Despite a rise in modern buses, Delhi has witnessed a significant decline in bus ridership, as per a study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The CSE’s Annual State of India’s Environment 2024 report reveals a sharp 48.5% decrease in bus ridership since 2017-18, based on data from the Economic Survey of Delhi. This decline, the highest among 13 cities analyzed, including Mumbai and Chennai, is concerning.

The report highlights that while the bus fleet increased from 5,695 in 2017-18 to 7,072 in 2021-22, including 1,600 electric buses, ridership plummeted. The study attributes this trend to various factors, including lengthy waiting times at bus stops, with less than 1% offering a waiting time under 10 minutes.

CSE predicts that private transport could surpass public transport nationwide by 2040, urging an urgent expansion of public transport. Despite public transport accounting for 50.8% of daily ridership in Delhi, including DTC (14.4%), Cluster Scheme (9.1%), and Delhi Metro (27.2%), more kilometers are covered by private vehicles.

Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE’s executive director, suggests enhancing public transport by integrating the metro system with buses, scaling up transport infrastructure affordably, and developing safe access to public transport. Additionally, she recommends equipping buses with public information systems akin to metro trains.