BMTC to buy 150 air-conditioned buses to replace old fleet

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will soon roll-out new air-conditioned buses to provide better services to airport-goers and techies.

The public transport utility of the city has already floated a tender to purchase 150 air-conditioned buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). The BMTC had not purchased any new buses for the last two years due to financial crunch.

At present, the BMTC has 700 AC buses, of which 675 buses are Volvos and 25 are Corona buses. Many of these existing buses are in a bad shape due to poor maintenance.

The BMTC wants to replace them with new buses on the airport route and IT corridors in the city where maximum commuters use the buses for commuting.

Commuters often complain about the poor quality of AC system in the Vajra and Vayu Vajra buses, particularly in summer. Besides this, the breakdowns have been increasing.

B R Krishnaiah Shetty, Chief Mechanical Engineer (P) of the BMTC, told DH that many companies, including Volvo, Tata, Ashok Leyland had participated in the pre-bid meeting held last month. Once the tender process is finished, the officials will take a call on the purchase of the vehicles from the lowest bidder, he added. Explaining, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, said that these buses will also operate on newer routes based on the traffic survey, load factor and demand.

“Besides building the image of the utility, it will also help increase the load factor, particularly on the airport route. At present, the bus fare to the airport from Majestic is Rs 230, which cheaper than the cab fare,” he added.