Delhi’s public transport system needs an upgrade
NEW DELHI: Before plunging into electric mobility, Delhi needs to first augment its traditional public transport system, experts said on Wednesday.
Participating in a panel discussion on future of mobility at WRI’S Connect Karo 2018 seminar, Geetam Tiwari, professor at Iit-delhi, said that keeping Metro aside, cities are not investing enough in public transport.
While Delhi has a vast capitalintensive Metro network, the city has hit a six-year low when it comes to its fleet of buses. Against the need of 11,000 buses, Delhi at present has 5,393 buses. While green-fuelled CNG buses haven’t been added, the Delhi government has decided to buy at least 1,900 electric buses.
Air conditioned CNG low-floor buses that are currently running on Delhi roads cost around ₹85 lakh each, while an AC electric bus would cost ₹2.5 crore.
“The census 2011 data shows that 30% people walk to work. So, we need to cater to this 30% and enhance the pedestrian experience. Everyone is talking about shared revolution in the context of cabs/taxis. But, we must not forget that all mass transit modes are already shared modes of commute. We should build a kind of ecosystem that is seamless and safe so that people move to mass transit,” Tiwari, who heads IIT’S transportation engineering department, said.
Union minister for commerce and civil aviation Suresh Prabhu too emphasised on the need to gradually shift to an environment where the electricity used by electric vehicles is not generated in polluting coal-fired plants. “Unless electric vehicles itself don’t use non-fossil fuels, the target of green and a sustainable city won’t be achieved,” the minister said.
According to Naveen Munjal, managing director of Hero Eco Limited, the ‘electric vehicle’ revolution in India will begin from the two-wheeler sector. Experts said that Delhi could be an ideal place for starting this revolution as the city has 68 lakh two-wheelers out of a total registered vehicular population of over 1 crore.
“I say the electric vehicle revolution will start from two-wheelers because it is easier to facilitate the change – which includes charging infrastructure, batteries and so on,” Munjal said.
Experts from WRI also released a report on ‘Land Value Capture Financing for Implementing Transit-oriented Development (TOD) in Indian cities’.