Achi news desk-
Back in 2010, as students, our daily commute of just 2.5 kilometers from home to school would often turn into a long frustrating ordeal thanks to the unpredictable nature of Guwahati’s city bus service. Choosing the public bus over our private vehicles would often prove to be a decision with unintended consequences – marking our late arrival at school and missing the morning assembly. Fast forward to 2024, and the traffic woes continue. Guwahati’s city buses still fail to deliver reliability, leaving us stuck in a cycle of inefficiency. It goes without saying that the people of Guwahati deserve a better level of urban transport system, especially a robust Bus Based Public Transport (BBPT) system.
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Speaking of public transportation, how exactly do we define it? Public transportation is a mass transportation system intended for public services, which operates on specific lines, at specific rates, and on defined schedules. While the city bus service in Guwahati has defined routes and fares, the system does not have defined timetables, and its primary intention is more towards profit maximization despite its status as a public utility. Buses in Guwahati run on the most profitable routes like GS Road, RG Baruah Road and GNB Road. This leaves citizens in other pockets of the city, such as Khargoli, Barsapara and Atigar Cheriali, with limited or no access to service. People living in these cramped and underserved localities, without decent first- and last-mile connectivity options, end up traveling long distances to reach their nearest bus stops or use their vehicles for daily commutes. This gradually led to an increase in the use of private vehicles in the city. According to the data available in Vahan 4.0, Guwahati has an estimated
13.95 lakh number of vehicles registered till date, which reflects the population of the city. This situation stressed the transport infrastructure which led to significant contradictions in central parts of the city.
While the number of vehicles in the city is increasing, owning a private car still remains an aspiration and a luxury for many. People from all walks of life still rely on bus services or medium public transport (such as auto rickshaws, metro taxis and taxi services) to fulfill their daily travel requirements. Therefore, it is imperative to have a robust BBPT system with a network of rational routes, distributed over the entire range of the city.
Many would argue that Guwahati may not have enough buses to travel in communities with little demand, or if it does, the buses will cause a financial loss. Let’s take the example of Delhi. Delhi has a fleet of about 5,800 buses for a population of nearly 3.3 crores, which translates to a single bus catering to nearly 5,700 people on an average. In contrast, Guwahati has a fleet of about 800 buses, catering to a population of about 15 lakh, which translates into a single bus for 1,875 people.
Thus, on a general note, it can be said that Guwahati has almost 3 times the number of buses than Delhi. A 2020 study by Parisar, a Pune-based NGO working in environmental awareness and action, highlighted the requirement of at least 50 buses per lakh population.
Considering this metric, Guwahati currently has a fleet of 53 buses per lakh population.
This raises a pertinent question – despite this sufficiency, why are some parts of Guwahati still not covered by the bus system? The simple reason is that unlike in Delhi, where the buses are run by public agencies like the Delhi Transport Corporation or the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System, each bus in Guwahati is an individual private entity seeking to maximize profits by providing services in areas with maximum footfall to attract maximum ridership. When you see him from work
Perspective, this scenario seems rational, however, from the point of view of community welfare, it falls short. Large areas of the city are now underserved, causing people in such areas to rely heavily on their vehicles, exacerbating traffic congestion, and subsequent air pollution, leading to a nationwide loss of fuel, productivity and time – perpetuating a vicious cycle of hardship. overcome.
This crisis can be addressed through an effective rationalization of the route. Route rationalization can be defined as effective planning of public transportation routes that will meet the needs and demands of the citizens. The need to rationalize public transportation routes is motivated by the basic principle that all localities and citizens in the city have equal access to the service and ensures that public transportation remains a convenient, reliable and sustainable option for all citizens.
The Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) has recently added a large number of buses to its fleet to serve the city. There are plans to further increase the size of the fleet. Today, apart from the diesel based buses, Guwahati has a fleet of CNG buses and e-buses. Instead of running these buses on the already operational routes, it can be very beneficial if these buses serve the unserved localities including like Navagraha, Hatigarh Chariali, Kharghuli etc. Guwahati’s transport infrastructure needs a strategic overhaul and a rational network of city bus routes, integrating both government-operated and private buses into a cohesive network. Government buses should give priority to routes considered less profitable while private buses will have the flexibility to operate on any designated route in the city. In this way, all citizens will be guaranteed equal access to the system, although transportation planners should carefully plan these routes for maximum efficiency. It is worth noting that the Regional Transportation Authority has demarcated several routes covering large parts of the city, but many continue to remain inactive.
As Guwahati grows rapidly, the need for a robust BBPT network becomes increasingly apparent to monitor congestion and air pollution. The system can be further improved through diverse efforts such as last mile connectivity, technology integration, dissemination of passenger information and investment in infrastructure. Effective allocation of public funds, proactive involvement and data-driven decision-making from administrative bodies, and informed advocacy by the citizens together can shape a sustainable urban future for the city – a legacy we really want to preserve for future generations.
(Ritorj Sarma is Head of Research and Survey and Himengka Kaushik, Head of Pedals for Change Programs. All views and opinions expressed in the article are those of the author)
