Udhagamandalam: Fourteen new buses of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) for the Nilgiris was flagged off by Collector J Innocent Divya on Friday.

In all, 19 new buses had been allotted to the Nilgiris to replace old ones. Five of these were inaugurated by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on July 3 at a state-level function.

Officials said the new buses were all for long routes. “While seven are for interstate services (Karnataka), eight are to ply to Erode from Ooty, Kotagiri and Gudalur,” said a transport department officer.

“These buses replace the old ones that are to be taken out of service. The service-routes for the new buses are the same. All the 19 old buses will be sent to Mettupalayam yard and later auctioned,” he added.

The buses will have 52 seats with better leg space compared to the old 59-seaters. With this the Nilgiris will have 285 buses.