[TusharK]

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that tram-like electric buses will run on Indian roads soon. These are being developed in collaboration with Skoda and Tata.



While speaking at the Pagariya JBN Mahakumbh, Gadkari revealed that electric buses, comprising three interconnected units, are currently being tested on Nagpur’s ring road and will soon be introduced on a large scale. These buses can carry up to 132 passengers.

Gadkari said that the buses are capable of charging wirelessly within a minute and will feature amenities like air-conditioning, packaged food, CCTV and laptop holders. He added that the ticket rates would be less than 30% that of diesel buses.

Gadkari said an agreement with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) would be finalized soon. He believes the city will be able to recoup the investment into this project within 3 years.

Source: TOI

Link to Team-BHP news

[SmartCat]

I guess Gadkari means Bus Rapid Transit system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rapid_transit

being tested on Nagpur's ring road and will soon be introduced on a large scale

It will be fun trying to overtake this on the ring road. It will be a good test for a car's 30 to 80 kmph acceleration timings.

the innovative system combines three buses and charges wirelessly within a minute.

Charges the bus wirelessly within a minute eh?

[PreludeSH]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

I guess Gadkari means Bus Rapid Transit system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rapid_transit

Attachment 2623005

It will be fun trying to overtake this on the ring road. It will be a good test for a car's 30 to 80 kmph acceleration timings.

They should develop infrastructure for these first instead of putting them on current roads. Try some holistic solution instead of band aid ones.
Why not have isolated bus lanes (just 2 lanes are all you need, with metal bollards or even walls ). Put these in design phase so that you dont create issues on existing roads. They should look at Ottawa etc to see how its done.

Can they do this on the new Peripheral ring road that is being considered in Bengaluru ? No, its already called a Business corridor and vehicle movement will be last of the priorities.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by PreludeSH

Why not have isolated bus lanes (just 2 lanes are all you need, with metal bollards or even walls

Yes, BRT involves creating separate road infrastructure or atleast 'bus lanes' within existing roads.

[HillMan]

I'll be happier to see these kinds of buses operating between twin cities on express ways rather than having them within cities. It will be efficient and comfortable for daily commutes as well.

These buses are long and difficult to manage in heavy traffic conditions. Image the plight of the drive to run them in traffic.

There is no room to acquire more land to widen the roads in most cities and provide dedicated lanes. Bangalore experimented with dedicated lanes for buses and it was a failure. With peak traffic the space utilisation on the road is a challenge.

I believe, for metro cities it is best to have more number of smaller electric buses something around a 24seater with higher frequency. They will be agile and wont block the entire road at bus stops as well.

[Nilesh5417]

He just hops from one project to other without ensuring success of any of the previous ones and taking stock of lessons learnt.

He should spend his time creating a holistic strategy to decongest Indian cities and improve intercity connectivity. Just hopping across fancy ideas is just so pointless.

[chucko96]

I have always actually thought about this being a great solution for places like Calcutta which already have a pre-existing Electric Tram network. Even though most of the tracks have been removed to make way for cars, the old electrical infrastructure might not be too hard to bring back online.

[Earthroamer]

Without decongesting our primary cities, nothing is going to be a fruitful solution for traffic or pollution problems.

The local municipalities are stacking up familes upto 20 floors/more in the same smaller areas, where roads were 2 lanes and were used as connecting roads to the main roads up and till 10 years ago and expect traffic is going to be solved by some AI software prediction algo or a new metro lane. There are no places for the busses to stop at a bus stop properly without hogging up the entire traffic behind it and this guy is coming up with some 100 year old tram idea as it is super innovative solution for our traffic owes.

[JunkyardHunter]

I would like to know how a bus charges wirelessly, and in under a minute too!

Originally Posted by HillMan

I'll be happier to see these kinds of buses operating between twin cities on expressways rather than having them within cities.

These buses are long and difficult to manage in heavy traffic conditions. Image the plight of the drive to run them in traffic.

There is no room to acquire more land to widen the roads in most cities and provide dedicated lanes.

