NEW DELHI: The Centre’s PM e-Bus Sewa scheme is gathering pace, with more than 500 electric buses now operational across 23 cities and daily ridership crossing one lakh. The number of daily bus users is expected to rise to nearly 20 lakh once the full fleet of 10,000 electric buses is operational. The ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), the implementing agency, has simultaneously accelerated efforts to develop the infrastructure required to support the electric fleet. So far, more than 120 electrical infrastructure projects have been sanctioned, along with over 500 km of high-tension lines, to ensure power supply to bus depots.
A key feature of the scheme is that it focuses on cities with limited public transport capacity. Unlike Delhi, Mumbai and other major metros, the scheme largely covers smaller cities including those where organised city bus services have either been absent or inadequate.
“Many small cities such as Bhavnagar (Gujarat), Alwar, Bhilwara, and Bikaner (all in Rajasthan) are having organised bus services for the first time. The development is significant because it demonstrated the challenge of establishing a public transport system in cities without an existing bus-service ecosystem. Being smaller cities, they have traditionally lacked structured public transport. About 80 percent of the passengers are expected to shift to electric buses for the first time in those cities,” said officials privy to the project.
Despite operational constraints and ground-level challenges, efforts are being made to ensure that infrastructure is in place, added officials. “Delays in deployment in some cities were largely linked to electricity connections and associated infrastructure rather than the availability of buses. Now it has started and states are participating. More than 500 circuit kms of High Tension (HT) line infrastructure and depot construction on more than 300 acres of land has been sanctioned for deployment of electric buses,” officials said.
The PM-eBus Sewa was launched in August 2023 aims to augment city bus operations in urban areas with Central Assistance (CA) of Rs 20,000 crore for deploying 10,000 air-conditioned electric buses under the public-private-partnership (PPP) model. Cities have a population ranging 3-40 lakh and state capitals including North Eastern and Hilly Regions below three lakh population as per 2011 census are eligible for the scheme. Besides bus operations, the scheme covers development of depots, charging infrastructure, green mobility initiatives including accessible bus stops, last mile connectivity Intelligent Transit Management System (ITMS) and National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)-based ticketing.
The buses being deployed under the scheme are fully air-conditioned and include accessibility features such as provisions for wheelchair users. The government has also incorporated features including CCTV cameras and provisions for Intelligent Transport Management Systems (ITMS).