From rattling buses and door-less trekkers to green electric fleets, a look at how the city's public transport has transformed over 13 years
Stand at Paltan Bazar or Beltola Tiniali at peak hour today, and you will notice something that would have been hard to imagine in 2013: the colours on the road have changed. Where once a monotony of tired, dust-streaked buses and black-and-yellow autos crawled through traffic, there is now a mix of green air-conditioned electric buses, yellow-and-green autos, and, most recently, the quiet blue of electric rickshaws.
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The palette of Guwahati's roads, in many ways, tells the story of the city's struggle and slow progress toward a modern public transport system.
A Time of Limited Choices
In 2013, a commuter in Guwahati had very few options. The city's public transport rested on three pillars: city buses, trekkers and shared taxis. There was no app to open, no ride to book from the comfort of a living room, and little certainty about when, or whether, the next vehicle would arrive.
Among these, the city buses run by the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) were the most widely used. They connected the sprawling neighbourhoods of the city, from Maligaon and Jalukbari in the west to Khanapara, Six Mile and Beltola in the south and east, and carried students, office-goers, vendors and daily wage earners alike. But they came with their own troubles. Many were aging, overcrowded during rush hour and uncomfortable in Guwahati's humid summers and heavy monsoons.
Trekkers, the rugged utility vehicles converted to carry passengers, filled the gaps where buses did not reach. They were cheap and quick to fill, but passengers recall them as cramped, noisy and unsafe, often without doors and packed beyond capacity. Shared taxis, meanwhile, plied fixed routes, picking up and dropping passengers along the way, and offered a slightly better ride at a slightly higher price.
For a city whose population and area were expanding fast, the system was stretched thin.
The Three-Wheeler Story
No vehicle is as closely tied to Guwahati's street identity as the auto rickshaw. For years, the roads were dominated by the black-and-yellow combination, a familiar sight outside railway stations, bus terminals and markets. The autos filled the last-mile gap that buses could not, ferrying people through narrow lanes and congested neighbourhoods.
In recent years, a new shade joined the traffic: the CNG run yellow-and-green autos. The colour change was more than cosmetic. It marked a shift in how the city thought about its fleet, with greater attention to emissions, regulation and identification.
The latest addition is the blue electric rickshaw. Silent, low on running costs and free of tailpipe smoke, the e-rickshaws have begun to appear on local routes and are slowly becoming a part of the daily commute. For drivers, the lower fuel expense is a major draw. For passengers, the quieter, cleaner ride is a welcome change in a city that has long grappled with noise and air pollution.
The App Arrives
The year 2015 marked a turning point with the launch of ride-sharing services in Guwahati, starting with an affordable, app-based model that promised convenience at the tap of a screen. For a generation of young professionals and students, it changed expectations. Fares were visible upfront, drivers could be tracked, and waiting on the roadside for a vehicle willing to go the desired distance became less of a gamble.
The arrival of app-based rides did not replace traditional transport, but it added a layer of choice and accountability that the city had not seen before. It also nudged existing operators to rethink how they served customers.
The Electric Bus Moment
The most visible leap came on January 1, 2024, when the Assam government introduced a fleet of 200 electric buses under the ASTC. The green, air-conditioned buses were a sharp contrast to the older diesel vehicles they joined on the road. Comfortable seating, cooler interiors and quieter engines made them an instant talking point.
For regular commuters, the difference was immediate. Air conditioning in a humid city, a smoother ride and a more dignified travel experience raised the standard of what public transport could offer. The electric buses also aligned with a larger vision of cutting emissions in a city that is growing rapidly and where vehicular pollution is a rising concern.
Transport observers say the move signalled a change in mindset: public transport was no longer just about moving people from point A to point B, but about doing so with comfort and sustainability in mind.
Voices from the Road
For those who have lived through the transformation, the change is deeply personal.
"The public commute in Guwahati has become very convenient in the last decade," says a young working professional who travels daily across the city. "I remember when I was a kid we had old cranky buses and trekkers without doors. They were not convenient, not comfortable and not efficient."
Her memory is shared by many who grew up in the city. Those who once hung on to the footboards of crowded vehicles now step into air-conditioned buses or book a ride on their phones. For women, students and senior citizens in particular, the improvements in comfort and safety have made everyday travel less stressful.
Challenges That Remain
Yet the story is not one of unqualified success. Guwahati's roads remain congested, and the city's geography, hemmed in by hills and the Brahmaputra, leaves little room for expansion. Waterlogging during monsoon, uneven road conditions and parking pressures continue to slow down even the best-planned services.
Commuters also point out that coverage is uneven. While central routes enjoy better service, outlying neighbourhoods still wait for more frequent and reliable connections. Experts say that integrating buses, autos, e-rickshaws and app-based rides into a single, seamless network, with common ticketing and better last-mile links, will be crucial to the next phase of growth.
There is also the question of infrastructure. A larger electric fleet needs adequate charging stations, trained maintenance staff and sustained funding. Without these, the gains of the past few years could be difficult to hold.
The Road Ahead
Thirteen years is a short time in the life of a city, yet Guwahati's roads look and feel remarkably different. The progression, from old buses and open trekkers to electric buses, coloured autos and blue e-rickshaws, reflects a city trying to keep pace with its own growth.
The colours on the road are changing, and with them, the way people move, work and live. Whether the green and blue of today become the dominant shades of tomorrow will depend on how well the city builds on its momentum: by keeping fares affordable, services reliable and the commuter at the centre of every decision.
For now, as the green electric buses glide past a blue auto on a busy morning, the commuters inside them, many of whom remember the days of cranky buses and door less trekkers, can at least see how far the journey has come.
