BMTC invites bids for five AC double-decker electric buses

The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has invited bids for supplying five double-decker, air-conditioned electric buses at a cost of Rs 10 crore.

On Monday, the transporter finalised the technical specifications for the double-decker buses, which would be returning to city roads after over 25 years.

As per the tender notice, February 1, 2023, is the last date for submitting bids.

The BMTC will hold a pre-bid meeting on January 17 and plans to complete the tender process by February 15. The buses are expected to hit the roads in July.

Each bus would be 11 metres long and have a seating capacity of 70 people. It could have a low floor, a standard floor or a semi-low floor. In the second and third instances, wheelchair access will be provided to differently-abled passengers, said A V Surya Sen, director (Information Technology), BMTC.

The corporation is looking at a range of 150 km on a single charge and will run each bus for 180-200 km per day, Sen added.

While the bus would require up to five metres of clearance from the ground, its actual height could be between 4.4 and 4.7 metres, Sen said.

The BMTC hasn’t finalised the routes of the double-decker buses but some prominent streets like MG Road that have elevated metro stations, skywalks or flyovers would not get them. The buses are expected to run some of the longest and busiest intra-city routes.

Sen said they had neither restricted the floor nor the height because not many electric double-decker buses were available in the country at the moment.

“There is just one bus available,” he told DH. “Bidders can quote based on the Central Motor Vehicles Rules.”

Double-decker buses were phased out of Bengaluru in the late 1990s.

Accident in 1980s

A bus that ran on route 39 from Gandhi Bazaar to Majestic toppled near Ramakrishna Mutt in the early 1980s, killing 19 schoolchildren.

The BMTC is bringing them back with funds from the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) to make its services more efficient.

Three companies — Ashok Leyland-backed Switch Mobility, Causis E-mobility Private Limited and Olectra Greentech Ltd — submitted expressions of interest.