The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has announced plans to launch 50 new electric air-conditioned buses on the Hyderabad - Vijayawada route by the end of this year. Ten such buses will be launched on May 15, and the remaining buses will be launched in phases till the end of this year, a press statement from TSRTC said. The bus schedule will be planned in such a way that there will be a bus leaving from Hyderabad to Vijayawada every 20 minutes, it added. The buses, named ‘e-Garuda’, can travel a distance of 325 kilometres after charging the battery once, TSRTC said.
Describing the facilities available in the buses, the statement said that each bus has 41 passenger seats with individual mobile charging points and reading lamps. For passengers’ safety, each seat will also have a panic button and a vehicle tracking system will be enabled so that the vehicle’s location is relayed to the TSRTC’s control room. Each bus also has three CCTV cameras with recording backup for one month, an automatic passenger counter camera, and a fire detection and suppression system.
TSRTC said it plans to introduce 1,860 e-buses to its fleet over the next two years. While 1,300 of them will be operated within Hyderabad city, 550 buses will be used for plying on longer routes to distant locations. Another 10 double-decker e-buses will also be introduced in Hyderabad, TSRTC said.
The unveiling ceremony of the first set of 10 e-Garuda buses will take place on May 16, at Pushpak Bus Point, Miyapur crossroads, in the presence of Telangana Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, TSRTC chairman Bajireddy Goverdhan, and TSRTC Managing Director VC Sajjanar.