BMTC plans 200 mini e-buses for Bengaluru Metro last-mile links

BMTC plans to assign 200 mini air-conditioned electric buses from its proposed 4,500-bus fleet to neighbourhood links around Bengaluru Metro stations.

Transport Minister Byrathi Suresh issued the direction at a meeting with Transport Department, KSRTC and BMTC officials at Vidhana Soudha. The mini buses are intended to cover areas within a 5-km radius of stations, connecting residential pockets farther from the Metro network to rail services.

The 200 buses are planned as part of the 4,500 electric buses to be provided to BMTC under the Centre’s PM E-DRIVE scheme. The Karnataka cabinet approved the wider fleet plan last week.

Suresh also asked officials to discuss providing more air-conditioned BMTC buses for Bengaluru’s IT and BT companies, with the aim of reducing employees’ use of private vehicles.

BMTC plans to make its Namma BMTC Mobile App 2.0 available to app-based commercial passenger services, including Ola and Uber, so cab passengers can check BMTC services towards their destination after they get off. Officials were also directed to curb revenue leakage and unnecessary expenditure in state-run transport corporations.