Tata Motors buses for Commonwealth Games will be disabled-friendly

Tata Motors will deliver disabled-friendly vehicles to the Delhi Government for the Commonwealth Games this year.

“We have an extra order to make 400 buses for the Delhi Transport Corporation to be used during the Games, of which some will be disabled-friendly,” Mr Ravi Pisharody, President, Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors told Business Line.

The company won the contract to supply vehicles for the Games that begin in October.

The company will showcase its hybrid buses as well during the event — these are likely to be CNG-plus-electric technology vehicles that assure 20 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency.

Commercial vehicles

Tata Motors will also supply small commercial vehicles such as the Ace and its passenger range for the Games.

“By September, we would have delivered 2,600 low-floored air-conditioned and non-air conditioned buses to the DTC over the last two-and-a-half years,” he said. The move to introduce disabled-friendly vehicles is one of the various measures implemented in the Capital, which is hosting the Games, to keep up with international standards.

Disabled-friendly vehicles usually have special features such as an in-built ramp and are more spacious.

joint venture plant

Mr Pisharody said the company had also ramped up capacity in its joint venture plant with Marcopolo in Dharwad, Karnataka, that rolls out 1,000 fully-built buses a month.

On State transport undertaking orders under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, he said, “We have more or less completed the orders. The combined order of STUs is around 5,000 buses. Some of them are still under execution.”

As for the bus market, he said the company did not have as many Government orders as it used to. “We are, therefore, looking at retail market of buses. The response from private players has been encouraging,” he added.