Towards achieving financial sustainability for bus services in India
Date: Friday, February 10, 2023
Venue: Marigold Hall, India Habitat
Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Participation by Invitation Only!
The agenda for transport decarbonization and clean air requires massive scaling up of urban public transport systems, especially buses that are the prime movers in cities. Buses provide flexible services to cover maximum city population, they are cost effective and affordable for a sizable section of urban dwellers. Per person emissions and energy consumption in buses are much lower than cars and two-wheelers. And yet, bus service in Indian cities is under enormous pressure. Its ridership is declining while accumulated losses are spiraling making the systems unsustainable – even when travel demand is exploding.
Bus reforms and modernisation of bus infrastructure for reliable services are getting held up in most cities due to lack of a fiscal and regulatory strategy to make the bus services sustainable and scalable. Why is there no clear regulatory mandate for modernizing bus service in cities? Why are the funding strategies for buses so nebulous, ad hoc, irregular and uncertain? What can be done to mobilise resources for bus sector reforms and infrastructure development? This will be debated in the CSE Roundtable discussion that will bring together the state transport undertakings, private bus operators and key transport experts to chart the roadmap.
| AGENDA |
| 09:30 AM – 10:00 AM Registration and Tea 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM Session-1: Welcome and setting the agenda |
| The context of the CSE study: What is ailing bus transport and why addressing fiscal and regulatory barriers has become necessary to scale up urban transport solutions |
|
Anumita Roychowdhury |
| CSE study: Mapping the key fiscal and regulatory barriers in the bus transport sector: What is needed to make bus transport sustainable? |
| Gautam Patel, Founder and Principal Consultant, Coordinates |
| 10:45 AM – 11:15 AM PANEL DISCUSSION: 1 |
| Understanding the reality of bus operations in India – what are the barriers to upgradation and viable operations: experience from the ground |
| Public Transport Agencies (PTAs): |
|
Dipti Mahapatro, General Manager (P & A), Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) |
| Private Bus Operations: What is needed to enable modernisation of bus service in the private sector? |
| Jalpa Jain, Director, Aadinath Bulk Pvt. Ltd. Rishi, Tak, Managing Director, Mateshwari Group Mukesh Sharma, Senior Manager- Sales and Marketing, JBM Group Dipesh Divedi, Vice President Strategy, PMI |
| 11:15 AM – 11:30 AM Tea Break |
| 11:30 PM – 1:30 PM PANEL DISCUSSION: 2 |
| Examining the current and the potential fiscal and regulatory strategies to make bus transport sustainable – what is needed? |
| Fiscal and regulatory framework for bus service: What is working and not working? |
| HM Shivanand Swamy Professor Emeritus Centre of Excellence in Urban Transport, CEPT University |
| Current and potential fiscal strategies to mobilise resources for reforming bus sector in India: What needs to be done. |
| Namita Mehrotra Director Finance, NCRTC |
| Establishing fiscal framework for buses: Urban transport fund (UTF) to support bus transport – what are the challenges and experiences with creation and utilization of UTF and its potential sources of funds? What needs to be done? |
| Kishore Nathani Principal Advisor Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC) Prashanth Bachu, Urban Transport Specialist |
| Unlocking private investment and improving bankability of bus transport projects: How can cities select appropriate PPP models for bus operations and especially for e-bus operations? Why buses are not able to raise funds the way rail-based modes do? What are the bottlenecks and how to resolve this? |
| Laghu Parashar Senior Transport Specialist World Bank Indranil Bose, Senior Transport Consultant, World Bank |
| Innovative financing: case of Surat Sitilink Ltd. |
| Rajesh Pandey Faculty at SVNIT and Ex-Dy. Municipal Commissioner, Surat |
| Rationalization of taxes: Comparison of tax burden on buses and metro and other modes: What reforms are required in the tax structure to reduce tax burden on urban buses? |
| Kanika Kalra Asst. Vice President Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC) |
| Regulatory framework for bus services to create mandate for bus sector reforms: What is needed to create clear roles, responsibilities and mandate different levels of government (Centre/State/ULB) to provide and invest in bus transport and enable quicker mobilization of funds and create institutional autonomy etc. |
| Mahesh Patankar leads, MP Ensystems |
| Integration of landuse and transportation and land value capture: Can this work for bus transport? |
| Jignesh Mehta Adjunct Associate Professor and Program Chair of MURP, CEPT University |
| Q&A |
| 1:30 PM Onwards Lunch |
Participation by Invitation Only!
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