Maharashtra’s Cities Need of 24,000 New Buses

A new analysis by Institute for Transportation and Development Policy ITDP India conducted in December 2024 reveals a severe deficit of public buses in Maharashtra’s urban areas.

The study highlights that the state needs at least 28,800 buses across its 44 cities to meet the mobility demands of 5.6 crore residents. Currently, the urban bus fleet stands at a mere 8,700, out of which 3,500 buses are nearing the end of their operational life. This leaves an alarming gap of 24,000 buses, including replacements for retiring vehicles.

There are 44 cities in Maharashtra with a total population of 5.6 crore people residing in them. Of these 44, only 14 cities currently operate formal public bus services, leaving 30 of them unserved. Even in these 14 cities, the availability of buses falls far below the benchmark set by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, which recommends 40-60 buses per lakh population.

The Deficit

• Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities: There are nine cities in Maharashtra, with populations over 20 lakh. These cities need expansion of their bus fleets. For instance, Greater Mumbai currently operates around 3,600 buses but requires at least 8,000 to meet demand. Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad operate a fleet of 2,200 buses but need to double the fleet to 4,500 to meet the demand.
• Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities: Currently there are 35 cities with populations between 2 and 20 lakh in Maharashtra. They face an even greater shortfall, needing a 23x expansion in their fleets. For example, in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, the current fleet is just 90 buses, with only a fraction of the 1,000 buses required.

Need for More buses

The introduction of 24,000 new buses can have multifold positive impacts on Maharashtra’s ecology and economy, apart from dramatically improving urban mobility and quality of life in Maharashtra. The study found that introducing so many buses can remove a significant number of personal vehicles from the streets. It can also create approximately 1.5 lakh jobs in the public transport sector for bus operations and provide high-quality affordable public transport to 5 crore citizens. According to ITDP allocating at least `1000 crores to address 20% of the fleet deficit through viability gap funding for buses operating under gross cost contracts, can make a significant difference.