After successful trial of the Mercedes Benz buses, the corporation has decided to add 10 more to its fleet
After successful trial of the Mercedes Benz buses, the corporation has decided to add 10 more to its fleetAfter a two month trial run, the BMTC has decided to purchase 10 new buses to be added to its fleet this year. For the first instance, these buses will run exclusively to the airport from various parts of the city. The corporation had introduced two such buses on a trial basis on August 28 last year.
New arrivals: The corporation's decision to add 10 buses will cost
around Rs 7 croreOne bus plied from Majestic to Electronics City, and the other from Majestic to Kadugodi. After a few weeks they were diverted to other routes such as Bannerghatta, Vijayanagar, the International Technology Park, International Airport Road and so on.
They were introduced to gather feedback from the public and to find out if the revenue generation was viable enough. "There was a tremendous response from the public and crew members. For the first three days we charged just Rs 5, and later it was changed to the regular Volvo fare," said a senior BMTC official.
The BMTC will add 10 low floor Mercedes Benz buses to its present fleet of 62 Vayu Vajra buses by next April. "All in all, the 471 Volvo buses plying in the city are yet to make a profit; however, the 62 buses plying to Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) are returning profits," he added.
Some experts feel that is it absolutely necessary to introduce these hi-tech buses in the city even with the existing Volvo A/C buses. BMTC is losing crores due to the operation of Volvo buses.
Traffic expert Prof M N Sreehari said, "This is a welcome move by the BMTC and these buses should be introduced on dedicated routes. If BMTC has decided to operate to BIAL, it's not a bad idea because elite passengers travel frequently by this route every day. "u00a0
BMTC MD Syed Zameer Pasha told MiD DAY, "The 10 buses will be dedicated to ply on the airport route. Later we will decide whether to run them on other routes if it is successful."
