Centre to launch “PM-eBus Sewa” to curb carbon emission from transport sector

New Delhi: In a bid to reduce carbon emissions from the transport sector, the government has approved a scheme “PM-eBus Sewa” for augmenting city bus operation by 10,000 e-buses.

The e-Buses are to be deployed on the PPP model in 169 cities, including the infrastructure upgradation in 181 cities under Green Urban Mobility Initiatives.

The Scheme would have an estimated cost of 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 scheme will cover cities of three lakh and above population as per census 2011 including all the Capital cities of Union Territories, North Eastern Region and Hill States.

Under this scheme, priority will be given to cities having no organized bus service.

As per Niti Aayog, the transport sector of India is the third most greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sector and accounted for 14 per cent of our energy-related CO2 emissions.

These emissions have more than tripled since 1990, and with India’s urban population expected to double by 2050, they are likely to increase further.

India’s motor vehicle fleet is growing rapidly. with the vehicles plying on the road expected to almost double to over 200 million by 2030.

Interestingly, the share of non-motorised transport in many Indian cities is high compared to similarly sized cities globally.

The government has already taken a number of measures in this direction the FAME II scheme which is already providing an impetus to clean mobility while the recently introduced Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Cell Chemistry (ACC) battery storage will further accelerate EV adoption.

Hailing the cabinet decision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “PM-eBus Sewa will redefine urban mobility. It will strengthen our urban transport infrastructure.

“Prioritising cities without organised bus services, this move promises not only cleaner and efficient transport but also aims to generate several jobs” he tweeted.

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri called it a “Landmark decision” under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

Reacting over the decision, Project Director of National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) Abhijeet Sinha said, “Glad to see this futuristically structured outlay of 57,613 crore with inclusivity of both public and private sectors to deliver with Ease of Doing Business in mass deployment of 10,000 E-buses across 169 cities in REFORM, PERFORM & TRANSFORM mode.”

“I am glad to see NHEV contributing towards the evidence-based policy-making vision of the Prime Minister with the strength to run e-buses with minimal dependency on the government or the FAME subsidies. As prototyped on 500 km Public-Private Partnership model under National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) on Delhi- Jaipur -Agra” Mr. Sinha said.

“PPP model such as Annuity Hybrid E-Mobility (AHEM) has proven to be a valued Ease of Doing Business facilitator for e-mobility and this recognition, acknowledgement and adoption by the cabinet and the union leadership to create a futuristic and robust procurement ecosystem is a game- changing step to ‘TRANSFORM’ the right content for the intent to achieve carbon emission goals at required extent” he further added.

According to International Energy Agency (IEA), transport emissions grew at an annual average rate of 1.7% from 1990 to 2022, faster than any other end-use sector except for industry (which also grew at around 1.7%).

To get on track with the Net Zero Emissions (NZE) by 2050 scenario, CO2 emissions from the transport sector must fall by more than 3% per year by 2030, the agency said.