Ride-sharing can ease the traffic woes of cities
Carpooling has been shown to be able not just to increase savings but also reduce the emission of carbon dioxide
Schools closed, flights cancelled and untold health consequences for millions of people as Delhi drowns in a sea of smog. In what has become an annual event heralding the onset of winter in the capital, a blanket of toxic smog has enveloped the city choking Delhiites. We know what lies behind the misery: Vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, smoke from crop burning, and dust from construction. Ride-sharing companies have a significant role to play in addressing the first factor. By getting more people into fewer cars, and helping people get to and from public transit stations, we can reduce congestion and carbon emissions.
Over the years, Delhi-ncr has grown into one of the world’s largest urban agglomerations with more than 46 million people living in the region and contributing nearly 7-8% of the entire country’s GDP. Even today, while public transit remains a preferred mode of commuting for millions of residents in the city, rapid urbanisation is not only creating economic pressures on citizens, but also directly hindering their ability to access a key public good — an efficient transport system. The stress created by rapid urban migration has led to gaps in public transit, which in turn has led to an increase in private vehicle ownership contributing towards congestion-bred pollution. Like New Delhi, while most cities across the world have focussed on infrastructure investment towards building more roads and flyovers, global experience suggests that such measures will not adequately address the constant stress on our cities because of rapid urban migration.
The Boston Consulting Group found that up to 70% of private vehicles on the road today in Asia could be removed if ride-sharing becomes a viable substitute for private vehicle ownership. To disincentivise private car ownership and encourage public transport, it is important that walking distances are reduced, public transit is predictable and it’s close to people’s homes or mass transit stops. Ride-sharing and public transit modes share complementarities that can help in filling such gaps and minimise vehicular pollution. Such demand responsive services, when integrated with public and mass transport services (road-and rail-based), could potentially fill in the current void of last-mile connectivity, while providing alternative travel choices for less accessible locations.
Today, though all eyes are trained on the national capital, there are several cities in India that consistently recorded very high levels of air toxicity during the year.re-imagining the utilisation of existing resources can help build a real alternative to a world that moves like a jam, looks like a parking lot and feels like a gas chamber. An idea, great or nutty, helps us do many a thing, good or bad, that brings out the very best of our creativity. But what do we mean by an idea? Its meaning, as dictionaries define, is a plan, a mental impression or concept.
At times, taking it very lightly, we can define it as a vague belief or fancy. But, if we go to the seriousness of an idea, we need to interpret it as intention or purpose, close to ambition and aspiration.