CHENNAI: The Metropolitan Transport Corporation's (MTC) plan to expand its fleet to meet growing commuting demand has hit a roadblock, with a tender for 1,000 air-conditioned electric buses cancelled and another tender for 220 electric feeder buses failed because no bidders responded.

The previous DMK regime floated the two tenders. MTC cancelled the 1,000-AC electric bus tender on Tuesday, citing administrative reasons, after extending the bid-opening date multiple times. The tender was floated in March under the gross cost contract (GCC) model, ahead of the announcement of the Assembly election schedule.

The ruling TVK government had allocated Rs 500 crore in the state budget to procure the 1,000 electric buses and upgrade depot infrastructure to accommodate the new fleet.

The second tender, for 220 air-conditioned low-floor electric buses intended to provide first- and last-mile connectivity to Chennai Metro stations, received no bids. The proposed fleet comprises 70 seven-metre buses and 150 five-metre buses.

The buses were proposed to operate as conductorless services, with onboard fare-collection systems, on routes identified by the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) and Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) within a 5-km primary influence area of Metro stations in the city.

The seven-metre buses were to have at least 13 seats, one wheelchair space and a driver, while the five-metre buses were to have 11 seats, one wheelchair space and a driver. The contract stipulated assured operation of 4,200 km per bus per month. Once all 220 buses were deployed, the fleet would have clocked 9.24 lakh bus-km a month.

The latest setbacks follow the cancellation of an earlier tender to procure 500 electric buses with funding from the German development bank KfW. In March, the previous DMK government decided to cancel the tender pending KfW approval, and the KfW approved the cancellation in June. Subsequently, the procurement model was proposed to be shifted to the GCC model, officials noted.