[ferrarirules]

Big achievement by MSRTC to convert 70% of the Mumbai - Pune Shivneri to e-Shivneri and they are on track to convert it to 100% e-Shivneri by Diwali this year.

Apart from the reduction of carbon foot print, these buses are profitable for MSRTC. The bus is wet leased at a price of Rs.57 per km and the corporation is earning Rs.70 per km.

The buses have additional comfort features like WIFI, Mobile charging points and CCTV cameras for security.

Excerpt from the article

MSRTC has electrified 70% of its Shivneri AC bus fleet which ferries hundreds of commuters daily from Mumbai to Pune. Of the 100 electric buses planned on this popular route, only 30 diesel buses remain to be replaced with brand new electric ones, said an official.
"Our aim is to phase out diesel polluting buses completely on this route in a few months and passengers can expect a comfortable, noiseless AC electric ride between the two cities via the Pune Expressway," said MSRTC managing director Shekhar Channe.

Source - ETAuto - link

[carboy]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

Apart from the reduction of carbon foot print, these buses are profitable for MSRTC. The bus is wet leased at a price of Rs.57 per km and the corporation is earning Rs.70 per km.

What about expenses on employees, charging, maintenance of bus etc?

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by carboy

What about expenses on employees, charging, maintenance of bus etc?

They have said that they have wet leased the buses. Wet lease is a term used in aviation industry. It basically means the provider provides everything, you just pay the wet lease cost.

Definition of wet lease

A wet lease means that the organization or person who owns the aircraft will provide that aircraft as well as one or more crew members to the lessee. Even more important, the owner also promises to conduct adequate maintenance and procure the insurance necessary to operate.

[Bhodrolok]

Awesome! We need big, bold steps. This is in the right direction.

[Aditya]

MSRTC electrifies 70% of Mumbai-Pune Shivneri bus fleet - Posts moved to a new thread.

[silverado]

This is great news, however it remains to be seen how long they last. Volvos were rugged and you can still see old volvos running without fuss in Shivneri.If the buses dont last long all the talk about profits goes for a toss.

The e buses used by PMPML here in pune dont seem to last for a long run unlike their diesel TATA Marcopolo counterparts which will surely run their course like old diesel buses.

As a passenger you wont feel much difference, the boot space below has reduced compared to volvo.

[libranof1987]

MH Govt. and MSRTC have made a spectacular mess of the Pune - Mumbai route. Not too long ago, you had several operators with very frequent Pune - Mumbai services. Most have stopped, and MSRTC is horribly unreliable with Shiveri, and even Shivshahi.

The buses are almost always running late, and very frequently clubbed with another service (eg. the buses leaving at 2pm and 3pm are combined), and often, even cancelled. All this, despite confirmed bookings.

In contrast, you'll find plenty, plenty white plate Ertigas picking up passengers.

It pains me to know with good reason that MSRTC will manage to mess this up as well.

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

They have said that they have wet leased the buses.

None of the Volvos (diesel or electric) belong to MSRTC, they're all wet leased (at least the diesel are from Purple).

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

None of the Volvos (diesel or electric) belong to MSRTC, they're all wet leased (at least the diesel are from Purple).

The point was not that electric one's are wet leased and others are not. The point was that MSRTC said the wet lease that they have on electric buses is profitable for them. I don't know what the financials were for the Diesel bus wet lease.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

MH Govt. and MSRTC have made a spectacular mess of the Pune - Mumbai route. Not too long ago, you had several operators with very frequent Pune - Mumbai services. Most have stopped, and MSRTC is horribly unreliable with Shiveri, and even Shivshahi.

It's been 4 odd years since I went to Pune by bus. Why have the other operators stopped? There used to be many!

And Shivneri used to be very reliable earlier, what happened?

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

Big achievement by MSRTC to convert 70% of the Mumbai - Pune Shivneri to e-Shivneri and they are on track to convert it to 100% e-Shivneri by Diwali this year.

It is a state government undertaking and they have bosses at all levels till the Mantralaya. And many of the higher-ups set up ambitious targets and seek budgetary support from the government, which is quite liberal once you want to go GREEN. And the bosses show such changeovers as achievements made by their dynamism, in their CV's for moving further up the ladder.

The point is that with all this 70% and 100% figures, have they looked into the brasstacks like recharging infrastructure, training personnel to adapt, possible gremlins that could prop up suddenly and so on? Shivneri buses cover long distances and recharging/s enroute would be necessitated.

Only time will tell how successful MRSTC is/was. Overall, they are yet to attain rankings that outsmart the most efficient private operators in Maharashtra.

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The point is that with all this 70% and 100% figures, have they looked into the brasstacks like recharging infrastructure, training personnel to adapt, possible gremlins that could prop up suddenly and so on? Shivneri buses cover long distances and recharging/s enroute would be necessitated.

As mentioned already in my latter post, the buses are wet leased. Wet leasing means that operations (which include charging stations as well) are managed by the bus provider. MSRTC pays per km price for the bus. So say a bus has gremlin and it doesn't run, it is no cost to MSRTC as it didn't clock any kms.

[stewie]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

MH Govt. and MSRTC have made a spectacular mess of the Pune - Mumbai route. Not too long ago, you had several operators with very frequent Pune - Mumbai services. Most have stopped, and MSRTC is horribly unreliable with Shiveri, and even Shivshahi.

Are you sure about the stopping of bus services?
I took a quick look and they seem to be there like before.

Maybe they had a break due to Covid?

[youknowitbetter]

This is great news for multiple reasons:
1) Charging points in Mumbai and Pune will increase (atleast in and around areas where the bus passes through). This will solely for emergency situations, but nonetheless increases the infrastructure outreach. Also, highway anyways has a decent number of charges, but the same may also increase.

2) Will provide excellent data to see how efficient the busses are and given that the regen will be very minimal.

3) Will be great soft marketing of EV vehicles given the traffic density is quite high and may lead to faster awareness of EVs.

[Mustang Sammy]

Commercial vehicles plying fixed routes are a great way to transition to a non fossil fuel future. The government (if it chooses to execute well) has the resources and will to implement changes that are not attractive to private players when the sector is immature.
Not to mention how badly MSRTC diesel buses are maintained. Many of them can be seen leaving clouds of black smoke in their wake with no consequence, while private vehicle owners have to deal with the cost and hassles of BS6.2 mandates.

[gopa99]

Are these buses made by Olectra greentech? Any idea on the battery and motor specs? Since its from a third party service provider I wonder if we ever get to know the economics of operating them at 57 per km. Solar powered charging stations must be in by default.