In a historic development, Maharashtra has become the first state to run interstate electric bus services. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) inducted its first electric bus on Thursday, September 5, 2019. Titled Shivaee, the bus service was inaugurated by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. It comes as a matter of pride for the state.
Taking somewhere between one to five hours to charge fully, the buses will be able to run for 300 km on one charge. The buses will run on lithium-ion battery.
Talking about the fares, an official said that it will be around Rs 14 for a kilometer, as quoted by The Hindu.
These will be 43-seater buses, called Shivai or Shivaee. In addition, it is expected that the state will procure 150 such e-buses that will link various cities of Maharashtra. The sources have also informed that some of these buses will be deployed on the Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Nashik routes.
While the routes haven’t been decided yet, the MSRTC is planning to run 50 buses in the first go. MSRTC vice chairman and managing director Ranjeet Singh Deol said, “Fifty buses will come soon. All will be procured on wet lease. We will discuss with the operator on the routes they can ply.”
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