PURCHACE OF ELECTRIC BUSES

Dear Shri Gehlotji,

I just read the news that you have floated a tender for purchase of 375 electric buses

This will be the first lot out of a total of 1,000 planned

While congratulating on this pollution-reducing initiative, I urge you to modify the tender for “ Wet Leasing “ of the buses , instead of outright buying

A wet leasing has following advantages :

#  No up-front need for a large capital outlay

#  Operating cost per km can come down drastically

And , if your wet lease is on a tariff which is on “ per km “ basis ( rather than “ per day” or “ per month “ basis ) , then the onus to keep the buses running all the time, will shift on the bus  supplier  !

Under this scenario, supplier will ensure that there is no idling of the buses due to :

#   non-availability of the drivers

#   non-availability of essential spare parts

#   Bus battery being drained out and hours needed to charge it ( Supplier will ensure

     that he sets up a vast network of battery charging stations ! )

In this connection, I request you to look up :

Congratulations , Shri Kailash Gehlotji ! 

Thank You , Shri Jaitleyji,  

 

EESL : It is your move now ! 

 

Highlight :

In the case of outright purchase, the Centre provides 60 per cent subsidy and the rest is provided by the State road transport corporations.

With most of the RTCs under financial stress, they are looking at GCC, where the buses would be operated and maintained by the supplier at a fixed cost per km.

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has finalised Goldstone-BYD, where six others were in fray, for 40 buses, where the corporation will pay ₹37.5 per km.

 

 

With regards,

 

Hemen Parekh

 

www.hemenparekh.in