Electric buses to roll out in Odisha by January end

Bhubaneswar: With a target to further expand the Mo Bus service, Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) is all set to roll out electric buses in the state by the end of January.

CRUT, which celebrated its second anniversary yesterday, plans to run 25 electric buses in the first phase and another 25 in the month of  March. The electric buses will run under Mo Bus scheme in the Twin City of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and Puri, officials said.

Earlier in November, CRUT had carried out a demo run of the e-buses on different routes of the capital city here.

The e-buses feature modern facilities like AC, music system and CCTV cameras and USB charging points installed in every seat to facilitate passengers with a safe and joyous ride. The bus will run without diesel or petrol and passengers will experience a noise-free journey. Drivers of the buses will not have to change gears as it will run automatically with three switches-reverse, neutral and drive.

As part of the expansion projects, CRUT will also set up two modern bus depots at Patia and Patrapada soon. The two projects will cost approximately Rs 17 crore, said an official.          

While the COVID-19 lockdown affected the Mo Bus service badly, currently around 26,000 passengers are travelling in the buses daily. So far, total 109 buses were plying on total 17 routes.