Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has put the 'skybus' back in the spotlight with a concept video on X on Thursday night.
It shows a sleek white pod-like vehicle gliding on an elevated track above a crowded city junction.
In the Hindi post, Gadkari described the flying bus as more than a new transport technology.
He called it the imagination of an India where innovation serves public welfare, convenience and a better future, not just speed. He signed off with "new thinking, new technology, new heights."
The idea is not new for the minister. In February 2022, during an election campaign in Prayagraj, he said a detailed project report was being prepared to evaluate skybus lines linking Delhi and Prayagraj.
In September 2022, he told reporters in Bengaluru that the Centre would study skybuses, pointing to systems in the Philippines and other countries. A month later, he proposed a cable-run skybus for Amritsar, especially for the narrow lanes around the Golden Temple.
More recently, Gadkari has linked the concept to specific corridors. He has said the government wants to start an aerial pod system from Dhaula Kuan to Manesar, with similar studies under way in Bengaluru and Pune.
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The pitch resurfaced publicly in July. At the launch of the Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway on July 13, he reiterated his vision of flying buses to tackle urban traffic and cut dependence on fossil fuels.
He said he would soon introduce flying buses, adding that he had already brought seaplanes that can land on water.
Despite the name, the 'flying bus' is not an aircraft. The term refers to driverless electric aerial pods and double-decker trolley buses running on elevated lines.
That condition matters. Elevated, lightweight systems are usually pitched as cheaper and faster to build than metro rail, but none of the proposals has yet moved from feasibility study to a sanctioned project.
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