“PM-eBus Sewa”

1. Cabinet approves “PM-eBus Sewa” for augmenting city bus operations; priority to cities having no organized bus service
2. 10,000 e-Buses to be deployed on PPP model in 169 cities; Infrastructure to be upgraded in 181 cities under Green Urban Mobility Initiatives
3. Total estimated cost of the scheme to be Rs.57,613 crore
4. Expected direct employment generation over 45,000

PM-eBus Sewa Scheme

• Under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme, 10,000 e-buses will be deployed across cities in the country.
• The scheme was introduced to give a push to the slow adoption of e-buses in public transport.

Support for Operation:

• • Under this scheme, city bus operations will be done on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
  • This scheme will support bus operations for 10 years.
  • States/Cities shall be responsible for running the bus services and making payments to the bus operators.
  • The Central Government will support these bus operations by providing subsidies to the extent specified in the proposed scheme.

Funding:

• • It has been allocated a total funding of Rs 57,613 crore.
  • Out of this financial provision, the central government will contribute Rs 20,000 crore, while the remaining portion will be covered by the state governments.

Coverage: It will cover cities with a population of 300,000 and above and will include all the capital cities of the ‘Union Territories, North Eastern Region, and Hill States’.

There are two segments of the scheme: Augmenting the city bus services and Associated Infrastructure, and Green Urban Mobility initiatives.

• • Augmenting the city bus services and Associated Infrastructure: Under this segment, the scheme will augment city electric bus operations by extending Central Assistance (CA) for 10,000 electric bus operation on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, bus depots and behind-the-meter power infrastructure.
  • Green Urban Mobility Initiatives (GUMI): Under this segment, the scheme will support the implementation of GUMI projects for complementing bus services and demonstrating a reduction in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in urban areas.

The segment will include support for implementing the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)-based Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS), bus priority infrastructure, etc.

National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)?

This one card will give integrated access to the commuters wherever they travel, whichever public transport they take. The idea of NCMC was floated by the Nandan Nilekani committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). NCMC is an automatic fare collection system. It will turn smartphones into an inter-operable transport card that commuters can use eventually to pay for Metro, bus and suburban railways services.