COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted bus-based public transport systems. These losses have occurred at a time when Indian bus transport already faces huge gaps in bus fleet and support infrastructure. The Government of India has allocated INR 18,000 crore, for deployment of 20,000 buses in urban areas, in the 2021-22 budget. While this allocation will help bridge some gaps, there is a need to identify methods to recover from the financial impacts of COVID-19 and meet other pending gaps.

Towards this end, the 17th Bus Karo workshop will focus on discussing the needs and methods to secure financial support for bus agencies and how to plan towards developing resilient bus systems in the long-term. Day 2 of the workshop will focus on intelligent technologies and data analytics that can be used to plan and monitor bus systems. The sessions will be followed by audience Q&A.

Who will benefit from this workshop?

Public bus agencies, private bus operators, policymakers, vehicle manufacturers/ OEMs, researchers, enthusiasts and students

Topics that will be discussed include:

1. Financial Support for bus systems: The panel discussion will bring together experts to discuss the methods through which additional financial support for bus systems can be secured, while moving towards a financial autonomous status.
2. Long-term vision planning for bus systems: This session will discuss the initiatives that State Transport Undertakings (STUs) can take to regain ridership and methods to undertake long-term vision planning exercise with a focus on decarbonization.
3. Use of technology for planning and monitoring bus systems: This session will focus its discussion on methods through which STUs can use data collected from Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for service improvement.

Speakers

• Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA
• Shri. K. R. Jyothilal, IAS, Principal Secretary, Kerala
• Shri. Rajendra Jagtap, IAS, Managing Director, PMPML
• Dario Hidalgo, Senior Mobility Consultant, WRI
• Prasanna Patwardhan, President, BOCI
• Dr. K Ramamurthy, Chief Mechanical Engineer, KSRTC (Karnataka)
• Prof Shivanand Swamy, Executive Director CoE-UT, CEPT University
• Rupa Nandy, Head, UITP India
• Samir Sharma, Vice-President, DIMTS  
• Pravesh Biyani, Associate Professor, IIITD 
• Dr. Srinivas Arkatkar, Assistant Professor, SVNIT, Surat 
• Shamik Joshi, Head- Products, Amnex
• Mohit Dubey, CEO, Chalo

Moderators

• OP Agarwal, CEO, WRI India
• Amit Bhatt, Director - Integrated Transport, WRI India