10,000 AC e-buses for 116 cities by 2027: Govt to Rajya Sabha

The Government on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that 10,000 air-conditioned e-buses would be provided to 116 cities across 26 States/UTs by the end of 2027 under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme, and a new scheme would be launched thereafter to provide another 35,000 e-buses.

Replying to supplementary queries during Question Hour, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on August 16, 2023, announced that the PM e-Bus Sewa scheme would provide mobility in smaller cities and tackle rising pollution.

Since States were unable to provide adequate finance for e-buses, a target of a total of 10,000 buses was put under the PM e-Bus Sewa scheme for towns with a population between 3 lakh and 40 lakh, he said.

The minister said States were told to give their demands, and a selection criterion was laid down, and buses were sanctioned on the recommendations of coordination committees.

“Out of 178 cities eligible, 116 cities participated, and they were allotted buses accordingly. Only four cities qualified under the scheme in Bihar, where 400 buses have been sanctioned. While 150 buses have been sanctioned for Patna, 50 buses each have been sanctioned for the cities of Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Gaya, Muzaffarpur and Purnea,” the minister said.

He, however, said that the scheme is being delayed in Bihar as Coordination committees in this regard have not been set up by the State Government.

“The second scheme of 35,000 more buses will come soon, and cities have to apply under the scheme accordingly. We want to provide the benefit of this scheme to more and more cities and help States, as this also helps reduce pollution,” the housing and urban affairs minister told members.

He said a tranche of 225 buses was delivered last month, and tenders have been selected, and agreements for 6,500 buses have been done, and more buses will be delivered to States as soon as they finalise agreements.

“The first tranche of 10,000 buses under the scheme will be completed by the end of 2027, and after that, the next scheme will be started. The impact of this scheme would help in saving money and time for people and improve the environment,” Manohar Lal said.

He said the travel experience of people would also improve, and a Sahaj ticket and a national common mobility card would also be introduced, which can be used in other modes of transport, including these e-buses. This infrastructure is being introduced to help tier-2 and tier-3 cities, he noted.

“The modalities of the new scheme and new guidelines are yet to be formulated, and reforms in the first scheme would be made in the new scheme,” he said.

In the first scheme, the minister said the Government made clusters of twin cities and nearby cities to club them to grant them benefits of the PM e-bus scheme, in case they do not fall under the population limit.

In his written reply to a starred question, the minister said, Urban Transport is a part of Urban planning, which is a State subject. Therefore, respective State Governments are responsible for planning, implementation and management of the urban transport system, including strengthening of urban public transport in their respective cities.

“However, under the PM-eBus Sewa scheme, 10,000 air-conditioned e-buses have been sanctioned for 116 cities across 26 States/UTs on a Public Private Partnership model, subject to participation in PM-eBus Sewa Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) Scheme,” the minister said.

“Under this scheme, a total of 400 e-buses have been sanctioned for 6 cities of Bihar, namely Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Purnea, and, so far, a total of Rs 112.46 crore has been sanctioned for development of Associated Infrastructure, i.e., Behind-the-Meter (BTM) Power infrastructure and Civil Depot Infrastructure,” the minister said.