Lok Sabha Question No. 1883 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-31
Subject: Accessibility of Public Buses for PwDs
Ministry: HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1883

## TO BE ANSWERED ON JULY 31, 2025

## ACCESSIBILITY OF PUBLIC BUSES FOR PWDS

## NO. 1883.  SHRI LAVU SRI KRISHNA DEVARAYALU:

Will the Minister of HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- a) whether the Government has taken special measures for improving accessibility  to  public  buses  for  Persons  with  Disabilities  (PwDs) and if so, the details thereof including low-floor design, ramp access, priority seating and announcement systems;
2. (b) the number and percentage of accessible buses currently operational  in  the  country,  State/UT-wise,  especially  in  Andhra Pradesh;
3. (c) whether public transport staff including drivers and conductors are provided  training  to  assist  PwD  commuters  and  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
4. (d) whether any audits or inspections have been conducted to assess compliance with accessibility norms in urban bus fleets and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS (SHRI TOKHAN SAHU)

- (a) & (b) As  per  the information  received  from  Ministry  of  Road, Transport  and  Highways  (MoRTH),  to  ensure  accessibility  in  buses, MoRTH Vide GSR 959(E), GSR 367(E) {AIS:153}, GSR 287(E) {AIS:052}, have taken various regulatory steps that inter-alia ensures for providing various accessibility features such as Priority Seat, Signs, securing of crutches/canes/walkers,  Hand  rail/stanchions,  control  at  priority  seats, wheel chair entry/housing/locking arrangement for wheel chair in buses, provision  for  kneeling  system,  lift  or  ramp  as  well  as  mandating  the renewal of fitness certificate  with  accessibility features.

As  per  the  information  received  from  MoRTH  and  Association  of  Road Transport Undertakings, a total no. of 1,45,527 buses are operational out of which 51,604 buses including 56 buses of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport  Corporation  (APSRTC)  are  accessible  i.e.  35.46%  buses  are accessible. The State wise (STUs) details are provided in Annexure.

Also, under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme of this Ministry, to address the issue  of  accessibility,  PM-eBus  Sewa  Tender  specifies  accessibility features and equipment as per AIS 052 & AIS 153 so as to deploy 100% 12  m  &  9  m  buses  with  accessibility  features  including  wheelchair accessibility.

(c)  &  (d)  'Urban  planning'  is  a  State  subject.  Therefore,  the  respective State  Governments  are  responsible  for  planning,  operations,  safety management, developing and implementing urban transport infrastructure  including  improving  accessibility  of  public  buses  for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), providing training of Staff, conducting audit and inspection.

*****

## ANNEXURE

| Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   | Status of buses held by SRTUs for Accessible India Campaign for June, 2025   |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SL. NO                                                                       | NAME OF THE STU                                                              | FLEET HELD (Vehicl es in Operati on)                                         | Intercity                                                                    | Intercity                                                                    | Intercity                                                                    | Intercity                                                                    | Urban                                                                        | Urban                                                                        | Urban                                                                        | Urban                                                                        |
| SL. NO                                                                       | NAME OF THE STU                                                              | FLEET HELD (Vehicl es in Operati on)                                         | Inter city operatio nal fleet                                                | Fully Accessi ble with wheel chair                                           | Accessi ble                                                                  | Not Accessi ble                                                              | Urban Operati onal Fleet                                                     | Fully Accessi ble with wheel chair                                           | Accessi ble                                                                  | Not Accessi ble                                                              |
| 1                                                                            | Agra- Mathura Tpt. Services Ltd.                                             | 230                                                                          | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 230                                                                          | 230                                                                          | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            |
| 2                                                                            | Ahmedaba d Municipal Transport Service                                       | 804                                                                          | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 804                                                                          | 277                                                                          | 0                                                                            | 527                                                                          |
| 3                                                                            | Allahabad City Tpt. Services Ltd.                                            | 127                                                                          | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            | 127                                                                          | 127                                                                          | 0                                                                            | 0                                                                            |

|   4 | Andaman & Nicobar Administr ation           |   282 |   202 |   0 |   202 |    0 | 80     |   0 | 80   |    0 |
|-----|---------------------------------------------|-------|-------|-----|-------|------|--------|-----|------|------|
|   5 | APSRTC                                      | 10796 |  9777 |   0 |     0 | 9777 | 1019 0 |  56 |      |  963 |
|   6 | Arunachal Pradesh State Transport Deptt.    |   255 |   255 |   0 |     0 |  255 | 0      |   0 | 0    |    0 |
|   7 | Assam STC                                   |   505 |   347 |  20 |     3 |  324 | 158    |   0 | 4    |  154 |
|   8 | BEST Undertaki ng                           |  3672 |     0 |   0 |     0 |    0 | 3672   | 365 | 0    | 3307 |
|   9 | Bhubnesh war-Puri Tpt. Services Ltd. (CURT) |   200 |     0 |   0 |     0 |    0 | 200    |   0 | 100  |  100 |
|  10 | Bihar State Road Transport                  |   414 |   414 |   0 |   105 |  309 | 0      |   0 | 0    |    0 |

