Executive Summary

As Uttar Pradesh looks to become a trillion-dollar economy (Deloitte 2023) – with its cities positioned to become engines of growth – urban mobility needs an overhaul. A robust public transport (PT) system can provide affordable transit and freedom of movement to its citizenry. The co-benefits of enhanced PT service efficiency and coverage include reduced use of private vehicles, improved ambient air quality, and lowered vehicle congestion in cities (Kwan and Hashim 2016). With the introduction of new e-buses and routes, the state can significantly increase the share of people using PT. Further, as more cities begin adding bus services, it is crucial to create a framework and tools that cities can use to increase bus ridership (Leong et al. 2016).

Research has shown that positive user and potentialuser perceptions regarding existing bus services lead to increased bus ridership (Das and Pandit 2013). However, understanding the baseline current perception is necessary to devise the required interventions (Morton, Caulfield, and Anable 2016). Thus, capturing the travel patterns and perceptions of existing and potential bus users is critical to increasing city transport service adoption (Chepuri, Elluri, and Bijivemula 2022).

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), as part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported - Cleaner Air and Better Health (CABH) project under the guidance of Directorate of Urban Transport (DUT), conducted surveys in Lucknow and Kanpur in October 2022. With nearly 2,000 respondents, the project aimed to capture the perceptions of current bus users and potential customers in order to assess how to improve bus ridership. Based on experts’ opinions, the study classifies non-users of buses as potential customers if they use intermediate public transport (IPT – autorickshaws and vikrams¹ ), motorised two wheelers (M2Ws), or the metro.

Taking into account gender-based variations in responses, the study finds that bus users and vikram users have similar job and education profiles. Further, more than two-thirds of bus users in both cities are captive users: that is, they do not use private vehicles in the absence of buses. Thus, the following observations and recommendations can help improve bus ridership:

• Plan students and women centric bus services: One in three women bus users in these cities use the bus to commute to educational centres, such as schools and colleges.
• Deploy punctual buses adhering to schedule: Most bus users (>60 per cent in Lucknow and >70 per cent in Kanpur) rated the current waiting time (on-time arrival tendency) for buses as their first priority, with over 40 per cent of them rating the current wait time as below average. Thus, on-time arrival of transport vehicles (schedule adherence) is the main concern for both bus users and potential users.
• Introduce more buses to improve connectivity and reduce wait times: Today, intra-city travel for work is mainly via IPT due to the higher frequency of these modes of transport, while buses are preferred for longer mofussil² trips. 50 – 80 per cent of the respondents ranked shorter wait times as their top priority when choosing the mode of PT. Therefore, the Directorate of Urban Transport (DUT), Government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP), and city bus transport special purpose vehicles (SPVs) must introduce more buses to improve connectivity and reduce wait times, in order to attract more intra-city riders.
• Improve bus stop and footpath infrastructure: More than 70 per cent of potential and current bus users walk the last mile of their journey. Thus, there is an urgent need to integrate a better footpath network with bus systems. For this, structured coordination between agencies working in bus systems (SPVs, nagar nigams, public works departments, traffic departments, and development authorities) is required to prioritise infrastructure and earmark funds for its development.
• Install better features in vehicles and improve the training of ticketing personnel: The focus group discussions with three vulnerable user groups, namely, women, children, and older people, highlighted the following:
  • Women want stronger enforcement of their right to reserved seats, as male passengers often refuse to vacate the seats reserved for them. The authorities can improve monitoring in buses to ensure cooperation from male passengers.
  • Children suggested that support bars should be within their reach, as some find the current holding support too high. They also want some holding/ hanging facility for their bags when they travel standing on the bus. Bus design for future buses can include side support bars and hooks for school bags.
  • General complaints included insufficient time for boarding and alighting and misconduct by conductors when issuing tickets and returning change for fares. The authorities must consider improving personnel training (conductors and drivers), with sessions/modules on sensitivities associated with vulnerable user groups.

The research shows that surveys are crucial tools for assessing and improving various aspects of bus services; thus, consistent financial support for and promotion of surveys within city SPVs are essential. The DUT should adopt these research analysis templates and support periodic gender-disaggregated surveys to understand users’ perceptions. Such efforts will help in scaling capacities for existing and upcoming city SPV through training modules and case examples. This shall allow for nuanced and contextual findings for improving bus services, and provide a better understanding of various user profiles.