Assam: Electric buses to be introduced in Guwahati soon

In an effort to reduce pollution, Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) will deploy 15 electric buses in the city under government's FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric vehicles) scheme.

The trial run for the buses is expected to begin from June 22. Each bus will have a sitting capacity of 31 passengers.

"We have got 15 electric buses. It's a central government's initiative. The buses will ply on the roads after a trial run," Chief Engineer Balidan Das said.

The buses that will be procured by the ASTC deployed on Kachari-Kamakhya route, making five to six trips per day. A few buses will be operated on two different routes from ISBT and Paltan Bazar.

"Government of India is trying to bring emission-free transport as soon as possible. Buses will be operational likely within this month, they will be emission free. The phase operation will start from Kamakhya temple," Anand Prakash Tiwari, Managing Director (MD) added.

The ASTC has planned three proposed routes for the operations of these buses. The first route will be from Kachari to Kamakhya covering a distance of 6.4 kilometres, second route from Paltan Bazar to airport covering a distance of 25 kilometres and the third route will cover ISBT, Khanapara, Ganeshguri, Paltan Bazar, Maligaon and back to ISBT covering a distance of 38 kms.