Surat: The BRTS bus service, considered an important mode of transport for millions of passengers in the city, will now operate on all 13 routes with electric buses. Starting Wednesday, Surat will become the first city in the country to achieve the use of 100% electric buses in the BRTS corridor. The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) began adding electric buses to the BRTS and city bus services in 2020, and after four years of effort, BRTS will utilize 352 electric buses across its 13 routes.

The call to reduce carbon emissions in urban areas across the country was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In line with this, the Surat Municipal Corporation has planned to prepare a necessary roadmap under the Surat-Net Zero Emission Mission in the 2024 budget. Significant progress has been made in this drive to reduce carbon emissions. It is noteworthy that around 2 lakh people use the public transport service on 45 city bus routes and 13 BRTS routes every day. Among the 352 buses operating on the BRTS route, route number 14 (from ONGC Colony to Kosad EWS Awas) was running with 18 electric and 11 diesel buses. These 11 diesel buses will be removed from service starting Wednesday, with electric buses replacing them on this route.

Currently, the Municipal Corporation operates 450 electric buses, while the remaining buses run on city bus routes. A total of 347 diesel and electric buses are in operation on City Bus routes. The remaining diesel buses from the city bus service will also be phased out.

It is reported that SMC will purchase 1,100 electric buses by 2025 under the Net Zero Emission Mission, with 450 electric buses planned for procurement in 2024-25. The existing BRTS bus depot at Adajan-Pal is also set to be converted into an electric bus depot at a cost of Rs 2 crore. DeshGujarat