+1

[sandeepmohan]

Why not stick to the tried and proven EV bus that can run just about anywhere. Instead of digging the road and building dedicated pathways on an already congested route, redirect those funds to upgrading the bus depots with rapid chargers. Nobody cares about laptop holders or packaged food on short haul public transport network.

Our ministers keep traveling all over world. Why can't they do something useful and learn what the developed world does for their Public Transport network. Look at what they do and adapt their systems to suits our needs.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that tram-like electric buses will run on Indian roads soon. These are being developed in collaboration with Skoda and Tata.

Skoda again? Oh God Almighty, save as from these decision makers.

This concept of interconnected buses somehow being more efficient than 3 individual buses running on the same route is as old as history. This is what trams were and there is a reason why they were discarded in most Indian cities by the early 1960s. This interconnected bus business was first attempted in c.1978 in Mumbai. And lo behold that first bus had also come from Skoda under some inter-govt arrangement with the erstwhile State of Czechoslovakia. I recall going to view it and snoop around as it lay parked at the major business stop on the Eastern side of Oval maiden in south Bombay. IIRC the project was abandoned rather quickly as our roads were too narrow and too crowded for this to make sense.

What we need are large numbers of EV buses with varying passenger capacities from say 90 to 20 with the smaller capacity buses being narrower in width to permit access to narrower more crowded roads. And blocking out a lane in our already crowded roads was tried in Delhi for years with limited success.

3 buses carrying 50 pax each arriving at 5-minute intervals is way better for the commuter than one bigger bus carrying 132 pax arriving at 15 or 20 minute intervals.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by HillMan

I believe, for metro cities it is best to have more number of smaller electric buses something around a 24seater with higher frequency.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Why not stick to the tried and proven EV bus that can run just about anywhere

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

3 buses carrying 50 pax each arriving at 5-minute intervals is way better for the commuter than one bigger bus carrying 132 pax arriving at 15 or 20 minute intervals.

I'm guessing here but perhaps articulated buses like this works out to be significantly cheaper in the long run?

- Salary for one driver, instead of 3.
- Lower cost perhaps (the other 2 buses are just cabins with tyres and seats) compared to 3 EV buses
- Lower maintenance probably (single powersource/drivertrain versus 3)
- Very likely more energy efficient (weight of an articulated bus is likely to be lower than 3 separate buses)

Also, I think we need to compare costs with that of traditional rail-based Metro transport. I think BRT will be more cost efficient than Metro system in non-Metro large cities like Nagpur, Jaipur, Indore etc. Our neighbor Pakistan has adopted Bus Rapid Transit system, and is now operational in most cities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ms_in_Pakistan





As a bonus, separate bus lane infrastructure can also be used for:

- VIP movement
- Ambulance/police/fire department vehicles
- Normal buses

In crowded areas, it can be elevated or underground too, just like a 'normal' metro system.

[Sk8r]

BRTS in Visakhapatnam was a disaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visakh...Transit_System

I believe it'll only work where we've enough real estate for expanding roads. Might not work in existing "over crowded" cities.

[Rahkehs]

I am from the same sector. For smaller cities, govt is exploring rubber-tyred articulated buses which would run on their dedicated (elevated) routes with some kind of Guiding System (Central/Kerb Guiding via rails) or may be Optical/Radar based guidance system.
This system has been planned in Nashik and various other smaller cities since the cost is 1/2 to 1/3 of regular heavy Metro which costs about 250-300Cr/KM on elevated corridor.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

I'm guessing here but perhaps articulated buses like this works out to be significantly cheaper in the long run?

The amount of potential accidents a 2-coach version will cause is enough to negate the operational gains you mention. We had a limited run of such buses in the 1990s, mostly on 18 series buses on Mount Road (the only road in town that had the real estate to run such buses). They lasted less than a year.
---
We have BRT lanes in Pune and Indore. Even there its not city wide. And having seen them in person, they are not foolproof. There will be somone who will intentionally/unintentionally enter the BRT lane