Electric buses to ply in Chennai city from April 2025

CHENNAI: The electric buses will hit the city roads in April 2025, thanks to the contract for the procurement of 500 low-floor e-buses, including 100 AC buses, awarded to OHM Global Mobility, under a Gross Cost Contract with the World Bank.electric buses

In a statement, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar said that the MTC would pay Rs 77.16 per km for non-AC e-buses and Rs 80.86 per km for AC e-buses as against Rs 116 per km expenditure incurred on the operation of diesel buses.

Out of the three companies – OHM, a subsidiary of Ashok Leyland and Switch Mobility, EVEY Trans and Aeroeagle Automobiles, the contract was awarded to Chennai-based OHM, which will operate the buses manufactured by Switch Mobility.

Under the Gross Cost Contract, OHM would be responsible for procurement, operation and maintenance of buses for 12 years, procurement of spare parts and deployment of bus drivers. The operator would also be responsible for the electric charging infrastructure for the buses and depot maintenance.

The MTC would appoint a conductor to collect ticket fares from passengers. It may be noted that MTC collected AC bus fares when it conducted trial operations of the e-buses in the city in 2019. The Corporation would be responsible for the bus routes, conductors and collection of the ticket fares.

“Under the GCC model, MTC would avoid capital expenditure of about Rs 875 crore in procurement of these buses, maintenance expenses and payment of salaries to drivers and technical staff,” the minister said.

The modern e-buses, which could be operated for 180 km on a single full charge, would run approximately 200 km daily. They would be operated from Perumbakkam, Tondiarpet-1, Poonamallee, Vyasarpadi and Perambur-2 depots to all parts of Chennai.

“The operation of e-buses would help provide world-class service to passengers and also help in the reduction of carbon emission, achieve environmental sustainability goals and provide pollution-free public transport,” he added.

As per the terms of the World Bank scheme, MTC and the Transport Department have signed a public transport service contract (PTSC), which ensures payment of viability gap funding. The total cost of the project is approximately Rs 959 crore with 70% contributed by the World Bank and 30% by the State government. The disbursement of funds will be linked to the achievement of specific indicators, which will enable the operation of new buses through innovative methods.

· OHM Global Mobility, a subsidiary of Ashok Leyland and Switch Mobility, wins the contract for the operation of 500 e-buses, including 100 AC e-buses, in Chennai

· Under the Gross Cost Contract model, buses would be owned by private operators, while the MTC would pay them a fixed per km cost. As in, MTC would pay Rs 77.16 per km for non-AC e-buses and Rs 80.86 per km for AC e-buses

· OHM would be responsible for the procurement, operation, maintenance and payment of salaries to drivers and technical staff

· MTC would decide the bus routes, fix ticket fares and appoint a conductor to collect fares

· MTC would avoid expenditure of around Rs 875 crore in procurement of 500 e-buses, maintenance and payment of salaries to drivers and technical staff