City circular service gets 10 more electric buses, taking total to 35

Thiruvananthapuram: The KSRTC has introduced 10 more electric buses in the city circular service. With this, from the KSRTC-SWIFT, a total of 35 electric buses will be operating in the city.
It was on August 1, 2022, that the KSRTC-SWIFT had introduced electric buses in the city circular service. In the first phase, 25 buses were introduced.
Next month, the company will be getting 15 more electric buses, which will also be introduced in the city service.
The expense for operating the diesel buses per kilometre is Rs 37 in the city routes and for electric buses, the expense is Rs 23 per kilometre. In the first two months of the introduction of the electric buses, the KSRTC could raise a monthly profit of Rs 40 lakh.
The corporation could save Rs 28 lakh and Rs 32 lakh in August and September, respectively, towards the diesel expenses. Since the employees are under the newly-floated SWIFT company of the KSRTC, the salary expense is around Rs 12 lakh lesser than that of the KSRTC employees.
In addition to this, the corporation is also saving Rs 1.8 lakh per month as there is no oil change and other operational costs for the electric buses that come with a two-year warranty.
With the introduction of electric buses, there has been an increase in the ridership from 1,000 passengers in the diesel buses to 35,000 passengers in the electric buses on an average in a day.
At present, charging stations have been set up at Thampanoor, East Fort, Pappanamcode, Vikas Bhavan, Peroorkada and Neyyattinkara.
The buses on an average are getting 140km range from a charge done for one-and-a-half hours.
The ticket fare for the city circular bus is Rs 10 per trip and Rs 30 for a whole day trip. The KSRTC has also introduced a travel card for passengers.