PM-eBus Sewa approved by Cabinet

PM-eBus Sewa approved by Cabinet

Subject: Schemes

In News: Cabinet approves “PM-eBus Sewa” for augmenting city bus operations; priority to cities having no organized bus service

Key Points:

• The e-bus scheme is meant to augment city bus operations, and will prioritise cities having no organised bus service.
• Around 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 (GUMI).
• Total estimated cost of the scheme to be around Rs.57,613 crore out of which support of Rs.20,000 crore will be provided by the Central government. The Scheme will support bus operations for 10 years.
• The service is expected to achieve direct employment generation of over 45,000.
• The scheme is different from the one that is rolled out by the government-owned company, Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), the e-mobility subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL).
• India-US had announced a joint plan to create a $150 million payment security fund and payment security mechanism that will facilitate the deployment of 10,000 made-in-India electric buses in India.
• Boost to E-Mobility:
  • The scheme will promote e-mobility and provide full support for behind-the-meter power infrastructure.
  • Cities will also be supported for development of charging infrastructure under Green Urban Mobility Initiatives.
  • The support to bus priority infrastructure shall not only accelerate the proliferation of state-of-the-art, energy efficient electric buses but also foster the innovation in the e-mobility sector as well as development of a resilient supply chain for electric vehicles.
  • This scheme shall also bring in economies of scale for procurement of electric buses through aggregation for e-buses.
  • Adoption to Electric mobility will reduce noise and air pollution and curb carbon emission.
  • Modal shift due to increased share of bus-based public transportation will lead to GHG reduction.

The Scheme has two segments:

• Segment A – Augmenting the City bus services:(169 cities):
  • The approved bus scheme will augment city bus operations with 10,000 e-buses on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
  • Associated Infrastructure will provide support for Development/ up-gradation of depot infrastructure; and Creation of behind-the-meter power infrastructure (substation, etc.) for e-buses.
• Segment B– Green Urban Mobility Initiatives (GUMI): (181 cities):
  • The scheme envisages green initiatives like bus priority, infrastructure, multimodal interchange facilities, National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)-based Automated Fare Collection Systems, Charging infrastructure, etc.
  • Support for Operation: Under the scheme, 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 subsidy to the extent specified in the proposed scheme.