E-BUS SEWA SCHEME (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – Government Scheme)

Context: Recently, states and union territories such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, and Jammu & Kashmir, among others, have been announced as the initial recipients of electric buses under the PM-eBus Sewa scheme.

PM-eBus Sewa Scheme

• About: Its goal is to improve efficiency in urban transportation and advocate for environmentally friendly practices.
• Coverage: The scheme will cover cities of Three lakh and above population as per census 2011 including all the Capital cities of Union Territories, North Eastern Region and Hill States. 
• Funding: estimated cost of Rs.57,613 crore
• The Scheme has two segments:

oSegment A – Augmenting the City bus services: (169 cities)

oSegment B– Green Urban Mobility Initiatives (GUMI): (181 cities)

• Other green components: The scheme envisages green initiatives like bus priority, infrastructure, multimodal interchange facilities, NCMC-based Automated Fare Collection Systems, Charging infrastructure, etc.
• Support for Operation: Under the scheme, States/Cities shall be responsible for running the bus services and making payments to the bus operators.  

oThe Central Government will support these bus operations by providing subsidies to the extent specified in the proposed scheme.

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Steps towards E-Mobility in India

• Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme
• National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP)
• National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage
• Vehicle Scrappage Policy.