Infrastructure

KEY POINTS

Why it is unsustainable?

·         Independent vehicles such as cars, motorbikes have fully occupied Indian roads nowadays.

·         This resulted in never-ending traffic jams in most of the Indian cities.

·         E.g. Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai were never famous for its fast roads.

·         This gets aggravated when the governments across the country did not make any constructive measures to arrest this phenomenon.

·         An individual will stop using his/her private vehicles only if the public transport is faster, but that is possible only if everyone uses the public transport.

·         Unfortunately, city-development plans have failed to create the right incentives, as is borne out by the preference for private transport.

·         In contrast, the over-crowded public transports, long way to bus stops and unsafe pedestrian paths encourages the middle class populations to aspire for their own independent vehicles.

How to make it sustainable

·         The urban transport policy must rethink the hierarchy of needs; pedestrians and cyclists must be on top, followed by buses and then motor vehicles.

·         It is evident that there isn’t enough space for everyone to drive their own vehicle and the government must pivot the policy to delivering reliable public transport.

·         The metro project is a step in the right direction, but it needs complementary changes that improve the citizens’ experience.

·         For starters, the metro system needs a bus system to provide last-mile connectivity. If people have to take buses, they need pedestrian paths to walk on the roads. The bus system also needs to be reliable.

·         Empower municipal bodies, encourage states to delegate more powers to them, and improve the delivery of services such as a separate cycle ways and safe pedestrian paths.

·         Many were suggesting the electric and hybrid buses will be a game changer.

·         But, changing the fuel of the bus will reduce emissions, but there will be dramatically bigger gains if we are able to prompt even a quarter of the private vehicle-using population to use public transport.

·         India has plenty of assets that are decaying due to poor maintenance. Policymakers will do well to make space for depreciation accounts in their budgets to pay for maintenance and replacement of public assets.

Sustainable Transport.

Kindly Review

Hi, 

Kindly clarify the relevance of using data from Global Mobility Report 2017 in this question. 

Thanks.