Climate Change and Transport in India: Initiatives and experience

O.P. AgarwalManaging Director, Urban Mass Transit Co.

Vice President, Institute of Urban Transport (India)

TRB 2009

National Action Plan on Climate Change

A comprehensive plan, with 8 missions, directly under the Prime Minister’s Office

1. Solar Mission

2. Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency

3. Mission on Sustainable Habitat

4. Water Mission

5. Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem

6. Mission for Green India

7. Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

8. Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

Mission on Sustainable Habitat

i. Extending application of the “Energy Conservation Building Code”

ii. Recycling of material and Urban Waste Management

iii. Better urban planning and modal shift to public transport

National Urban Transport Policy - 2006

Integrated land use and transport planning

Focus on public transport and NMT

Coordinated planning through a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority

Innovative Financing Use land as a resource Greater involvement of the private sector

Cleaner fuels

Capacity building – demonstration projects

National Urban Renewal Mission

Established a partnership for the national, provincial and local governments to finance the needed urban infrastructure

National government commits $ 12 billion over a 7 year period

Linked to prescribed reforms

Thus:

National UrbanTransport Policy

National UrbanRenewal Mission

Established aFramework for action

Created an incentivefor implementation

Unique features of the Indian situation

Dominance of 2-wheelers – makes a shift to public transport much more difficult to achieveRising income creates an urge to own a personal vehiclePoor social image of the bus and cyclingClimate and terrain can be constraints for NMT in some cities

Public Bus Transport in India

City population Number Number with formal bus services

> 4 million 7 7

1 – 4 million 28 8

0.5 to 1.0 million 50 5

0.1 to 0.5 million 370 NIL

Out of 85 cities with over 0.5 million people, only 20 have a structured bus service

Public bus transport in IndiaLargely dominated by state owned monopoly entitiesVery poor quality buses – image of a poor man’s compulsionServices lack customer focusInadequate capacityLoss making despite prime landIn Delhi – sizable segment of net cost private operators – small owners providing highly unsafe servicesInability to attract corporate operators

Initiatives taken15 cities plan to introduce modern bus services Indore has been a catalyst

BRT in 11 cities - others on the anvil6 cities planning new metro rail systemsNational pressure for Unified Metropolitan Transport AuthorityComprehensive mobility plan is a mustLarge capacity building program in the pipeline Training, Education, Legal frameworks, Institutions,

standards and manuals

Modern bus services

1. Attractive bus2. Offering value added services3. Financially sustainable

Innovative financing

4. Prioritization Traffic light signaling Road space

Bus Rapid TransitTwo cities have started services

Severe teething problems but now stabilizing

Good learning opportunity for others Need an influential champion Need to avoid haste Lack of capacity – city engineers, consultants,

people at large Unique problems need unique solutions Poor Public awareness Adverse impact on the influential section of society Complexity of the design process Value of reliable data

Future Outlook

Need one successful example to start operations

Need to avoid haste – there is still a lot to learn and imbibe

Better to have a delayed system than not have one at all

Metro rail systems

3 coming up on government financing

Others looking at PPP options

Hyderabad has created doubts on the PPP option

What has been overlooked

Simple low cost traffic improvement measures Intersection improvements Segregation of low speed and high speed vehicles One way streets Improved traffic circulation systems

Improvement/modernization of existing bus systemsImproving facilities for pedestrians and cyclists

Main challengesLack of capacity

Inadequate appreciation of holistic planning – tends to be fragmented

Fragmented governance

Preference for highly visible and high cost investments

Lack of a reliable database for credible planning

Inadequate contextual research