Surat city’s initiatives aimed at achieving a fully electric public transport bus fleet by 2025 represents not only a remarkable technological transition facilitated by an Intelligent Transportation Management System (ITMS), but also a conscious commitment to offer safe, accessible, reliable, advanced and low carbon (SARAL) mobility to its residents. These actions position Surat as one of the leaders in public transport electrification, with 250 electric buses already operating in the city.

The remarkable changes in Surat’s public transport have been documented in a virtual study tour, developed as a part of the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative’s (TUMI) E-bus Mission. The virtual tour, which offers information to cities regarding large-scale e-bus deployment, depot designs and seamless ITMS integration, has been developed with guidance by the officials of the Surat Municipal Corporation, Surat SitiLink Limited and bus operators.

The virtual study tour includes a message from the Municipal Commissioner and six modules that cover the following aspects.

Surat Mobility: Surat is one of the fastest growing metros, with around 72 lakh people and more than 17 lakh vehicles registered in the last 10 years. The  city is launching a comprehensive sustainable transport plan, with a focus on public transport as per the vision of 2046.

E-bus integration: Surat is using service-level benchmarking as the basis for providing SARAL mobility to its people.

Deploying e-buses: The conversion factor to phase out one ICE bus is  about 1.2. Therefore, the plan for e-bus deployment requires detailed planning of procurement, scheduling of buses, routes and training of operators.

Planning e-bus depots:  The location and design of depots is one of the most critical aspects in the large-scale deployment of e-buses. Learn how the city has taken steps to increase efficiency and reduce dead kilometres.

ITMS: Integrating ITMS solutions can help in smart and optimal management of e-buses by automatic tracking of their schedules, state of charge, vehicle range and allocated routes.

E-future: Surat is working proactively towards electrifying its entire public transport bus fleet by 2025. Learn how the city is working on improving operations, efficiency and customer satisfaction along with mitigating emissions.