Tamil Nadu government to procure 1,771 non-AC buses

CHENNAI: The Institute of Road Transport has floated a tender to procure 1,771 BS6 non-AC buses for the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, including 402 buses, for Metropolitan Transport Corporation. The new buses are being procured under the capital assistance of Germany’s KfW.

According to the request for proposal (RFP) invited by the IRT, as part of the modernisation plan, Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation has issued the first RFP for centralised

procurement of 1,771 diesel buses for seven state transport undertakings, including TNSTC Villupuram, Salem, Coimbatore, Kumbakonam, Madurai and Tirunelveli. Already, the IRT had invited bids for the procurement of 442 low-floor buses for MTC, TNSTC Madurai and Coimbatore.

“In order to improve the attractiveness, the State government has planned to overhaul the delivery of bus transport by prioritising climate-friendly modernisation and improved service quality of public bus services in major cities through fleet replacement and expansion, to cope with an increasing population and travel demand in the state. With this context, the Government of Tamil Nadu has signed a project-specific loan and the grant financing agreement with the KfW and German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in August 2019,” it said.

Out of the 1,771 buses to be procured, 1,107 buses would be 11 meters long with a floor height of 900 mm while 484 buses would be 11 meters long with an 1,150 mm floor height. As many as 180 buses would be 12 meters long with 1,150 mm floor height. The seven state transport undertakings operate a collective fleet of 21,000 diesel buses and cater to 1.65 crore passengers daily across Tamil Nadu.