Long Range Planning Tool for State Transport Undertakings (STUs)

Long Range Planning Tool for State Transport Undertakings (STUs)
Sector:Sustainable Transport Undertaken By: SGArchitects Recent Publication:2020

The demand for passenger transport in India is expected to grow. Developing convenient, dependable, affordable and clean bus systems is crucial for developing low-carbon transport systems. The expansion of the bus fleet and simultaneous electrification will reduce emissions, improve local air quality, increase jobs, and result in other socio-economic benefits (improved access to livelihood opportunities, etc.).

State Transport Undertakings, the country's largest public transport service providers, need to expand and electrify their bus services. However, they are unable to expand due to their difficult financial conditions and capacity constraints. Resulting in the reduced quality and frequency of bus service across the country; with twenty-four buses per lakh population, India is far below the national standards of 40-60buses/lakh. This situation has been further exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To meet the existing deficit, expand bus services and electrify bus services STUs must assess and estimate the fleet, infrastructural and resource (finance and land) requirements. Hence the study offers the Fleet toolkit that can build a long-term resource plan for STUs. Based on this STUs can assess the additional requirements, set achievable targets and plan for actions. In doing so STUs can build a case with their respective state governments to commit the necessary investments. Furthermore, the study also estimated the fleet, infrastructure, and resource requirements at the national level. Which can inform union government policies and schemes for bus-based public transport.

It is believed that with the use of the Fleet toolkit, STUs will be able to transition to a more efficient and profitable organization. As STUs turn more efficient and profitable, they will expand to currently untapped regions (or markets) leading to overall increased patronage of bus services in general. This will contribute to limiting the increase in trips by non-sustainable, carbon-intensive private transport modes, and will help promote bus-based public transport in the country.

Fleet toolkit – The Fleet toolkit comprises the following:

  • Fleet Tool – The Fleet tool can help the STUs, or the transport authority of a given area set ambitious targets and plan to achieve the same. The tool is a spreadsheet-based toolkit with a user-friendly visual interface. The tool is designed to facilitate the estimation of long-range resources and intervention requirements for both a region (such as a city or state) and an STU or a public bus operator. The former focuses on estimating the number of buses needed to service a given population. While the latter estimates the resource requirement based on the envisioned mode share, fleet size, and no. of passenger trips to be fulfilled by an operator.
    Download Report:The Fleet tool
  • Fleet Tool Manual – The illustrated Fleet Tool user manual has been developed to help users (STU officials, bus operators, etc.) understand the mechanisms of the Fleet tool. It describes how the tool works, explains the data required and how to interpret it, and provides step-by-step guidance on using the tool, and strategies that STUs can undertake.
    Download Report:Fleet Tool Manual

National Bus Resource Requirement Report (NBRR) – The NBRR report provides insights into the resources (Funding, Land, Infrastructure) required at the national level to expand and transition to an electric bus fleet. It also provides evidence of the transition's expected co-benefits (emissions saved, Additional Jobs). The report is based on the NBRR model that plots the expansion of the bus fleet (urban and non-urban) to meet desired levels of service and the electrification of the fleet.