BENGALURU: Citing losses, cash-strapped Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (

) has decided to phase out Volvo airconditioned

in the city.

BMTC officials said 300 A/C electric buses will soon replace Volvo diesel buses over the next few months.

“We have decided not to purchase new

. We’re analysing loss-making Volvo

routes and such buses will be used only for chartered services for private firms. Leasing e-buses is a more feasible option,” said a senior BMTC official.

A popular commuting option, the AC Volvo bus, is likely to be taken off roads, a casualty of bad planning that’s left BMTC with unmanageable finances. Bengalureans love to travel in the Volvo, but they are put off by a policy that envisioned only select stops from where one can get on board. A common grumble is that getting to one of the buses is a commute in itself. Now, BMTC, grappling with declining ridership, mounting losses and threat from mobility startups, wants to replace the Volvo fleet with electric buses. But without a network of charging stations, is this ambitious proposal even feasible? Times View

300 electric buses to replace Volvo fleet

BMTC has 825 Volvo buses for Vajra and Vayu Vajra (airport) services. Each Volvo bus cost around Rs 1 crore. BMTC was the first state road transport undertaking (SRTU) in the country to induct Volvo A/C buses for city services in 2006. The transport corporation is one of Volvo’s largest customers among SRTUs.

Sources say 300 A/C electric low-floor buses (12metre, 37 seater) will be deployed on routes like airport, outer ring road, Electronics City and Whitefield. Fares of electric A/C buses will be the same as Volvo buses as BMTC is not in a position to reduce them.

BMTC officials said they’ve been suffering heavy losses due to Volvo services. The operational cost of an electric A/C bus, including cost of power, conductor’s salary and GST, would be between Rs 60 and Rs 63 per km, lower than Rs 75 to Rs 80 per km for a Volvo A/C diesel bus. “The operational and maintenance cost is high for Volvo diesel buses. There are technical issues and breakdowns. Leasing electric buses is a more feasible option,” said an official.

BMTC has decided to scrap 1,089 non-AC buses this year. “We’ll induct 357 new non-AC diesel buses (10m, 41-seater buses) by January 2020. It’s not feasible to immediately scrap Volvo buses as it’ll yield only a few lakhs of rupees in the scrap market,” the official said.

According to BMTC, they scrap ordinary buses which are either more than 11 years or have run over 8.5 lakh km, whichever is earliest. For Volvo buses, it is 10 years and 10 lakh km. “We’re coming up with a new scrapping policy for Volvo buses,” the official added. At present, the average age of Volvo buses in BMTC is 8 years and 5.4 lakh km.

Earlier, former transport minister DC Thammanna decided to transfer

to KSRTC to operate in nearby cities.

Officials said the first e-bus may hit the road by April 2020. “The selected firm will get one year to supply all 300 buses”. Sources said six companies — Olectra Greentech Ltd, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Edison Motors, JBM Group and AMS Electric Mobility Limited — have shown interest.