Workshop on Bus Electrification and Bus Priority Measures for Indian Cities

The Centre of Excellence in Urban Transport (CoE-UT) organised a two-day capacity building programme as part of the SMART-SUT program by GIZ. The focus of the event was on bus electrification and bus priority for Indian cities. The event brought together 50 participants from 10 cities, predominantly from transit authorities. The program aimed to provide knowledge and skills to participants, in order to enhance their understanding of policy interventions and strategies for scaling up electric bus operations.

On the first day of the event, the discussion revolved around the long-term electrification strategy and short-term action plan, which were developed in collaboration with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) as part of the project under the UK PACT programme. These plans outlined different scenarios based on fleet requirement and level of electrification for the target year. An impact assessment framework was discussed evaluating the scenarios with impact on accessibility, GHG emissions and financial performance. Additionally, a session was held on contract management for e-bus procurement and operations, where experiences and lessons learned from e-bus procurement across different cities in India were shared. Such local level actions are importance to meet the national climate commitments.

The second day of the program focused on bus priority measures. The presentation highlighted the need to prioritise buses in the Indian context to enhance public transport service. The cases of Indian cities were shared to showcase the identification of priority corridors and intervention for corridors and junctions such as dedicated bus lanes, infrastructure design, junction priority, and bus stop rationalisation. A Bus Priority Benefit Estimation Tool was demonstrated to illustrate the benefits of the implementation of priority measures. The CoE-UT team also presented the E-TRAM tool, which focuses on operation performance monitoring and bus priority benefit assessment, developed under the GIZ SMART-SUT project. The KSRTC Trivandrum team shared their experience of using the E-TRAM tool for operations monitoring and explained how it has helped them make informed decisions in bus operations planning. These local-level actions and discussions hold significant importance in meeting national climate commitments.