Chennai’s electric bus expansion has stalled after the Metropolitan Transport Corporation cancelled a tender for 1,000 air-conditioned electric buses and received no bids for another 220 electric feeder buses planned for Metro connectivity.
MTC cancelled the 1,000-bus tender on Tuesday, citing administrative reasons, after extending the bid-opening date several times. The tender had been floated in March under the gross cost contract model, before the Assembly election schedule was announced.
The state budget had allocated Rs 500 crore for the procurement of the 1,000 electric buses and upgrades to MTC depots needed to accommodate the additional fleet. The cancellation leaves the corporation without the procurement outcome expected to expand its fleet as commuting demand grows.
The second tender, for 220 air-conditioned low-floor electric buses, failed after receiving no bids. The proposed fleet included 70 buses measuring seven metres and 150 buses measuring five metres. These vehicles were intended to provide first- and last-mile connectivity to Chennai Metro stations.
The services were designed to operate on routes identified by the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority and Chennai Metro Rail Ltd within a 5-km primary influence area of Metro stations. They were also proposed as conductorless services, with onboard fare-collection systems.
Under the tender specifications, the seven-metre buses were to have at least 13 seats, one wheelchair space and a driver. The five-metre buses were to have 11 seats, one wheelchair space and a driver. The contract required assured operation of 4,200 km per bus each month.
If all 220 buses had been deployed, the fleet would have operated about 9.24 lakh bus-km a month. That service volume was intended to strengthen the connection between Metro stations and surrounding neighbourhoods, particularly for commuters travelling at the beginning or end of their journeys.
The latest setbacks follow the cancellation of an earlier tender for 500 electric buses backed by funding from German development bank KfW. In March, the previous government decided to cancel that tender pending KfW approval. The development bank approved the cancellation in June.
Officials said the procurement model was subsequently proposed to be shifted to the gross cost contract model. Under this arrangement, the transport corporation typically contracts for bus operations and service delivery rather than purchasing and managing the entire fleet directly. The current report does not specify the next tender timeline for either the 1,000-bus procurement or the 220-bus feeder service.
The immediate next step will depend on MTC’s decision on how to restart the procurement process and address the lack of bidder participation in the feeder-bus tender.
