E-buses in TN to be owned and run by a private bidder
Posted on: 05/Oct/2019 9:38:04 AM
In the month of August, as many as 525 electric buses or e-buses were sanctioned for the state of TN by the union heavy industries ministry is well known. It is now revealed that all these 525 e-buses would soon be operated in TN and they would be owned and run by a private bidder and not by the state transport corporations or STC.
It was mentioned by the tender documents released on Thursday that the state government would not be involved in the outright bus purchase. Information is GCC or Gross Cost Contract would be signed between STC and the successful bidder.
In August, the Tamil Nadu’s first e-bus was flagged off and it grabbed many eyeballs. Point that must be noted is the union government had sanctioned as many as 525 e-buses for 8 cities in TN under FAME 2 (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) scheme. On 24th September, tenders for the supply and operation of the buses were out.
It is worthy to note that unlike conventional bids FAME 2 mandates a GCC to be signed between the respective STC’s and the successful bidder or operator. There are as many as 8 STCs in TN including TNSTC Coimbatore, TNSTC Villupuram and MTC Chennai.
Apart from all charging stations at the depots, a GCC bidder would own and maintain these e-buses too. Information is STC drivers might not be on the wheels of these e-buses.
Fares would be collected by the STC from the commuters and STCs would pay the operator for every kilometre. It has been mentioned by some sources that the state government would have the final authority in the bus routes and fares planning. This has been opposed by the transport unions and it would be the first time such a type of contract would be tried in TN.
The decision to call for the tenders might have an adverse impact on the transport corporations. This was as per Mr. K. Arumugam Nainar of CITU. It is known that the GCC contracts in states of AP, Telangana and Maharashtra faced stiff resistance from the transport unions.
