4,000 new transport buses by December: minister

Over 4,000 new public transport buses, including 1,500 of BMTC, will hit the roads by December this year, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said on Thursday.

“We started the tender process early to ensure the new buses are commissioned before December and there is no delay closer to the elections next year,” Reddy told reporters.

As many as 1,092 new buses will be added to the fleet of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, 1,350 to the North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, 498 to the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and 1,500 to BMTC.

“The government is sponsoring the new BMTC buses, whereas other corporations are using their own resources for purchasing buses,” Reddy said.

The government has not received any grants towards public transport under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), the scheme that replaced JnNURM, Reddy said.

The government is also waiting for the Centre to come out with guidelines on electric buses.

“The BMTC has already proposed rolling out 150 electric buses. We have requested the Centre to issue guidelines soon,” the minister said.

‘Metro ate into BMTC ridership, revenue’

The 42-km network of the Namma Metro, which opened for public on June 18, has eaten into the ridership and revenue of BMTC, the minister said. “Our ridership is down by 2.18 lakh and revenue dipped by 3-4% after the Metro service started. In fact, BMTC incurs a loss of Rs 5 lakh daily in providing feeder services,” he said.