Rural India to get 85,000 new buses
New Delhi: The government plans to roll out at least 85,000 buses in rural areas in the next five years in its bid to improve public transport. This is likely to improve the availability of public transport across the states and help shift people to buses from personal vehicles.
A concept paper prepared by the road transport and highways ministry, which was presented at a recent meeting of state transport secretaries, has proposed such a move besides increasing the number of driving training institutes and inspection centre for vehicles.
According to ministry officials, the apex body of state-owned bus services Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) has proposed purchase of 50,854 new buses during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). The body has also proposed replacement of 35,000 old buses during this period.
We expect there will be greater increase in the number of private buses in most of the states where state transport undertakings are not that strong. So, there could be some improvement in the bus share in transport sector, said a ministry official. The preliminary proposal of the road ministry points to the likely spending of Rs 1,000 crore for public transport out of the total proposed demand of Rs 5,334 crore during the 12th Plan period.
Falling share of busesin the past decades is seen as the prime reason behind falling public transport network in rural areas and tier-II and tier-III cities, and increased number of private vehicles. According to government reports, share of buses as compared to the overall number of registered vehicles has declined from 11.1% in 1951 to 1.1% even though they account for about 50% of all journeys performed by road.
The road transport ministry is also focusing on the need to have vehicular safety and better driver training to prevent accidents .
The government plans to spend about Rs 1,220 crore on setting up of inspection centres and another Rs 1,000 crore on driving training centres.
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New Delhi: The government plans to roll out at least 85,000 buses in rural areas in the next five years in its bid to improve public transport. This is likely to improve the availability of public transport across the states and help shift people to buses from personal vehicles.
A concept paper prepared by the road transport and highways ministry, which was presented at a recent meeting of state transport secretaries, has proposed such a move besides increasing the number of driving training institutes and inspection centre for vehicles.
According to ministry officials, the apex body of state-owned bus services Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) has proposed purchase of 50,854 new buses during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). The body has also proposed replacement of 35,000 old buses during this period.
We expect there will be greater increase in the number of private buses in most of the states where state transport undertakings are not that strong. So, there could be some improvement in the bus share in transport sector, said a ministry official. The preliminary proposal of the road ministry points to the likely spending of Rs 1,000 crore for public transport out of the total proposed demand of Rs 5,334 crore during the 12th Plan period.
Falling share of busesin the past decades is seen as the prime reason behind falling public transport network in rural areas and tier-II and tier-III cities, and increased number of private vehicles. According to government reports, share of buses as compared to the overall number of registered vehicles has declined from 11.1% in 1951 to 1.1% even though they account for about 50% of all journeys performed by road.
The road transport ministry is also focusing on the need to have vehicular safety and better driver training to prevent accidents .
The government plans to spend about Rs 1,220 crore on setting up of inspection centres and another Rs 1,000 crore on driving training centres.
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