|    | Corporatio n                                           |      |     |    |    |     |      |      |      |     |
|----|--------------------------------------------------------|------|-----|----|----|-----|------|------|------|-----|
| 11 | BMTC                                                   | 6664 |   0 |  0 |  0 |   0 | 6664 | 1126 | 5538 |   0 |
| 12 | Chandigar h Transport Undertaki ng                     |  587 | 229 |  0 |  0 | 229 |  358 |  298 |    0 |  60 |
| 13 | DIMTS- Cluster Bus Operation in Delhi                  | 3021 |   0 |  0 |  0 |   0 | 3021 | 2488 |    0 | 533 |
| 14 | DIMTS- Gurugram Metropolit an City Bus Limited (GMCBL) |  200 |   0 |  0 |  0 |   0 |  200 |  200 |    0 |   0 |
| 15 | DIMTS- Haryana City Bus Services Ltd.(HCBS L)          |   20 |   0 |  0 |  0 |   0 |   20 |   20 |    0 |   0 |

|   16 | DTC                                         |   4409 |    0 |   0 |   0 |    0 |   4409 |   4409 |    0 |   0 |
|------|---------------------------------------------|--------|------|-----|-----|------|--------|--------|------|-----|
|   17 | GSRTC                                       |   8006 | 5412 |   0 |  95 | 5317 |   2594 |      0 | 1905 | 689 |
|   18 | Himachal Road Transport Corporatio n        |   3000 | 3000 |   0 |  85 | 2915 |      0 |      0 |    0 |   0 |
|   19 | J & K State Road Transport Corporatio n     |    570 |  512 |   0 |   0 |  512 |     58 |      0 |    0 |  58 |
|   20 | Jaipur City TSL                             |    200 |   77 |  46 |  31 |    0 |    123 |     54 |   69 |   0 |
|   21 | Kadamba TCL                                 |    475 |  475 |   1 |  81 |  393 |      0 |      0 |    0 |   0 |
|   22 | Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Tpt. Undertaki ng |     90 |    8 |   0 |   4 |    4 |     82 |      0 |   66 |  16 |
|   23 | Kanpur City Tpt.                            |    270 |    0 |   0 |   0 |    0 |    270 |    270 |    0 |   0 |

|    | Sevices Ltd.                                                |      |      |     |     |      |      |     |     |      |
|----|-------------------------------------------------------------|------|------|-----|-----|------|------|-----|-----|------|
| 24 | KAR SRTC                                                    | 8052 | 6266 |   0 |   0 | 6266 | 1786 |   0 | 101 | 1685 |
| 25 | Kerala State Road Transport Corporatio n                    | 5625 | 2122 | 173 |   0 | 1949 | 3503 |   0 | 289 | 3214 |
| 26 | Kerala Urban Road Tpt. Corpn. [A subsidiary of Kerala SRTC] |  719 |  399 | 110 | 289 |    0 |  320 |  80 | 240 |    0 |
| 27 | Kohlapur Munipal Transport                                  |  135 |    0 |   0 |   0 |    0 |  135 |   0 |  75 |   60 |
| 28 | Lucknow City Services Ltd.                                  |  260 |    0 |   0 |   0 |    0 |  260 | 260 |   0 |    0 |
| 29 | Meerut City Tpt.                                            |  120 |    0 |   0 |   0 |    0 |  120 | 120 |   0 |    0 |

|    | Services Ltd.                     |             |        |      |      |      |     |      |     |
|----|-----------------------------------|-------------|--------|------|------|------|-----|------|-----|
| 30 | Meghalay a transport Corporatio n | 62          | 62 0   | 0    |   62 |    0 |   0 |    0 |   0 |
| 31 | Mizoram State Transport           | 40 40       | 0      | 0    |   40 |    0 |   0 |    0 |   0 |
| 32 | MSRTC                             | 17900 17564 | 0      | 8000 | 9564 |  336 |   0 |  336 |   0 |
| 33 | MTC-Ch                            | 3233 0      | 0      | 0    |    0 | 3233 |   0 | 2500 | 733 |
| 34 | Nagaland State Transport          | 150 0       | 0      | 0    |    0 |  150 |   0 |   19 | 131 |
| 35 | NB STC                            | 965 937     | 0      | 0    |  937 |   28 |   0 |   28 |   0 |
| 36 | NEKRTC                            | 4714        | 4195 0 | 0    | 4195 |  519 | 265 |    0 | 254 |
| 37 | NMMT                              | 531 0       | 0      | 0    |    0 |  531 | 246 |    0 | 285 |
| 38 | NWKRTC                            | 5096        | 4551 0 | 1011 | 3540 |  545 | 100 |  160 | 285 |
| 39 | OSRTC                             | 436         | 436    | 0 0  |  436 |    0 |   0 |    0 |   0 |
| 40 | Pepsu Road Transport Corporatio n | 1045 1045   | 0      | 20   | 1025 |    0 |   0 |    0 |   0 |

