It is learnt that commuters travelling in an electric bus operated by the Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) along the Dodamarg route were left stranded on Thursday when the power steering of the bus jammed.
Commuters were forced to alight from the vehicle at Porvorim in the middle of their journey. It is understood that this is the third electric vehicle (EV) operated by KTC that faced a breakdown in recent days.
The battery reportedly went off due to software error. The driver had to keep the generator off for a while before starting the vehicle. It took 30 minutes to restart the vehicle by which time the stranded commuters had already found alternative transport.
Breakdown of the buses can cause great inconvenience to the commuters. They could reach late for work or some could fail to keep an appointment or even miss the flight, train or connecting bus.
The Goa government is in the process of acquiring 100 EV buses and in due course could ultimately replace all diesel-operated ones belonging to KTC.
However the EV buses seem to have some teething problems. All the issues need to be settled so that these buses become a reliable mode of public transport.
