Indore City Transport Services Ltd. is a public limited company, set up to operate and manage the public transport system in Indore. It is based on a public-private partnership (PPP) model by which it grants permits to private operators to run bus services along specific routes. The services run along 20 high travel demand routes with 37 ultra-modern low floor buses and with the procurement of funding for an additional 175 buses from GOI, it is necessary to initiate a stable system to methodically monitor the bus service and subsequently upgrade the system to cater to growing demand.
CST – India is providing technical support to ICTSL in identifying gaps in the performance and monitoring of bus operations and provides solutions to ensure that bus service is regular, reliable and safe for its users. Under the PPP model, ICTSL does not run any of the bus operations.
Special Purpose Vehicle:
“Cities with population of more than one million should have urban bus transport corporation that owns 30% of its own buses and contracts 70% of buses from private contractors and operators.” Motivated by this World Bank recommendation note on 'India's Transport Sector, The Challenges Ahead(2002), Mr. Vivek Aggarwal, Collector and District Magistrate of Indore was the key driver behind establishment of ICTSL; a special vehicle based on the public private partnership model, to address the present and future transit needs for Indore.
Indore City Transport Service Limited:
The company was incorporated to operate and manage the public transport system in Indore on December 1, 2005.
The company was established with three objectives:
- To create a specialized and effective agency to monitor and provide intra-city public transport system.
- To establish and maintain modern high capacity means of public transport.
- To develop support system for improving transport infrastructure.
The main sources of revenue for the system are the fare box collection, advertising, passes revenue and bidding amount by private participants. The optimum fare structure has been decided to meet the twin objective of equity i.e. access to poor and incentive for upper middle class to prefer these buses over their own vehicles. The fares are affordable and provide healthy competition to existing minibuses and tempos in Indore.