Govt hopes green buses will boost public transport

Mumbaikars can soon commute in environment-friendly buses to be operated on methane, ethanol and electric batteries. This has been suggested by the union ministry of roads and highways in a bid to curtail use of private vehicles and thereby decongest the roads. At present, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) runs about 3,800 buses on diesel and CNG. These buses daily ferry 4.8 million passengers.

The union minister of roads and surface transport Nitin Gadkari told DNA, "The per km cost of these buses ranges between Rs 35 and 50 crore against Rs 350 crore per km required for the metro rail. The fare will cost 30 per cent less. These buses will be cost effective, eco-friendly and substitute import. Such buses will also be deployed in other cities in Maharashtra and other states.''

Gadkari said Methane, which is a greenhouse gas, can be procured from the Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF) and Gujarat State Fertilizers (GSF) to operate buses. Initially, 50 buses can be deployed in Mumbai on a pilot basis and subsequently the number can be increased to 1,000 buses. The ministry will hold talks with RCF and GSF for the supply of methane.

Further, the ministry also plans to introduce state of the art electric buses in the city and also to ply between Mumbai and Pune, Mumbai and Aurangabad which will be a double-decker with the comforts of an aircraft. "The double-decker bus will have the capacity to carry 90 passengers who can order food on board,'' he noted.

According to Gadkari, the ministry is also quite keen to introduce ethanol based buses in Mumbai. "Nagpur already has some 55 ethanol-based. In addition to this, ethanol based taxis are being proposed,'' he said.

Analysis

Transport experts believe that authorities need to also solve the issue of congested roads by effectively addressing parking issues. Also, green buses should not be symbolic but should be sufficient in number. Dedicated lanes need to be planned to make their operations effective.