built at a cost of Rs 9.5 Crore, the bus depot at Akbarpur Behrix is almost ready.
It will multiply as a charging station.
We hope that the 50 electric bus fleet will be ready,” he said.
Initially, 12 routes were selected for e-bus services and then, 10 resolved.
“Of the 10 routes, the service will begin at six in the first phase.
We will add four routes at the next stage,” said Ak Singh, regional manager, UPSRTC.
Six routes, Anand Vihar-Muradnagar (40 km), Anand Vihar-Alt Center (30 km), Dilshad Garden-Govindpuram (20 km), Dilshad Garden-Lal Kuan (17 km), Noida City Center (28 km) and Tilla Again the new ADDA bus (12 km).
“Buses will not only provide connectivity in the city but also to Noida and Delh Dilshad Garden,” said Singh.
“The route has been chosen in the way they pass through an important metro station, bus stations and train stations,” he added.
E-bus will be available on the route every 30 minutes.
“We don’t have the final level graph now.
But while, the price for the first 3 km will be Rs 5 and every 3 km after that, it will rise by Rs 5,” Singh said.
“The final rate list will be resolved from Lucknow,” he added.
After fully charged, every bus will be able to run around 180 km.
Each vehicle will have CCTV and GPS and they will be monitored from the unit set at the UPSRTC office in Kaushambi.
In 2019, the Center has given its approval to run more than 5,000 electric buses in 64 cities throughout the country.
In Uttar Pradesh, 11 cities, including Ghaziabad, was chosen for this project.