Questions/Answers

With a vision to bring a paradigm shift in public transportation, CRUT, one of India's newest transit agencies, has been a forerunner in introducing an integrated mobility solution. CRUT had rolled out its public transportation under the brand title of Mo Bus meaning 'My Bus' that instils a sense of ownership in public. Over time, it has been experimenting with innovative measures to improve operational efficiency, harmonise tariffs and timetables, and improve accessibility and interchange facilities. The agency has adopted and implemented a policy of hiring more than 50% of its bus guides as women, making public transport in Bhubaneswar as one of the most inclusive in the country and ensuring safer mobility for all. CRUT aims to provide integrated and inclusive public transportation that harness synergies created by intersections of mobility, energy, and technology and induce a paradigm shift in how the city transit agency offers cleaner air quality to its citizens. Its objectives are:- • Expand the reach of public transportation (increasing mode share from 12% to 20 % in 2030). • Systemising the information with real-time technologies, bringing reliability with journey planner and electronic ticket to avoid chaos (Enhance service frequency to 7min at peak hour with live tracking). • Improve customer experience by creating bi-directional communication channels (Traditional helpline number supported with multiple online and offline channels). Post-pandemic, the concerns related to a decline in public transit ridership and a related increase in personal vehicle ownership were real threats faced by transit agencies across the country. However, CRUT has proactively embarked on the expedition to enter the last mile connectivity micro-mobility sector to integrate all modes in a more controlled environment and retain their ridership by introducing E-Rickshaw.

The 40% female guides in Mo Bus ensure both livelihood opportunities for women as well as encourage women to feel safer while commuting in Mo Bus. CRUT has initiated a project on the E-Rickshaw system "Mo E-Ride", as a sustainable feeder service to Mo Bus which is one-of-its-kind gender inclusion and empowerment project that promotes women, transgender and people belonging to the socially disadvantaged sections of the society as drivers by providing them with a respectable and lucrative livelihood alternative. This will complement the Mo Bus routes covering internal streets that feed to the arterial roads on which bus operate.

Data in a survey report states that 12% of the population of the capital region use public transport and 57% among them shifted from other modes of transport to Mo Bus. This clearly reflects that Mo Bus is much in demand and that it has made immense contribution towards achievement of SDG 11 – Target 11.2 by providing safe, affordable and accessible sustainable transport systems for all. Additionally, E-Rickshaw will promote green, resilient and inclusive economic recovery by virtue of its focus on electrification with an estimated reduction of 30%-50% pollution as compared to current diesel vehicles and contribute towards SDG 13 – Target 13.2 by promptly taking action on the implementation of the government’s EV Policy. CRUT’s policy of employing women as 50% of its Mo Bus conductors and 100% women, transgender and people belonging to the disadvantaged sections of the society as drivers of E-Vehicles would contribute towards SDG 5 - Target 5.1 by enabling everyone irrespective of gender with equal opportunities without any discrimination; SDG8 - Target 8.5 by ensuring equal pay for equal work to all; and SDG 10 – Target 10.2 by paving way for socio-economic inclusion of the people belonging to the marginalized sections of the society.

CRUT has set a certain benchmark on how a public bus service provider can play a pivotal role in transforming the socio-economic and environmental condition of a region. CRUT’s Mo Bus service ensure that the people have access to affordable, safe, comfortable, smart and sustainable public transport facility. With the E-Vehicles service in the pipeline, CRUT would also contribute towards creating a greener region by significantly reducing the pollution level where Mo Bus would serve the broader areas while the E-Rickshaw would provide last mile connectivity from the Bus Queue Shelters to the interior parts of the city.

In 2010, Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle was created to manage and operate the bus services in Bhubaneswar and connecting its services to Puri but it lacked customer focus. As a result, the mode shares of 2018 shows that 73% of the total trips were made on cars and two wheelers in the city and another 23% by auto-rickshaw. The numbers were an eye-opener and pressed on the need to develop a solid foundation. In 2018, the Government of Odisha, with a vision to reorganize the public transit services in the city and make it citizen-centric, rebranded BPTSL as Capital Region Urban Transport. The major difference in the mode of operations of BPTSL and CRUT is that the former operated following Net Cost Contract while the later follows Gross Cost Contract. The need for this shift was necessitated by the fact that CRUT wanted to focus on the quality of service with special emphasis on making its service gender responsive through integration of smart technology to maximise consumer satisfaction which the GCC model vey tactfully ensured since Operators are paid by CRUT on performance basis.

By having provision for women guides (conductors) in Mo Bus and now initiating the E-Mobility plan which would be spearheaded by women, people from LGBTQ community and residents of the remote regions of Odisha; CRUT has already taken a huge leap for the empowerment of the marginalised sections of the society. Be it the Mo Bus project or its upcoming E-Rickshaw project, CRUT has significantly contributed towards ensuring the prevalence of equity by providing economic opportunities for the under privileged people and striving to including them in to the mainstream society by empowering them.

