An electric bus service has been started to connect the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) to Biswa Bangla Gate crossing.
“The superintendent of CNCI met me with a request to provide connectivity to the Major Arterial Road. With cancer treatment having started there, patients are coming from far and wide. Once they reach Narkelbagan, they are forced to hire totos which fleece them to cover the short distance. The patients are often not from economically solvent backgrounds. So we realised that it was a very genuine requirement,” said Debashis Sen, chairman cum managing director of Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco).
Hidco owns three e-buses. The route of one of them has been rationalised. With booking for New Town Coffee House going fully online and those making the booking reaching mostly by private transport, the bus has been diverted to CNCI.
Instead of making a left turn at Tata Memorial Center to reach Coffee House via Eco Space, the bus now goes right after Tata Memorial Center towards CNCI, reducing the route from 4km to a 2km one.
The service starts at 9am from Narkelbagan and continues to and fro till 12.30pm. There is a break for the battery to be recharged at the depot before resuming at 2pm. There are nine trips being done now through the day. The last trip is at 6.30pm from CNCI.
More electric buses
Hidco has plans of increasing its electric bus fleet. A tender has been floated seeking bids for buses on lease. “This time we plan to lease buses and pay as per the kilometres run. The existing e-buses were bought by us from KPIT Technologies, with a three-year maintenance contract. But it is turning out to be an expensive arrangement,” said Sen.
The electric bus service, introduced in 2018, has carried 2.97 lakh passengers so far.
