CM YS Jagan to flag off eco-friendly buses in Tirupati today

Tirupati: It is for the first time, the APSRTC is introducing eco-friendly air-condition buses on Tirupati – Tirumala ghat road. In the initial phase 10 electric AC buses were inducted into operation between Tirupati–Tirumala and back. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will be inaugurating these buses during his visit to Tirupati on Monday.

As part of providing pollution-free environment at Tirumala, the divine pilgrim centre, the state government has decided to operate electric bus services between Tirupati and Tirumala and permitted APSRTC to operate 100 electric buses under the gross cost contract (GCC) model.

Accordingly, it has entered an agreement with Evey Trans (JAB) private limited company to operate 100 buses. The contract company will have to provide 50 buses between Tirupati and Tirumala followed by 14 buses between Tirumala and Airport, 12 each between Tirupati and Madanapalle, Tirupati and Kadapa and Tirupati and Nellore. Recently, RTC has successfully conducted trial runs of the bus to check various parameters and found satisfaction by all aspects. These buses will have seating capacity for 35 persons with 2x2 seating pattern. The 8.9 meter length bus will have electronically controlled air suspension with safety features such as short circuit and over temperature protection. It takes 1.0 kilowatt hour power consumption per km and the passenger doors are electro pneumatically controlled.

All the 100 buses are allotted to Alipiri depot while 48 charging points are provided at Alipiri, followed by eight at Tirupati main bus stand, four each at Madanapalle, Kadapa and Nellore. A full charge will enable it to operate for 180 kms. According to the available information, the operational cost per km for a diesel bus is Rs 21.57 whereas for the electric bus it will be Rs 6 only thereby the RTC can save Rs 15.57 per km. It will have other features such as LED destination boards, hi-resolution CCTV cameras, wi-fi enabled, audio infotainment and entertainment system, GPS live tracking facility etc., Needless to say that APSRTC is operating 354 diesel buses at present and operating 1,373 trips transporting about 80,000 pilgrims per day between Tirupati and Tirumala. APSRTC, Tirupati, Chief Traffic Manager Bhaskar Reddy told The Hans India that the fare between Tirupati and Tirumala in AC electric bus is fixed at Rs 110 per person which is only Rs 20 more than the non-AC diesel bus fare of Rs 90.