80 electric buses to hit Bengaluru roads by Oct

Bengaluru: Come October, the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will operate 80 electric buses, including 60 A/C and 20 non-A/C midibuses in the city. According to sources at the BMTC, this scheme is being implemented in partnership with the union government. The central government is releasing Rs.1 crore as a subsidy for the A/C buses and Rs. 73 lakhs for the non-A/C midibuses. "Under the scheme, BMTC will hire electric buses from a Hyderabad based company. Both the corporation and the company will have joint ownership of these buses. The central government will release Rs.74.60 crores as the final subsidy amount for the scheme," said sources. "The BMTC will set up a charging centre at Surya city bus depot. These buses will be operated for 200 kilometres per day in the beginning. Later, it will be increased to 250 kilometres," said sources. "The BMTC is planning to float a tender to procure 100 electric buses soon after this experiment," they added. Source: News Karnataka