Road travel time between metros in Tier I and Tier II needs to be reduced in order to promote more essential travel and offer alternate modes which are comparable with travel time on trains.  On expectation from Budget 2023-24 Manish Rathi, co-founder and CEO, Intrcity states: “We are excited and eagerly waiting for the budget 2023. Last couple of years have been challenging for intercity mobility due to COVID travel restrictions, however an uninterrupted last 10 months reflected that the next 12 months will witness a significant growth in the industry. With business in full swing in early this year, IntrCity Smart Bus is looking forward to the upcoming Budget 2023-24 by Government of India.”

Inter-city mobility is a key enabler of the Indian economy. Specifically, surface transport is the highest contributor in the segment. Over 50 million individuals travel intercity every day, with the majority of passengers being small business owners, professional travellers and student travellers. “The growth of surface transport is primarily getting driven in the intercity bus segment due to expansion in highways and improvement in customer experience with emergence of standardised brands offering technology based solutions,” he added.
The construction of numerous new highways inside the country has provided a significant boost to the mobility sector. There are still certain locations with weak connectivity that demand the government’s attention.

Concentrating on building and improving national highways will cut distance and travel time while increasing connectivity. “While 2022 has witnessed a healthy revival with COVID slowly vanishing, and players maintaining safety protocols better than ever, we further expect the Government of India to dedicate more attention on targeted measures to promote shared mobility for long travel routes. Our expectation from the government would be to create a policy boost towards creation of multiple boarding points in every city that are safe, hygienic, and well-lit. This way, the boarding process would become more convenient for women and senior citizens.” He said.

“We certainly welcome the audacious “One India, One Permit” initiative, now it needs to push to ensure that all state governments accept it. This will serve as a solution to the myriad issues facing the country’s road transport sector, improving road safety and facilitating transportation movement. Given the current environmental situation, we sincerely hope that the government will take steps to promote green fuel, which will improve efficiency and reduce costs. Together with the support of our government, IntrCity SmartBus will constantly aim at contributing towards positioning India as one of the leading travel economies of the world, “concluded Rathi