Ahead of plan to roll out 3,000 e-buses, study shows 42% of commute happens on foot

Ahmedabad: The civic body may add more electric buses in its green push, but a new study shows that in a city of roughly 8.5 million people, "42% of all trips were made on foot," while buses accounted for just "13% of motorized journeys in 2025, down from 25% in 2012."The study by Upendra Kumar and Ram Krishna Upadhyay of the School of Technology, Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, Vadodara, lays bare the gaps. Ahmedabad's built-up area expanded by 60% between 2011 and 2021, yet bus services did not follow. Nearly 80% of routes have headways exceeding 20 minutes, pushing commuters toward two-wheelers, which now dominate 52% of the motorized mode share.The city plans to scale its fleet to 3,000 electric buses by 2030, up from 999 currently operating or under procurement. But, the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) recovers only "30% of its operating costs, one of the lowest ratios in India." Buses are overcrowded, with a passenger-to-seat ratio of 2.4, a level the researchers describe as requiring immediate fleet addition — yet even those additions cannot be absorbed cleanly. Power is choke point for e-buses. Fast-charging during peak hours costs about Rs 9 per kWh, compared to Rs 5 off-peak. "Without route redesign, frequency upgrades, integration with BRTS, electrification risks becoming a costly overlay on a system that remains fundamentally inadequate," states the study. Women account for 44% of their motorized trips via public or intermediate transport, versus 32% for men, yet overcrowding and poor service force many to walk long distances.