Being a public bus service provider, people from all walks of life avail Mo Bus service. As an organisation, CRUT is highly inclined towards having a highly gender inclusive workplace. 40% of Mo Bus guides are women and 100% drivers of E-Rickshaws are women, transgender and people belonging to the disadvantaged sections of the society. Serving more than one lakh people per day even after the pandemic, CRUT has been able to create a sustainable mobility ecosystem with its fleet of 225 buses and a network of 362 km along 27 routes. Committed towards transforming the urban mobility experience, CRUT’s effective integrated planning, design and monitoring systems have been instrumental in strengthening the citizen’s confidence in the Mo Bus service and the following survey data proves that:- 98% of elderly Mo Bus users rated ease of boarding and alighting as very good. 95% of Mo Bus users rated availability of priority seats as very good. 93% of women commuters rated Mo Bus as a safe mode of public transport. 91% of Mo Bus users rated behaviour of on-board staff as very good. 90% of Mo Bus users rated the bus service to be punctual.

CRUT invested in revamping its transit services by integrating innovative technology with all Mo Buses being equipped with Automatic Vehicle Locating System, Automatic Fare Collection System, Public Information System, onboard announcement, automatic door and CCTV surveillance to ensure that the commuters have a comfortable journey. The newly procured E-Rickshaws will also be equipped with GPS tracking and an integrated app to monitor the battery life. The Mo Bus App available in Play Store provides a range of facilities like live tracking, making a travel plan, e-ticketing, availing special travel passes etc. The tap and pay Mo Bus Card and QR code enabled payment were launched during the pandemic to ensure the contactless payment of bus tickets. CRUT will soon launch its ‘Dashboard’ to enhance digital data governance in its system. The dashboard would lead to easy accessibility of data by the public and increase the transparency in the functioning of Mo Bus; it would also help the administration maintain a database that would play a significant role in its daily management and decision-making process. To ensure effective implementation of the plans the following teams have been deployed to ensure efficient and effective implementation of work at the ground level:- • Revenue Assurance Team to prevent any leakage of revenue. • Revenue Collection Agency to ensure that revenue is collected and deposited in the bus depots. • Technical Inspectors team to monitor bus operations, its maintenance, route discipline and service quality. • Vigilance team to identify and take the necessary action against every fraud cases. • Enforcement team to resolve any dispute or conflict at site. The Communication team responsible for handling grievances and maintaining public relations. Needless to mention that all the teams work in close coordination with the Operations team to enable smooth flow of effective communication.

Being the pioneer in employing women as bus conductors and women and transgender as driver of E-Rickshaw in the country, it was indeed a big challenge to attract people from the target group to be the forerunners in this profession. However, the success of the Mo Bus project which now serves as the lifeline of the urban mobility system in the capital region and the sheer determination of CRUT to bring about this positive change in the society through its policy and infrastructural amenities, it was able to attract women and transgender to join the organisation.

CRUT is the pioneer in India to introduce gender based ticketing in public buses to collect disaggregated data for informed decision making and actions to enhance women’s safety which has been leveraged on for undertaking gender sensitive operations and planning. ‘Bus Pathsala’ was held for five weeks during the lockdown where staff, crew and eminent personalities in the field of urban mobility were brought together in a common virtual platform to discuss various issues pertaining to gender sensitisation, passenger-centric approaches and better maintenance practices for bus operations, sensitivity and empathy while dealing with commuters, data analytics in bus transport etc.

CRUT wanted to take out the myth of male dominance in the public transport sector. Drawing inspiration from the way Transport for London uses of data analytics to make its mobility system safe, accessible and affordable; CRUT leveraged on the use of dashboard for its data analysis to make its Mo Bus service gender sensitive and inclusive. The idea of gender disaggregated ticketing emerged organically in CRUT through the internal decision making process by the leaders of the organisation to make its service one of its kind in the country.

Mo Bus through its ITMS integrated mode of operations ensures smart, safe, affordable and comfortable commute for its commuters. •Mo Bus is equipped with PIS, CCTV surveillance, AVLS and AFCS. •State-of-the-art bus depots enable sustainable maintenance along with electrical charging infrastructure and parking lots for Mo Bus and E-Rickshaws. •Well-lit Bus Queue Shelters are designed with Mo Bus route map and PIS. •The Mo Bus App provides varied online services. •QR enabled Mo Bus Card ensure the contactless payment of bus tickets. •CRUT will soon launch its ‘Dashboard’ to enhance digital data governance in its system.

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CRUT has set a benchmark in the country and is a pioneer in the promoting gender responsive public services and pave way for the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals. CRUT’s model of providing equal opportunities to people across all gender groups to be a part of its crew has high potential for transferability as long as it is backed by strong leadership, detailed policy framework and a vision to bring about change in the society by making it more gender inclusive, sensitive and responsive.

CRUT operates in Gross Cost Contract model and is the only organisation in India to provide soft loan to two of its Operators at 6% interest for the procurement of buses. 75% of the soft loan was directly paid by CRUT to the OEMs which made it possible for Mo Buses to be hypothecated to CRUT for the entire contract period. CRUT’s revenue recovery is almost 50% of its expenditure which is one of the best in India. CRUT collects non-fare revenue from the advertisements displayed in its Bus Queue Shelters.

