Parliament Question: Sustainable urban transport and electric mobility

O.I.H. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 247 ANSWERED ON 16/03/2026 SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT AND ELECTRIC MOBILITY *247. SHRI SUBHASH BARALA: Will the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs be pleased to state: (a) the eligibility criteria for cities and States to participate in the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme; (b) the manner in which Government is monitoring the daily operations of buses deployed under the Green Urban Mobility initiatives; (c) whether Government is focusing on strengthening public transport systems in smaller cities by expanding electric bus services; (d) if so, the details thereof; and (e) the estimated timeline for full deployment of electric buses allocated to participating cities? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS (SHRI MANOHAR LAL) (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF THE RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 247 FOR ANSWER ON 16th MARCH 2026 REGARDING “SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT AND ELECTRIC MOBILITY” (a) to (d): Under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme, cities and clusters of adjoining small statutory towns with population size between 3-40 lakhs along with State/UT capital cities, hilly capital cities, NER State capital cities with less than 3 lakh population as per Census 2011 are eligible to participate in the Scheme. Under the Scheme, 10,000 air-conditioned e-buses have been sanctioned for 116 cities across 26 States/UTs on Public Private Partnership model. In addition, Central Financial Assistance is also provided for creation of Civil Depot and Behind-the-Meter (BTM) Power Infrastructure for buses covered under the Scheme. The monitoring of daily bus operations of the buses deployed under the Scheme is the responsibility of the respective city. However, the Scheme envisages to develop a Central Intelligent Transit Management System (ITMS) platform to help cities in monitoring daily operation of the buses deployed under the Scheme. Apart from above, under a sub-scheme head namely “Transport Planning and Capacity Building in Urban Transport for metro and non-metro projects”, 100% Central Financial Assistance (CFA) for undertaking the activities relating to preparation of Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP)/Detailed Project Report (DPR)/Research studies etc. is provided to the cities for strengthening their public transport system. (e): The Scheme envisages 31st March 2027 as the estimated timeline for full deployment of electric buses by the participating cities, which is subjected to completion of work for creation of associated depot infrastructure. *****