The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture headed by Shri Sanjay Kumar Jha, M.P., Rajya Sabha, presented its 392^nd Report on “Enabling Inclusive, Digital and Sustainable Bus Transport: Policy, Regulation and Public-Private Partnership for Next-Gen Mobility” on Tuesday, the 11^th August, 2026.

2. The Report was adopted by the Committee on 6^th August, 2026. The Key Recommendations/Observations made by the Committee in this Report are enclosed.

 

The full Report is available on the website of Rajya Sabha https://sansad.in/rs -→Committees→Department related RS→Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture-→ Report

 

THE THREE HUNDRED NINETY SECOND REPORT OF MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COMMITTEE’S

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE — AT A GLANCE

 

1.         All India Passenger Permit:- Replace the All India Tourist Permit, within one year, with an All India Passenger Permit issued by the State of first registration, its rights stated exhaustively on its face; enforce it exclusively through electronic correlation of VAHAN, FASTag and vehicle location data, commission the monitoring centres, end the border check posts in the six States where they persist, and, with the insurance regulator, place the injured passenger's claim beyond dispute. (Paras 4.2 to 4.5)

2.         National Bus Terminals Authority:- Separate terminal ownership from bus operation as settled national policy; constitute a dedicated terminals authority on the Airports Authority model; circulate a non-discriminatory access framework on the Kashmere Gate template; frame a National Code for Bus Terminals within one year; pursue Gurugram and Katra as templates; notify the standard bus stop and circulate it to Members of Parliament for MPLADS funding. (Paras 4.6 to 4.9)

3.         National Bus Digital Grid:- Notify interoperability standards within one year; upon them, a public live-tracking layer aligned with Indian Railways specifications, unified booking across public and private operators, a moderated crowdsourced rating system linked to the permit databases, a cVIGIL-pattern citizen vigilance channel with geo-tagged, time-bound reporting of bus and terminal conditions, and a GIS-based network atlas from vehicle tracking and toll data publishing punctuality and predictability metrics and hazard maps; participation phased and mandatory for commercial permit holders; a measurable programme of work for the digital pillar within six months. (Paras 4.10 to 4.13)

4.         Operator-centric safety:- A district-wise completion plan for Automated Testing Stations within six months; verification of fire, egress and alert equipment at every fitness test so that life-safety standards reach the fleet in service; retro-fitment examined for sleeper and school buses; a published operator safety rating taken into account at permit renewal; and the emergency alert system made to function within one year, failing which the levy upon operators for it shall cease. (Paras 4.14 to 4.17)

5.         Fleet Transition Compact:- Fleet-ownership and leasing entities so operators run buses they need not own, entered through scrap-and-lease at registered scrapping facilities; review of the private scrapping incentive; a time-bound plan for electric buses, with a target for each operator and buses bought in bulk on standard terms; charging matched to where buses operate; an end-of-life framework for electric buses and batteries within one year; regional manufacturing, testing and maintenance clusters. (Paras 4.18 to 4.21)

6.         Services for women, run by women:- A reported programme, within six months, of dedicated peak-hour services operated with women bus drivers and women staff; CCTV in new buses brought into force; the alert-system programme completed beyond sixteen States; on-board toilet standardisation concluded under the Bus Body Code; monitored sanitation at overnight halts; funding on a common footing such as an Inclusive Transport Fund. (Paras 4.22 to 4.25)

7.         National Tourist Bus Grid:- Integrated tourist circuits interconnecting bus, rail, metro, air and waterways with unified ticketing; a centralized accredited Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul system with digital logbooks for the tourist fleet; intermodal hubs at major destinations on the Katra template with revenue-sharing between public and private participants; tourist-facing terminal standards and published satisfaction surveys. (Paras 4.26 to 4.29)

8.         A budgetary identity for the bus passenger:- A defined provision for public transport infrastructure within the Ministry's budget, reported within six months, with the Ministry's considered position on applying a proportion of the order of 25 per cent of the road allocation to it; viability gap funding for conforming terminals and testing stations; MPLADS circulation of the standard bus stop within three months of notification. (Paras 4.30 to 4.32)

9.         The State of the States:- An annual published ranking of States on bus transport facilitation, on verifiable parameters from testing density to terminal access to the functioning of emergency systems and the punctuality metrics of the network atlas, with operator and passenger feedback including the disposal record of citizen vigilance reports; the first edition to disclose the identity of the States still operating border check posts. (Paras 4.33 to 4.35)

10.       Count the passenger:- Reconciliation of the fleet figures within six months, with Telangana's integration into VAHAN pursued and disclosed meanwhile; a consolidated all-category statement of buses; a federated national data architecture in which the States own their systems; and a periodic authoritative estimate of passengers carried by bus, published with the authority accorded to the statistics of other modes. (Paras 4.36 to 4.38)

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RKK

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