By prioritizing women participation in Mo Bus and now launching a pilot project with women, transgender and socially disadvantaged communities living in the remote areas of Odisha for E-Rickshaws, CRUT has taken a quantum leap for empowerment of the marginalized sections of the society in the urban transport sector in India. Being a State government funded project, through its ‘5T’ vision of Teamwork, Transparency and Technology leading to Transformation within Time, the government has established CRUT as a pioneer in realizing this vision in all its initiatives across the capital region of the state and creating a sustainable ecosystem.

Yes

Quantum Leap Studio, a Bhubaneswar-based consulting firm was formally hired to evaluate the initiative. Data from review of annual reports, training and capacity building plans prepared by GIZ, monitoring and evaluation plans were analysed; including interviews and field observations. The data collection process and analysis was participatory in nature and gender sensitive. Surveys were conducted both online and offline as on-board surveys of Mo Bus users, and CRUT staff. One of the key limitations of the evaluation methodology was that the evaluation team was not able to capture a large share of the users due to the pandemic and lockdowns.

Annual reports, training and capacity building plans prepared by GIZ, data analysis of evaluation plans and annual work plans- both online and offline surveys were used as tools for the evaluation assignment. Data collection tools entailed interview guides for focus group discussions and key informants as well as semi-structured questionnaires. Surveys were conducted in March 2021. Participatory nature of the evaluation ensured that feedback of all key stakeholders were taken into consideration. The analytical framework was guided by evaluation questions under the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and potential impact.

1. Increased women’s economic empowerment in urban transport Activities conducted by CRUT to achieve gender mainstreaming through economic empowerment by ensuring 90% of the target 50% employment of women conductors being achieved. Further, the Mo E-ride initiative of CRUT to include transgender beneficiaries and foster their social upliftment and improve their livelihood opportunities is a major achievement in the context of India, especially in the urban public transport sector. Coordination with private operators, NGOs and development agencies to ensure that the policy has greater direct and indirect impacts have enhanced the chances of making sure that the project is sustained in the long-run. 2. Improved gender equality in human development Regular gender sensitive passenger management trainings are provided to the crew before outshedding of buses. CRUT has also organized and implemented several capacity building sessions, specifically targeted at its women employees, in the last 3 years. 3. Addressing security issues for women and girls in public transport Each Mo Bus Shelter is adequately lighted and bus depots have separate restrooms for men, women and transgender. CCTV facilities in buses, instruction boards with helpline numbers look into prompt incident management.

CRUT is a Special Purpose Vehicle of the Housing and Urban Development Department of the Government of Odisha that functions in a Public Private Partnership Model. All projects of CRUT are funded by the State Government. CRUT being the regulatory body, it is responsible for route planning, scheduling and public relations. It pays Operators a fixed rate on the basis of per kilometer operated. The Operators are responsible for quality service delivery as per the service level agreement signed, bus and depot maintenance and recruitment and training of captains (drivers). Revenue Collection Agencies are responsible for revenue collection and recruitment and training of guides (conductors). The Advertising Agencies are responsible for maintenance of Bus Queue Shelters and pay CRUT for using BQS space for advertising.

CRUT was created with representatives from Bhubaneswar Development Authority, Police Commissionerate and Smart City Special Purpose Vehicle to facilitate smooth exchange of ideas, holistic planning and foster quick implementation. This close coordination created an environment for optimum utilisation of resources and better management and decision making practices both through lateral and vertical modes of communication. At the international level, GIZ has been a partner of CRUT for effective and efficient implementation of various initiatives of CRUT; the most recent one being the funding of CRUT’s E-Rickshaw Pilot Project by GIZ. CRUT has also engaged into crucial partnerships with various consultancies for holistic exchange of ideas and the implementation of the same to ensure that the best service provided to the commuters.

The weekly meeting and periodic feedback collected from the commuters play a major role in decision making process of the organization. The action strategy of CRUT to further enhance the sustainability of the region have been mentioned below:- • Reach the target of 50% women workforce as CRUT employees. • Increase participation of third gender in operations. • Scale-up access to training opportunities for women and transgender people who work as Mo Bus Captains, Guides and Sarthis. • Invest in building capacities for high skilled jobs in EV operations and maintenance. • Procurement of 200 electric buses with 50% commitment for women and third gender workforce participation. • Gender specific ridership data on publically shared dashboards to monitor future route planning, including on - demand special routes and initiating new demand based routes. • Establish a dedicated women and transgender training centre in collaboration with Government Driver Training Institute, Government of Odisha. • Scale-up pilot Mo E-Ride initiative with only women and transgender Sarthis - from 50 vehicles to a citywide system of 500+ E-Rickshaws for first and last mile connectivity. • Introduce Shuttle buses (10-14pax) to be also operated by women and transgender 'Sarthis', as complementary service to E-Rickshaws.