Industry stakeholders come together to discuss future of passenger mobility
The second edition of Prawaas, India’s biggest bus & car travel show for public transport, organized by Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI), held in Navi Mumbai from July 25-27, brought together the country’s entire public transport ecosystem including bus & car manufacturers, fleet owners and operators from all parts of the country. The event themed ‘Safe, Smart and Sustainable Passenger Mobility’, witnessed participation from over 10,000 visitors, 150+ exhibitors, 100+ speakers and 5,000+ operators, proving its position as the most sought-after event for the passenger mobility space in the country.
The three-day event saw active participation from leading bus and car operators across eight important segments, namely, intercity, intracity, school bus, employee transport, tour operators, tourist cabs, maxi cabs and PPP-SPVs. The spectrum of Prawaas 2019 included an action-packed exhibition, multiple conference sessions, Prawaas Excellence Awards and a thought-provoking Leadership Conclave.
The inaugural function was graced by Mr. Aditya Uddhav Thackrey, President, Yuva Sena, Youth Wing of Shiv Sena, Mr. Diwakar Narayan Raote, Transport Minister, Government of Maharashtra, Mr. T.J. Lalnuntluanga, Transport Minister, Government of Mizoram, Mr. Anuj Kathuria, Chief Operating Officer, Ashok Leyland, Mr. Rohit Srivastava, Vice-President and Product Line Head – Passenger Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, Mr. Thomas Fricke, Managing Director, Daimler Buses India, the BOCI leadership team, other industry captains and corporate dignitaries. The session saw the release of BOCI Annual Report and Prawaas 2019 Programme Document and the launch of BOCI-Yuva logo.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Diwakar Raote said: “Prawaas is an excellent initiative and I am happy to be part of this event. As a part of the government, we have taken a number of initiatives that will ease pain of commuters while making operations profitable for the operators. There is a need for greater co-operation amongst the stakeholders to create a win-win proposition for all.”
Mr. K.T. Rajashekhara, BOCI Chairman, said: “We are excited to welcome our partners, policymakers, operators and other key stakeholders to Prawaas 2019. Prawaas is the result of BOCI’s efforts to bring together an industry that was largely fragmented earlier. We are confident the three-day event will result in innovation, policy discussions and further co-operation that will make public transport more viable.”
Mr. Prasanna Patwardhan, BOCI President, said: “It is important to shift our focus from ‘moving vehicles’ to ‘moving people’. This will depend upon how the government transforms public transport. Leading nations have a minimum of six buses for 1,000 passengers while in India it is lower than one bus per 1,000 passengers. One bus creates twenty direct & indirect jobs. Compared to the international norm, we require at least thirty lakh more buses, which can be achieved only with increased private sector participation. The results of these efforts will have a huge impact on the GDP and will create employment for at least fifty million Indians over the next five years. Today, over 80% public transport on roads is provided by BOCI members with a combined fleet strength of about 15 lakh buses and 11 lakh cars. There is an urgent need for the Central and State Governments to accord top priority to bus transport and create a conducive ecosystem that will bring ease of travel to 1.3 billion people.”
Exhibition, Conference and Excellence Awards
The exhibition spread over 1,50,000 sq. ft. was a grand showcase of all relevant stakeholders in the sector – leading bus & car manufacturers, bus body builders, component and accessory suppliers, maintenance equipment & services, IT & mobility solutions, training & skills, finance & insurance, STUs & tourism boards, etc.
The Conference at Prawaas 2019 was a Thought Leadership Forum with sessions on Innovative Technology for Transforming Passenger Mobility, Stage Carriage Operations & its changing role, School bus challenges, BOCI Care: Entrepreneurship, Training, Health & Safety, PPP in Delivering Bus Transport, Shared Mobility, Finance, Tourism, Technology, Employee mobility, Electric mobility, Vehicle regulation, and Insurance/Toll/NIC.
Mr. Jagdish Patankar, Organizing Secretary, Prawaas 2019, co-chaired the Leadership Conclave with the theme ‘Future of mobility’. A host of eminent speakers participated in discussing futuristic transportation solutions shaping tomorrow’s public transport.
Mr. Abhay Damle, Joint Secretary, Transport/RS/Coord/ICMoRTH, iterated: “Safe reliable and sustainable transport is the need of the hour. The entire sector that includes OEMs, operators, suppliers, trade bodies and policymakers need to be aligned to meet the needs of the passengers.”
The highlight of the second day of the event was the Prawaas Excellence Awards 2019 which brought in Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, as the chief guest. 72 Awards were given away in recognition of extraordinary contribution in various categories for promoting best practices, showcasing achievements and encouraging innovation. Individuals and companies that redefined the paradigms of passenger mobility were felicitated.
In his keynote address, Mr. Gadkari said: “I am happy to be here amongst the Prawaas family. The initiative taken by BOCI to bring all public mobility stakeholders together on one platform is commendable. As a government, we stand for simplification of processes, transparency and a corruption-free system and believe moves like online registration of vehicles, one nation one permit, amendment in motor vehicle act to remove education qualification criteria, subsidies for electric vehicles and providing better infrastructure like bus-ports will revolutionize public transport.”
The event concluded with the distribution of the Exhibitors Awards and a Valedictory Function on day three for which Mr. Arvind G. Sawant, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, was the chief guest. Mr. K.T. Rajashekhara, Mr. Prasanna Patwardhan, and Mr. A. Afzal, BOCI General Secretary, were the other dignitaries present.
While discussing the road ahead for the industry, Mr. Sawant mentioned that PM Modi has entrusted him with the Ministry concerned with vehicles which is a big responsibility: “As a consumer I have different experiences; my life includes journeys in city buses and State buses, but days have changed now and the buses look a lot more beautiful these days. Now, we need to look at the safety of the passengers which is the responsibility of the private operators as well as the government. ‘Prawaas’ means journey for which you need ‘prawaasis’ (passengers) who will not come to you until they find the journey safe, smart and sustainable.”
The Minister added that the government will give subsidies to buses, four-wheelers and two-wheelers. He stated: “We have reduced the GST from 12% to 5% for EVs; we have removed the cess which was 22%. We are offering 40% subsidy to those who go for electric buses.”
In the upcoming section, we bring you a comprehensive exclusive coverage from the action-packed exhibition area of Prawaas 2019 (Part-I). Watch out for Part-II in our next edition.
Exclusive coverage by Rajesh Rajgor, Dhiyanesh Ravichandran and Sarada Vishnubhatla