In a circular from by S K Lohia, OSD (Officer on Special Duty), MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) to the principal secretaries (Urban Development) and principal secretaries (Transport) of all States/UT’s, a copy of which is available with Deccan Herald, the MuD has requested all States to consider the model designed and custom built by KSRTC and comply with directive from MuD at the earliest.
“The design of the bus drafted by KSRTC in-house has been found to be excellent and gives a totally distinct look to the JnNURM buses. All States are requested to consider this model or devise a better model. The ultimate objective being providing good quality, efficient buses for the public,” says Lohia.
The MuD, State government and KSRTC are financing buses under the ambitious JnNURM scheme for procurement of buses in the ratio of 80:10:10. KSRTC has procured 150 new vehicles at a cost of Rs 53.95 crore. Currently, 79 semi-low floor buses from Ashok Leyland and 30 ultra-floor modern Volvo buses are plying in and around Mysore City. They are all funded by the MuD, with a distinct JnNURM logo on its sides.
“The MuD directive has made all at KSRTC proud of our design capabilities,” C G Anand, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Production (KSRTC) who heads the design team said.
“After the design was made ready, the bus was built in a record time as per the specifications of the MuD. The first bus was built at the Kengeri regional coach building workshop and handed over to the Mysore City Transport Division of the KSRTC last year. A team of officials from the MuD even came over to Mysore in September and conducted a passenger/public survey and found the response encouraging. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has also adopted the same design for its JnNURM buses.”
Each bus coach has cost the State-run undertaking Rs 19.5 lakh to build. Buoyed by the MuD circular, KSRTC now says it is ready to build buses for public transport corporations of neighbouring States. State transport undertakings of Goa and Chennai have implemented the KSRTC design on their buses procured under JnNURM funding.
Constructed on an Ashok Leyland chassis, the bus has been built with minimum standing space and is equipped with a LED passenger information system as per urban bus specifications.