Govt issues advisory to revive urban transport

NEWDELHI:The Centre has issued an advisory to states with measures to revive urban transport amid the coronavirus disease pandemic.

The states have been asked to encourage and revive non-motorised transport, recommence public transport by adopting the right sanitization, containment and social distancing measures and utilize technology to curb the spread of virus through contact-less payment and common mobility card.

“Covid-19 pandemic has suddenly impacted our way of life and that of our local, regional and global transport systems. Evidence shows that there is a steep drop in public transport ridership volumes by 90%,” the advisory said.

The advisory issued by the ministry of housing and urban affairs on Friday has provided a three-pronged strategy to states.

The advisory suggests nonmotorised transport (NMT) for trips under five kilometres. “As most of the urban trips are clocked in under five kilometres, NMT offers perfect opportunity to implement in this COVID 19 crisis as it requires low cost, less human resource, easy & quick to implement, scalable and environment friendly,” it said.

Public places will need to become more suited for pedestrians and walking and cycling networks will need to be expanded, the ministry had said earlier.

“They need to demonstrate it in Delhi, where urban development is directly under the Centre’s control,” said KT Ravindran, former chairman of Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC).