Nearly 10% Delhi bus users switched from pvt vehicles post Covid: Study

The survey, carried out by Greenpeace India in association with ‘Reclaiming the Bus campaign’, Delhi Bus Yatri Union and Sustainable Urban Mobility Network (SUM Net) India, was carried out from August-October 2021 across at 16 bus stops and three bus depots in Delhi

Nearly 10% of bus users in Delhi had switched over from private vehicles post Covid-19, a survey released by Greenpeace India on Monday has found.

The survey, titled “Bustling through city: A bus user feedback survey report”, also found 71% of the over 500 bus users surveyed reported a daily average travel time of less than 30 minutes, indicating buses were generally being used for short commutes. (HT Archive)

The survey, titled “Bustling through city: A bus user feedback survey report”, also found 71% of the over 500 bus users surveyed reported a daily average travel time of less than 30 minutes, indicating buses were generally being used for short commutes.

The survey, carried out by Greenpeace India in association with ‘Reclaiming the Bus campaign’, Delhi Bus Yatri Union and Sustainable Urban Mobility Network (SUM Net) India, was carried out from August-October 2021 across at 16 bus stops and three bus depots in Delhi. The majority of the respondents were aged between 18 and 35, and included 170 women, 240 men and two transgender persons. Another 93 respondents did not share their gender during the survey.

“One of the interesting findings was that 10% of the respondents had switched to buses post Covid-19, this is assumed to be a result of the lockdown affecting household income and expenditure. Also, contrary to popular notion that public transport travel time is delayed, 71% of surveyed bus users reported that their average daily travel time is less than 30 minutes,” said the study, which found nearly 89% of the respondents preferred buses as their preferred mode of transport.

More than half of the respondents also called for increasing the bus fleet size and around 42% sought changes in the bus timetable. Around 40% of the respondents also felt bus services should be made free for all and could be made more convenient with facilities like toilets at bus stops.

“A majority of the respondents did not own personal vehicles, showing that public transport, while reducing emissions, is also an accessible, equitable mode of transport for citizens in Delhi,” said the study.

Avinash Chanchal, Senior Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace India, said the study can pave way for discussions between civic authorities and citizens to demand better public transport infrastructure for the Capital. “Authorities must understand that public transport, especially buses, can help cities to be more productive, resilient, safer, cleaner and socially inclusive,” he says.

Greenpeace in its report recommends based on the survey, there was a need to bring the existing bus fleet size to 12,000 with at least 1,000 buses to be added each year, which were low-floor and universally accessible.

Rahul Goel, visiting faculty at the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre at IIT Delhi, said a robust public transport system will not only mitigate traffic and air pollution related problems, but also provide greater access to livelihood and education for those without private vehicles. “In the post-covid society, where income inequality has worsened and poverty rates may have risen, public transport should be treated as a support system as we hopefully emerge out of the pandemic,” says Goel.