EV double-decker test run set off rumours of reintroducing services
An official spokesperson of Switch Mobility said that the double-decker bus was operated by the company for internal purposes and it did not have anything to do with the MTC.
CHENNAI: A test run of an electric double-decker bus developed by Chennai-based Ashok Leyland's EV arm Switch Mobility in the city has set off rumours of the trial operation by the MTC for its reintroduction. However, both the MTC and Ashok Leyland's EV arm Switch Mobility denied trial operation of the double-decker bus.
After a report carried out by a Tamil news channel, social media was abuzz with MTC's plan to reintroduce double-decker buses.
As the test run of the EV double-decker by the company came weeks after Transport Minister SS Sivasankar revealed the plan to study the feasibility of operating the double-decker buses on tourist routes.
An MTC official said that the operation of the electric double-decker bus in the city has nothing to do with them. "We have not done any trial operation of the double-decker buses, " the official clarified.
An official spokesperson of Switch Mobility said that the double-decker bus was operated by the company for internal purposes and it did not have anything to do with the MTC.
Despite the clarification by both the MTC and the company, social media was abuzz with people recalling their experience of travelling in the MTC-run double-decker buses in the 2000s.
Chennai has a long history of double-decker bus operations since 1975. After the double-decker services were up in the 1980s, it was again re-introduced in the city in 1997 and the buses were operated on 18 A routes from High Court to Tambaram till 2008.