The state transport depart- ment has decided to procure around 200 buses run on compressed natural gas (CNG) for rolling out in the city and the districts.

The latest fleet is expected to hit the city roads by the end of this year.
The transport department has aimed to have its entire fleet run on electricity by 2030. Considering the fact, the department was supposed to roll out 1,180 electric buses under the FAME-II Scheme. According to the initial plans, the department would roll out 400 ebuses in 2022 and rest 800 e-buses by 2023. However, the initiative was delayed following a legal hurdle.

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To address the gap, the transport department has taken steps to procure around 200 CNG buses. A fleet of around 70 diesel buses would also be procured to meet the
increasing demand.

As pointed out by an official source of the department, for CNG and electric vehicles, the infrastructure is yet to reach the required level in the state. “For CNG and elec- tric buses, there needs to be availability of CNG at depots. It is difficult to operate these buses on long routes,” informed an official source of the department. “Further more, maintenance of these vehicles is a challenging task,” added to the sources.

On the other hand, the new diesel buses are expected to be less polluting. Given the facts, the department has decided to opt for the CNG and diesel buses for now.