Bus Transport: An integral Contribution in the Economy

Bus transport is an integral part contributing to the economy. Ever since 1991 when the economic liberalization takes place by the Government of India, infrastructure development has progressed at a rapid pace, and coming to today it has matured to a wide variety of options owning to the better Intrastate roads & National Highways . However, GDP of India which is relatively low has meant that the uniformity has not been maintained in accessing this transport form. However, bus transport still remains the primary mode of transport for most of the population, and India’s public & private bus transport systems are among the most heavily utilized in the world.

Despite improvements which are ongoing in the sector, the transport sector are still riddled with problems due to lack of investment, outdated infrastructure, lack of new routes ,corruption and a burgeoning population which increasing day by day putting pressure on already compressed Bus services . The demand for transport infrastructure and services which has been rising by 10% a year would have to cope up, as the current infrastructure being unable to meet these growing demands. According to Goldman Sachs, India will need to spend USD2.7 Trillion on infrastructure & Roads projects over the 2010-20 to boost economic growth like in case of China which has allocated USD11Trillion for the improvement & upgradation of its existing transport structure. The marvels like Trans Karakorum highway is the example of the same.

Buses serve as convenient & cheap mode of transport for all class of society. In India Buses make over 90% of the entire public transport for all Indian cities. In today’s scenario mostly bus services are run by the State Government owned transport Corporations, but as the penetration & acceptability increasing nowadays private players are also providing the bus tickets of interstate routes most notably Redbus,ticketvala,Ticketgoose to name the few.

With the entry of the private players the whole transport system is going the rapid change from the old buses that are previously used in early 2000 to the newer buses like Volvo, luxury, semi sleeper & sleeper buses which in turn increase the convenience of the travelers .Also facilities like meals on board & AC are provided now days for the travelers on long interstate routes.

New initiatives like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in cities have been taken by the various state government to improve the bus public transport systems in cities Notably Delhi, Pune & Ahmadabad with new ones coming up in Visakhapatnam’s and Hyderabad. Cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Nagpur and Chennai have High Capacity buses nowadays. The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus houses Asia’s largest bus terminus.

The India busiest routes in Bus transport are Mumbai-Pune, Chennai-Bangalore, Chennai –Hyderabad & Bangalore-Tirupati as approximately 40% of the traffic of Buses is catered in these routes.