Panaji: Less than four months after being introduced by the Goa government, two of the 3 eco-friendly 'Scania' buses lie defunct.
On August 15, the 3 had been introduced by leader minister Manohar Parrikar in Panaji, and shortly after, handed over to the state-run Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited. Two had been ethanol, while one ran on biofuel.
Highly-placed resources on the corporation mentioned that the biofuel bus has now not hit the streets since its launch and continues to lie at KTCL's central workshop in Porvorim need of biogas.
"We require permission from the government to procure fuel from the Saligao plant," resources mentioned. "The process is still pending. The staff start the bus and keep the bus running so as to keep the biofuel bus' engine healthy."
The ethanol buses had been put at the shuttle routes of Panaji to Margao and Panaji to Vasco, and vice-versa.
These two buses had been in operation, but one in all them — the only at the Panaji-Vasco direction — has now not been used for almost a month now as a result of an AC failure.
Senior KTCL officials are attributing the explanations of the AC's going off to a technical failure.
The bus in operation at the Panaji-Margao direction could also be facing a equivalent downside, and the cooling is not ample.
"People are therefore avoiding travel in these buses," a senior KTCL respectable mentioned. "The buses cannot operate without ACs since it has sealed window panes. Moreover, the bus cannot open the door for ventilation because its mechanism is such that it cannot run with open doors."
This Scania bus with the faulty AC runs 180-185 kms on average, day by day. Other KTCL clock at least 300 km consistent with day.
"We cannot ply them more often because the Scania buses are not suitable for the narrow roads of Goa. When they become four or five lane roads, we may be able to ply them," he added.
The government intends so as to add at least 50-100 buses of this sort to the fleet by subsequent year, but officials are already in a soup with the present few buses, owing to gasoline issues.
The gasoline to run the standing biofuel bus' engine is introduced from Nagpur, and so is the ethanol for the other two buses.
"The transporting charges of ethanol is expensive," a KTCL source mentioned. "What should be Rs 20 per litre costs Rs 50-55 because it comes from Maharashtra. The Scania buses run 1.1 kilometer per litre. This is not profitable for KTCL."
Currently, the ethanol and driving force charges are borne by Scania, while KTCL sends its conductor aboard the bus.
KTCL chairman Carlos Almeida mentioned, "This is the trail run of these buses. Their performance review is yet to be done, after which we will take a call on whether or not to continue with them. The single biogas bus which has not been operation is still awaiting its explosive license from the collector's office, which Scania has not yet done."
On August 15, the 3 had been introduced by leader minister Manohar Parrikar in Panaji, and shortly after, handed over to the state-run Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited. Two had been ethanol, while one ran on biofuel.
Highly-placed resources on the corporation mentioned that the biofuel bus has now not hit the streets since its launch and continues to lie at KTCL's central workshop in Porvorim need of biogas.
"We require permission from the government to procure fuel from the Saligao plant," resources mentioned. "The process is still pending. The staff start the bus and keep the bus running so as to keep the biofuel bus' engine healthy."
The ethanol buses had been put at the shuttle routes of Panaji to Margao and Panaji to Vasco, and vice-versa.
These two buses had been in operation, but one in all them — the only at the Panaji-Vasco direction — has now not been used for almost a month now as a result of an AC failure.
Senior KTCL officials are attributing the explanations of the AC's going off to a technical failure.
The bus in operation at the Panaji-Margao direction could also be facing a equivalent downside, and the cooling is not ample.
"People are therefore avoiding travel in these buses," a senior KTCL respectable mentioned. "The buses cannot operate without ACs since it has sealed window panes. Moreover, the bus cannot open the door for ventilation because its mechanism is such that it cannot run with open doors."
This Scania bus with the faulty AC runs 180-185 kms on average, day by day. Other KTCL clock at least 300 km consistent with day.
"We cannot ply them more often because the Scania buses are not suitable for the narrow roads of Goa. When they become four or five lane roads, we may be able to ply them," he added.
The government intends so as to add at least 50-100 buses of this sort to the fleet by subsequent year, but officials are already in a soup with the present few buses, owing to gasoline issues.
The gasoline to run the standing biofuel bus' engine is introduced from Nagpur, and so is the ethanol for the other two buses.
"The transporting charges of ethanol is expensive," a KTCL source mentioned. "What should be Rs 20 per litre costs Rs 50-55 because it comes from Maharashtra. The Scania buses run 1.1 kilometer per litre. This is not profitable for KTCL."
Currently, the ethanol and driving force charges are borne by Scania, while KTCL sends its conductor aboard the bus.
KTCL chairman Carlos Almeida mentioned, "This is the trail run of these buses. Their performance review is yet to be done, after which we will take a call on whether or not to continue with them. The single biogas bus which has not been operation is still awaiting its explosive license from the collector's office, which Scania has not yet done."
Fuel issues leave KTC’s Rs 2cr ‘green’ buses languishing
![Fuel issues leave KTC’s Rs 2cr ‘green’ buses languishing]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
November 27, 2017
Rating:
