One month on, BMTC yet to receive biodiesel for bus trial

BENGALURU: Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation is yet to receive the required quantity of biodiesel for starting its trial run of methanol diesel-run buses announced by NITI Aayog on March 12.
While the initial announcement said the public transport utility would run the trial with 20 buses, BMTC has now decided to run five buses for two months and later add 15.But it is still waiting for the required fuel (5,000 litres) for starting the trial.
This is part of NITI Aayog's project to evolve India's transportation sector and fulfil its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2070. The trial run was announced at a grand event at Vidhana Soudha last month, where Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport and highways, and the who's who of Indian Oil Corporation and Karnataka's top tier transport officials were present.
It was said that the trial run of buses operating on biodiesel, consisting of 15% methanol, would start the following week as IOC had successfully created a stabilizer/additive that would allow the mixing of 15% methanol and diesel - two substances that would otherwise not blend with each other.
The blend has been dubbed 'MD15' and BMTC is slated to be the first government agency in India to try out the fuel for public transportation. However, BMTC has received only about 2,650 litres of the blended fuel.
The transport utility has readied 20 new buses for the ambitious exercise but none are on the road yet. "We need a minimum of 5,000 litres to run five of these new buses for a month," explained a BMTC official.
The buses have been fitted with engines from Ashok Leyland, engineered to run smoothly using biodiesel. Their daily run will not cross 200km once the trial begins. "All five buses will be used on 410FA route, originating from Banashankari bus stop and terminating at Yeshwantpur TTMC," the official said.