JAMMU, May 15: In this scorching hot summer days there is a good news for the people of Katra and Udhampur including the pilgrims visiting the world famed shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji as the much awaited air-conditioned environment friendly e-buses will soon ferry the passengers from Jammu to Katra and Udhampur while five of such vehicles have already been pressed into service for Kathua district in the last 4-5 days which are also catering the Samba district en-route.
Sources informed that these big e-buses of 12 metre length with high back seats and seating capacity of 34 passengers per vehicle are being run by Jammu Smart City Limited (JSCL).When contacted Rahul Yadav, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) JSCL (also Commissioner of Jammu Municipal Corporation) informed that e-buses service for Katra and Udhampur will be started by this weekend.
“The process of documentation for the required installation of Fastags on these e-buses is underway and it will be done within 1-2 days as I have given authorisation for that and we are hopeful that by this weekend we will be able to start the e-bus service from Jammu to Katra and Udhampur,” he said, adding “About 4-5 buses will run on each of these two routes.”
The CEO also informed that they have planned to start the e-bus service from both Bus Stand Jammu and Railway Station Jammu to Katra but initially the service will be there from Bus Stand Jammu only as at Railway Station Jammu they have to look into the issue of parking of these emission free vehicles.
“The service will also be started from Railway Station Jammu depending upon the availability of parking facility there,” he further said.
When asked that the 75 e-buses running intra-city in Jammu are ferrying only a few passengers as most people are not aware and avoid these vehicles fearing high fares, he said that soon awareness regarding this will be disseminated after the Model Code of Conduct due to the ongoing General Elections in the country is lifted following culmination of the elections.
Sources informed that service of e-buses is there for the tourist destination of Suchetgarh at Indo-Pak border while for Purmandal-Uttarbehni pilgrimage places survey was underway for running these buses there.
A total of 75 e-buses of 9 metre length are already running intra-city in Jammu under the name TATA Ultra EV Bus.
Sources informed that these vehicles have been brought on Gross Cost Contract (GCC) with TATA which will run these vehicles for 12 years for JSCL and they (TATA) will be paid cost per km only while the driver will also be from TATA and the Company will also bear the maintenance and electricity costs of these vehicles.
They said that Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) subsidy by the Government of India for these vehicles has been passed on to TATA by the JSCL.
More sources informed that charging stations for big e-buses at Udhampur, Kathua and Katra are fully functional and once charged the big e-buses can run upto 225 km on single charging while small e-buses of 9 metre length can only cover a distance of 180 km on single charging.
They said that as far as fare for these vehicles is concerned there is no discount for physically disabled persons, senior citizens and women.
All the e-buses are equipped with CCTV cams, lifts for physically challenged people to enter and de-board, live tracking and many more facilities.
Sources informed that for using the services of e-buses there is a system with provision of digital tickets through an app, mobile ticketing and making payments using National Common Mobility Card on the pattern of doing so in metros.
“The tickets can also be purchased in cash but payment using digital mode will fetch the travellers with a discount of 5 per cent,” they said.
