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Context:

• 14th Urban Mobility Conference 2021.

About the Urban Mobility Conference:

• The main theme of this year’s conference is “Mobility for All” which focuses on providing equitable access and promote inclusive urban transportation which aims to provide affordable, clean, safe, informative, efficient and accessible transport systems, with special attention to the diverse needs from all factions of the society, especially the specially-abled, elderly, women and children.
• Sustainable mobility and universal access is crucial for achieving the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Issue with Urban Commuting

• Poor Bus Infrastructure: India’s ratio of buses to population is a low 1.2 per 1,000 people, compared to 8.6 in Thailand and 6.5 in South Africa, although some States like Karnataka are well ahead of the national average
• Pandemic shifted people to personal transport: COVID-19 has had the perverse effect of driving people away to the safety of personal car and two-wheeler bubbles.
• Private Sector Participation in bus transport: Licensed private urban bus services remain a politically sensitive topic in many States, where State monopolies coexist with unregulated paratransit, and it will take a major effort to convince them that a bus renaissance is a good post-pandemic recovery strategy. 
• Weak Regulations by umbrella authorities: State governments, which retain effective control over urban development rather than city administrations, have failed to operationalise the umbrella authorities to regulate transport.
• Vehicular Exhaust causing Pollution: As per a WHO study, 14 out of top-15 most-polluted cities in the world are in India. Rising pollution levels also translate into economic losses. As per current estimates the World Bank, the losses amount to 7.7% of the nation’s GDP.
• Traffic Congestion: Vehicles in some metros move at an average speed of 17kph. The congestion on the roads doesn’t exist in silos, and its adverse effects are carried forward to productivity and economic growth. As per the BCG-Uber report, the combined estimate of losses caused due to congestion in the top-four metro cities of India is worth more than $22 billion per annum.
• Multi-purpose use of roads in business zones: Roads in cities are multi-purpose public goods, used by various classes of motorized and non-motorized vehicles to travel, park, street-selling etc. Non-transportation uses of the roadway do slow down motorized vehicles.
• Innovative Products still at nascent stage: Common mobility cards that would help citizens use bus, train and feeder networks seamlessly were largely in pilot project mode even before the pandemic
• Expensive Mass Transport: There is valid criticism that the existing paradigm is one of “exclusionary urbanisation”, which makes Metro and bus services expensive for the majority, particularly for those forced to live in the suburbs due to housing costs, and sometimes making the per kilometre cost of using a two-wheeler more attractive.
• Poor Recognition of Urban areas: Census 2011 showed that the number of Census Towns, which are urban for census purposes but not named urban local bodies, grew tremendously over a decade. They lack access to funding, infrastructure and capacity to meet the needs of large populations even now

Government Initiatives:

• National Urban Transport Policy(NUTP) emphasizes the development of public transportation system and plans to increase their share to at least 50 percent of all motorized trips.
• The Government has come up with numerous initiatives ranging from Make in India, FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles), Green Mobility Fund, and Smart Cities, to the recently announced projects in high-speed mobility, namely high-speed trains and the proposed Hyperloop connectivity.
• JNNURM(Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) focus on transport sector funding various projects for transport infrastructure development.
• Cities are coming with new transport systems such as Bus Rapid Transit(BRT) and rail-based projects like Metro, Light Rail Transit(LRT) and Monorail.
• A 10 lakh crore National Transport Master Plan is on working which aimed at a smooth movement of passengers and freight across multiple modes of transport.
• A lot of discussions has taken place over the feasibility and profitability of High-Speed Rail(HSR) Network.
• The idea of the Electric vehicle has been promoted. The ministry of power has announced an all-electric car fleet in India by 2030.
• The government has turned its attention to Transit Oriented Development which focuses on micro development focusing on transit nodes which result in improved ease of access to transit facilities. This will also encourage citizen to prefer walking and choosing public transport over using private vehicles.

NitiAyog Suggestions:

• Clean: Pollution-free, leading to clean air and hence better health and living standards
• Convenient: Seamless, safe, affordable, accessible for all sections including the elderly & disabled and connected – both in terms of technology as well as connecting key rural and urban centers
• Congestion-free: Minimum congestion levels, and hence enhanced economic efficiency

Issues with Government Initiatives:

• Presently, there is no legislation at central, state or local level that comprehensively covers urban transport requirements of Indian cities. The current systems of laws, regulations and governance for urban transport are the legacy of an era when Indian cities were sparsely populated and had not yet witnessed the kind of transport problems they are encountering today.
• Fragmented Institutional Frameworks : Urban transport systems require several functions to be performed in a well-coordinated manner for seamless and comfortable travel experience for commuters. Unfortunately, these are performed by multiple agencies under the central, state and city governments which do not necessarily work together.
• Distorted land markets affecting transport infrastructure development: Very high costs of land acquisition along with arduous and time-consuming processes are a major barrier for planning integrated urban transport infrastructure. About 70 per cent of delays in all infrastructure projects in 2008 were due to problems related to land acquisition .
• Comprehensive design standards for transport infrastructure : lacking Common standards for design, operation and maintenance of transport infrastructure and rolling stock are relatively absent in India. Even if there are existing standards for road construction or metro systems, they are not mandatorily applied during design and construction.
• Human Resource challenges: Urban transportation is a complex system as it constitutes several activities, stakeholders and processes. Unfortunately, the capability for undertaking a coordinated approach along with a holistic understanding of transport issues and their causes involved is generally lacking at the state government and city level.
• Absence of reliable transport data: The absence of a database with scientific management and analysis of urban transport statistics has severely constrained the ability to formulate sound urban transport plans and reliably assess the impact of the different projects carried out in the cities.

Suggestions:

• Re-aligning legal and regulatory instruments: sustainable urban transport vision in India can occur only through an enabling constitutional and regulatory framework.
• Institutional Restructuring: Innovative ideas and integrated policies towards sustainable transport need strong supporting institutional and governance structures.
• participatory mechanisms must be in place to ensure that planning and investment decisions are socially inclusive, and engage public in a shared common vision for their city and neighbourhoods.
• the central government should house an empanelled set of experts, also called the Office of Transport Strategy (OTS). The role of OTS would be to create standards for urban transport performance as well as provide technical and managerial expertise to states and city authorities engaged in urban transport.
• Creation of a separate new Ministry of Urban Transport at state government/union territory level that is headed by the secretary is recommended. Land use and transport functions from other state departments at urban agglomerations should be transferred to this new ministry.

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