India, Aug. 11 -- India is woefully short of urban bus transport systems, with more than 400 cities lacking any buses. Faced with an overall deficit of more than 70 per cent, nearly Rs 14.20 lakh crores (165 billion dollars) are needed to acquire 6.71 lakh buses by 2047.

The current fleet strength is just 65,000. The seriousness of the situation can be gauged by the projections that urban population is projected to surge from 490 million in FY 2026 to 763 million by FY 2047, adding 270 million city dwellers, according to a new study titled The Economics of Bus Transformations: A Roadmap for Viksit Bharat 2047 conducted jointly by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and CITIES Forum, a global technical firm.

"Of the 14.5 lakh regist...