[sustran] State of public transport Ready for peak oil?

[Vinay Baindur]

www.thehindu.com/news/national/ready-for-peak-oil/article5104753.ece





State of public transport
Ready for peak oil?Smriti Kak Ramachandran

   -
   [image: The recent suggestion to curtail the use of fuel by limiting the
   use of private cars has again been questioned by commuters.]
   The HinduThe recent suggestion to curtail the use of fuel by limiting
   the use of private cars has again been questioned by commuters.
   -

*THE SUNDAY STORY* As cities expand and markets keep fuel prices high,
Indians are demanding better public transport. The States must deliver, but
they are only inching ahead.

In the chorus of angry voices against the horrific gang rape of a paramedic
student on a moving bus in the national capital on December 16 last, one
issue that quickly became apparent was the state of public transport in
urban areas. The shocking incident forced policymakers to take a relook at
the management and regulation of public transport in Delhi and other urban
areas.

Concerns about the safety of women in public transport were supplemented by
questions about fixing accountability — who is responsible for unregulated
buses and other modes of transport, the State or urban transport
authorities or the police — and about the urban transport policy itself.

The chorus derailed the government’s attempts to coax commuters into
leaving their private vehicles at home and moving to public modes. And the
recent suggestion to curtail the use of fuel by limiting the use of private
cars has again been questioned by commuters. They want to know why they
were being asked to opt for public transport when it was neither safe nor
reliable.

*Revamp inevitable*

The realisation that public transport needs a holistic revamp has dawned,
says S.K. Lohia, Officer on Special Duty at the Union Urban Development
Ministry. Admitting that the public transport system is far from
satisfactory, Mr. Lohia says it is unfair to blame the policy and the
Centre. There is a lack of coordination and concerted efforts at the local
urban levels needs to be addressed.

“After December 16, suddenly the focus was on what safety measures are in
place in buses. When we drafted the new bus specifications in 2008 under
the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and made it mandatory
for buses to have closed circuit cameras, LED display boards, audio-video
passenger information services, everyone, from the manufacturers to the
policymakers, questioned and opposed these changes,” he recalls.

A rundown of various parameters that define the success of a public
transport system shows yawning gaps — most cities have unregulated bus
services, the condition of buses is far from reassuring, roads and modes of
transport are not safe and the concept of seamless integration with the
first and last mile connectivity remains on paper.

There has been a spate of interventions by the Urban Development Ministry,
first there was the National Urban Transport Policy, then came the service
level benchmarks for grading cities and pilot projects of BRT and dedicated
cycling tracks, advisories to opt for mass rapid transit systems and make
roads safe, but with results slow and far from encouraging, the Ministry is
now banking on the unified National Urban Transport Authority of India
(NUTAI) to implement a unified law to govern transport and mobility.

“Public transport has to be taken up as a public service and States and
urban local bodies have to show political will to invigorate the system.
Currently, there is a multiplicity of authorities. We are hoping that once
NUTAI is in place there will be better planning and coordination. The
issues of lack of awareness and capacity-building have to be addressed.
While the challenges are many, we have to admit that there has been
discernible change: for example, the buses introduced under the JNNURM have
been a success, the Metro is very popular. When we compare with the
baseline, we have come a long way,” he says.

Prof. Dinesh Mohan of the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention
Programme (TRIPP) at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi disagrees.
“The Urban Transport Policy is too much technology-oriented. There is no
dearth of means of transport, there are buses, there is the Metro, there
are para-transit systems, but the question is how do you make cities better
by having safer roads and better mobility.”

Prof. Mohan argues that to encourage the use of public transport, the first
steps are to ensure the streets are safe and accessible. “Unless commuters,
especially women and children feel safe, they will not use public
transport. There is too much focus on technology, we have to shift focus on
cleaner, sustainable modes of transport, stop widening of roads, reduce
speed and construction of flyovers,” he says.

So while the Ministry is banking on earlier policies and newer initiatives
like the NUTAI to make amends and bring in change, experts point to the
need for pragmatic interventions. “There has to be change in policy, design
and implementation. There has to be integrated, single window approach
towards issues of mobility, energy, road safety, environment and social
angles. Multiplicity of authority has destroyed the public transport
systems,” says Nalin Sinha of the Delhi-based NGO Initiative For Transport
Development Project.

Mr. Sinha, who was part of the team that drew up the NUTP, says public
transport has to be seen as more than just a mode of commuting and
mobility. “It is the first indicator of democracy and equity of the city.”

Keywords: Public
transport<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ready-for-peak-oil/article5104753.ece?css=print#>
, Oil prices<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ready-for-peak-oil/article5104753.ece?css=print#>
, Oil price hike<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ready-for-peak-oil/article5104753.ece?css=print#>
, Union Urban Development
Ministry<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ready-for-peak-oil/article5104753.ece?css=print#>
, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ready-for-peak-oil/article5104753.ece?css=print#>
, Transportation Research and Injury Prevention
Programme<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ready-for-peak-oil/article5104753.ece?css=print#>
, Sunday Story<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ready-for-peak-oil/article5104753.ece?css=print#>