The scheme had envisaged introduction of 10,000 buses only.The Centre is set to launch a five-year Bharat Urban Megabus Mission to introduce 100,000 electric buses in all million plus cities in India.
The INR 1.75 lakh crore urban mobility mission envisages introduction of electric buses and allied infrastructure, including bus stops, terminals and depots. Apart from introduction of new electric buses, the mission will cover creation of 5,000 kilometres of walking and cycling-friendly streets. The mission will be launched in 2025 and will cover the time till 2029-30 financial year. The Centre wants to increase the share of public transport in motorised trips so that more people start preferring it over taking out their private vehicles.
According to sources, the introduction of non-polluting electric vehicles in million plus cities aims to increase public transport mode share to 60% of all motorised trips by 2030 and 80% of all motorised trips by 2036, and non-motorised trips (cycling and walking) being at least 50% of all urban trips by 2030.
The government also wants to encourage cycling as a mode of transport so that people can fill up the gap between bus stops and work places by using cycles. For this purpose, the mission would also fund creation of cycling tracks and cycle-on-hire. As per statistics of the ministry of housing and urban affairs, over 56% of trips in Indian cities are under 5 km in length. The mission plans to address this by making these trips non-motorised, that is introduce option of cycling on identified routes.
The budget outlay for the mission shall be INR 1.75 lakh crore - which includes INR 80,000 crore in the form of viability gap funding for bus operations for a period of five years and INR 45,000 crore to improve and augment supporting infrastructure such as bus stops.
A senior official of ministry of housing and urban affairs, who did not wish to be identified told ET, "The aim is to make public transport the preferred mode of transport and walking and cycling attractive for everyone. The states three key objectives of the mission are to reduce air pollution, improve public health and boost the economy." There are about 65 million plus cities in India, which the mission will target.
The mission takes forward a similar initiative of PM eBus Sewa, which was on a smaller scale and launched last year for cities with 3 lakh population. The scheme had envisaged introduction of 10,000 buses only.
