Thane: TMT to ply 32 E-buses by January end, 91 more to be pressed into service by June

Thane: The four year wait of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for electric buses under 'Fame India' scheme is finally over. The corporation will now get 32 E-buses at the end of January 2023 from the subsidy received under the Clean Air Action Plan, TMC Commissioner Abhijit Bangar said on Tuesday during a meeting with the civic body officials.

Mr Bangar said, “The TMC will get 123 E-buses under the Clean Air Action Plan, which will be procured from the grant received in the three years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23. By January, 32 of them will enter the Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) fleet. The remaining 91 will be pressed into service by June 2023.”

If there is a delay in inducting the buses into TMT fleet, the contractor will be fined as per the terms of the contract, the civic chief said.

“The eco-friendly buses with their ‘breathe easy, zero emission, no noise’ properties, will give a new identity to Thane city. In the background of global climate change, environmental friendly schemes are being implemented through the civic body,” Mr Bangar said.

The TMC commissioner has issued a direction that the new buses should be run on diesel bus routes which have the lowest income. He believed that if citizens took to public transport, the revenue would increase per kilometer. He gave instructions to use subsidies for the maximum number of E-buses and other environmental-friendly works.

During the meeting, the TMC chief also said the civic body is planning to use automated mechanical dust cleaning devices to clean up the large concrete roads in the city. The commissioner ordered officials to include the device, widely used in modern cities around the world, in their scheme.

Other environment-friendly the grant was used for

* Constructing a bicycle track at Vartaknagar

* Planting trees at Anandnagar Eva School

* Updating mobile laboratory

* Installing a gas coffin in the crematorium at Lokmanyanagar