|   41 | Puducherr y Road Transport Corporatio n    |   110 |    0 |   0 |   0 |    0 |   110 |   10 |    0 |   100 |
|------|--------------------------------------------|-------|------|-----|-----|------|-------|------|------|-------|
|   42 | Pune Mahanaga r Parivahan Mahaman dal Ltd. |  1894 |    0 |   0 |   0 |    0 |  1894 |    0 | 1481 |   413 |
|   43 | Punjab State Bus Stand Managem ent Co.     |  1116 | 1116 |   0 |   0 | 1116 |     0 |    0 |    0 |     0 |
|   44 | RSRTC                                      |  4878 | 4878 |   0 |   0 | 4878 |     0 |    0 |    0 |     0 |
|   45 | SETC                                       |  1064 | 1064 |   0 | 815 |  249 |     0 |    0 |    0 |     0 |
|   46 | Sholapur MTU                               |    44 |    0 |   0 |   0 |    0 |    44 |    0 |   35 |     9 |
|   47 | Sikkim Nationaliz ed Transport             |    85 |   85 |   6 |   0 |   79 |     0 |    0 |    0 |     0 |

|   48 | South Bengal                    |   661 | 661    | 0   |    0 |   661 |    0 |   0 |    0 |    0 |
|------|---------------------------------|-------|--------|-----|------|-------|------|-----|------|------|
|   49 | ST HARYANA                      |  3630 | 3630 0 |     |    0 |  3630 |    0 |   0 |    0 |    0 |
|   50 | State Transport Punjab          |   646 | 646    | 0   |    0 |   646 |    0 |   0 |    0 |    0 |
|   51 | Telangana State Road Tpt. Corpn |  9691 | 6790   | 0   |    0 |  6790 | 2901 |   0 |  122 | 2779 |
|   52 | Thane MTU                       |   448 | 0      | 0   |    0 |     0 |  448 |   0 |  140 |  308 |
|   53 | TN-CBE                          |  2559 | 1171   | 0   |    0 |  1171 | 1388 |   0 |    0 | 1388 |
|   54 | TN-KUMB                         |  3471 | 2186   | 0   | 2186 |     0 | 1285 |   0 | 1285 |    0 |
|   55 | TN-MDU                          |  2369 | 1099   | 0   |    0 |  1099 | 1270 |   0 |    0 | 1270 |
|   56 | TN-SALEM                        |  2131 | 1294   | 0   |  860 |   434 |  837 |   0 |    0 |  837 |

| 57    | TN-TNV                                 |   1762 |   1064 |   0 |   354 |   710 |   698 |     0 |    52 |   646 |
|-------|----------------------------------------|--------|--------|-----|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
| 58    | TN-VPM                                 |   3373 |   2289 |   0 |  1140 |  1149 |  1084 |     0 |     0 |  1084 |
| 59    | Tripura                                |     63 |     63 |   0 |     0 |    63 |     0 |     0 |     0 |     0 |
| 60    | U.P. State Road Transport Corporatio n |   9487 |   9487 |   0 |  9487 |     0 |     0 |     0 |     0 |     0 |
| 61    | Uttarakha nd Transport Corporatio n    |   1225 |   1225 |   0 |     0 |  1225 |     0 |     0 |     0 |     0 |
| 62    | Varanasi City Tpt. Sevices Ltd.        |    130 |      0 |   0 |     0 |     0 |   130 |   130 |     0 |     0 |
| 63    | West Bengal TCL                        |    810 |     92 |   0 |    92 |     0 |   718 |     0 |   632 |    86 |
| Total | Total                                  | 145527 |  97165 | 356 | 24860 | 71949 | 48362 | 11075 | 15313 | 21974 |

## SUMMARY

| SI.No.                                                                                                   | Nos. of Buses held by STUS                                                                               | Total Nos of buses                                                                                       | Nos. of accessible/Fully accessible buses                                                                | Total                                                                                                    | %age of access- ibility                                                                                  |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1                                                                                                        | Intercity Operations                                                                                     | 97165                                                                                                    | 24860*+356**                                                                                             | 25216                                                                                                    | 26%                                                                                                      |
| 2                                                                                                        | Urban Operations                                                                                         | 48362                                                                                                    | 15313*+11075**                                                                                           | 26388                                                                                                    | 55%                                                                                                      |
| 3                                                                                                        | Total                                                                                                    | 145527                                                                                                   | 40173*+11431**                                                                                           | 51604                                                                                                    | 35.46%                                                                                                   |
| Note : *Accessible without wheelchair accessibility, **Fully accessible having wheel chair accessibility | Note : *Accessible without wheelchair accessibility, **Fully accessible having wheel chair accessibility | Note : *Accessible without wheelchair accessibility, **Fully accessible having wheel chair accessibility | Note : *Accessible without wheelchair accessibility, **Fully accessible having wheel chair accessibility | Note : *Accessible without wheelchair accessibility, **Fully accessible having wheel chair accessibility | Note : *Accessible without wheelchair accessibility, **Fully accessible having wheel chair accessibility |