NMC launches electric buses for women

NAGPUR: The city of Nagpur became the third city in Maharashtra, after Pune and Mumbai, to launch electric buses for commuters. Buses launched by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) are exclusively for women travelers in the city.

The buses will operate on five routes starting from Sitabuldi and going to YCC College, Defence, Koradi, Butibori MIDC, Pipla Fata. The buses will make around 75 trips each day between 7 am and 10 pm, covering around 951 km every day. The fare for these buses will remain the same as those for the diesel ones. The buses were launched by Nanda Jichkar, Mayor of Nagpur. These zero-emission buses are expected to benefit around 1 lakh women passengers every month.

The arrival of e-buses was following state urban department announcement in 2017 regarding introduction of women-only buses. “These could make public buses an attractive commuting option for women,” said Bunty Kukde, Chairman of the Transport Department.

The centre recently agreed for the NMC to buy 100 more e-buses for the city and the NMC will try to add these buses to their fleet by next year. Diesel buses being run by the NMC are also being converted to CNG. The NMC plans to convert all of the 400+ diesel buses which are currently part of its fleet into CNG buses, said Kukde.