Bengaluru: BMTC Plans To Fully Electrify Its Fleet By 2030   

Amid criticism for its delay in inducting e-buses, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is planning to fully electrify its transport bus fleet to by 2030, report the Times of India.

In its road map to replace polluting diesel buses with e-buses the BMTC plans to deploy 1,500 e-buses in the next three years. Of these, 500 buses - 100 AC buses (20 airport buses, 80 other AC services) and 400 non-AC buses will be inducted in a year.

BMTC has 3,067 BS-III and 3,423 BS-IV vehicles and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed BMTC to induct only environment-friendly vehicles like CNG buses from now on.

The BMTC is also planning to induct 500 buses under the lease model under which the select operator will have to provide buses with qualified drivers and operate on routes provided by BMTC, with the corporation deploying a conductor in each bus.

The operators will have to register the buses in Bengaluru and bear expenditure of vehicle maintenance, such as tyres, spares, lubricants and wages of drivers and maintenance staff.