From yanivbin at gmail.com Thu Feb 13 14:30:05 2014 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 11:00:05 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Ludhiana Metro plan dumped, govt doles out Rs 1, 250 cr-BRTS ahead of LS polls Message-ID: tHIS SHOWS HOW THE mETRO LOBBY influences decisions in other places http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ludhiana/metro-plan-dumped-govt-doles-out-rs-1250-cr-brts-ahead-of-ls-polls/ *Metro plan dumped, govt doles out Rs 1,250 cr-BRTS ahead of LS polls* Written by Divya Goyal | Ludhiana | February 13, 2014 6:55 am Print Councillors during the emergency MC House meeting on Wednesday. (Gurmeet Singh) SUMMARY 39.5 km system to run on five corridors and be completed by 2018. *After spending crores on preparing Detailed Project report of the proposed Ludhiana Metro project (since 2011) which was estimated to cost a whopping Rs 10,330 crore, SAD- BJP government on Wednesday doled out much 'cheaper and economical' Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) for Ludhiana which will cost Rs 1,250 crore only.* The move comes few days before the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls has brought forth the financial crunch of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation and state government which is now sending this project to Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for getting 50 per cent funds from the Centre and it was presented before the MC General House emergency meeting for instant approval. Addressing the house, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria talked straight and announced that 'for the time being Ludhiana Metro has been kept aside and now we are seeking house's approval for BRTS which like the Metro is aimed at solving traffic congestion in the city.' The house taking a unanimous call approved the project which will now be put forth in a meeting with JNNURM officials in New Delhi. Isha Kalia, additional commissioner said, "The project is on the lines of Metro only but difference is that instead of rail tracks and trains, corridors will made especially for buses." "We have to send the project to JNNURM for their approval and getting funds from centre so an emergency meeting was called," she added. The project will be thoroughly carried out under guidance of Punjab Bus Metro society (PBMS) and is expected to be completed by 2018. However, the first phase of 14.5 km from Ayali Chowk to Gill village is proposed to be implemented in 2014-15 with fleet of 48 buses. From yanivbin at gmail.com Thu Feb 13 14:32:47 2014 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 11:02:47 +0530 Subject: [sustran] LUDHIANA MC meeting today on BRTS approval Message-ID: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ludhiana/MC-meeting-today-on-BRTS-approval/articleshow/30281263.cms *MC meeting today on BRTS approval* TNN | Feb 12, 2014, 03.37 PM IST LUDHIANA: An emergency house meeting of the municipal corporation has been called on Wednesday to get approval for the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) in the city. The meeting has been called as emergency, keeping in mind the model code of conduct that would come into force due to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, after which the project could be delayed indefinitely. The detailed project report of the BRTS has already been prepared by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIBD), with an estimate of Rs1,250 crore for the same. Once the project gets the nod of the house, it will be discussed with officials of the Ministry of Urban Development in New Delhi on Friday. "Once we get a nod from the central government, funds from JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) will float in for the project," asserted additional commissioner Isha Kalia. The 39-km BRTS will be constructed in various parts of the city, and will provide relief to people from traffic snarls, as the flyovers will have separate Volvo buses running on it, with Jagraon Bridge Flyover as the main junction. The project will have two lines -- Ferozepur Road to Jagraon Bridge Flyover, and Vishkarma Chowk to Jagraon Bridge Flyover. Major roads of the city -- including Hambran Road, Rahon Road, and Gill Road, will be connected to the BRTS line. The decision to make the project a priority was taken by deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal during his visit to the city on Monday. From yanivbin at gmail.com Fri Feb 14 02:27:51 2014 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 22:57:51 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Breathing Space: Combating traffic congestion Message-ID: http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/standpoint-breathing-space-combating-traffic-congestion-1961691 *Breathing Space: Combating traffic congestion*Thursday, February 13, 2014 - 11:02 IST | Agency: DNA Lalit Contractor The average growth rate of vehicular traffic in Mumbai was 7% over the past seven years, with 300-350 new vehicles entering service every day. Crippling congestion requires alleviatory measures like tolls, which are discussed from a theoretical and practical perspective. Image for representational purposes RNA Research & Archives Every urban Indian probably has a traffic horror story, one he/she initially thinks is so terrible it deserves an audience of sympathisers, only for subsequent experience or casual conversation to prompt a revaluation. Indian cities, those sprawling vortices of life, have oft been touted as the "engines" of future growth, going by the role that similar agglomerations like New York and London have played and continue to play for their and the global economy. Yet most developing countries witness awful traffic snarls on a daily basis that should be considered synonymous with the development process, but only highlight the progress to be made. The economic, environmental, even physical (think tension, road rage and accidents) costs of congestion are all too evident to a denizen of these afflicted cities, consequently becoming of interest to policymakers as well, who rely on various instruments to either directly or obliquely tackle traffic congestion and its concomitant problems, to varying effects. A recent proposal motivated by this agenda was a 200% increase in tax on an additional (i.e. beyond the first) automobile owned by a family in Mumbai. It was felt that this would help congestion, rather bluntly, by reducing the potential number of vehicles plying the roads of the city. While the proposal received meagre press coverage, it and the abysmal state of roads in Mumbai today, excavated and reduced to strips, highlight the growing realisation that the present situation is untenable. Congestion is by no means an Indian, or even emerging or poor country phenomenon, and many developed countries have increasingly resorted to certain forms of incentivised traffic control that suggest the way forward. This article considers the Mumbai reform proposal, by articulating some results of the congestion pricing literature and describing other nations' attempts to implement the prescribed policy measures, while also briefly remarking on some other features of our urban development. Congestion pricing in theory The earliest and simplest model dealing with congestion is static in nature, focusing on a single road, and is based on the realisation that traffic congestion is an externality imposed by motorists on their fellow travellers. As in traditional economic analysis, one requires some conception of "travel demand", which here is measured by vehicle flow, i.e. the quantity of trips demanded per unit of time. Travel is in some ways an intermediate good or service for a consumer, a means to an end (like work, shopping, recreation etc.). The cost of travelling depends on various things, like fuel costs, the opportunity cost of time spent in a queue as against working, costs of delayed/early arrival at destination etc. The dominant measure here is obtained from the speed-flow relationship. The fewer the number of vehicles, the higher the speed a vehicle can travel at. This speed declines with the number of vehicles, but if congestion is excessive, speeds may even increase, as more travellers opt away (termed "hypercongestion"). Travel costs then use the time cost interpretation (while also adding other costs like fuel and maintenance), and are derived from the speed-flow curve. Traditional analysis equates the price of travel to private marginal cost (equal to the average social cost when there are many travellers), which neglects the externality effect. The social marginal cost includes this effect, and its incorporation into the analysis determines the efficient outcome, which can be arrived at through the imposition of a toll, the difference between these two marginal costs, called the Pigouvian tax. By accounting for the "proper" cost of travel, the toll raises the price faced by travellers and thus reduces the number of trips demanded. Inevitably, this reduces consumer welfare as fewer people (those with a lower willingness to pay lose out, although they might resort to other modes of transport) travel, and those that do pay a higher price. On the other hand, the toll leads to an efficient outcome, resulting in gains from its implementation vis-?-vis the no-toll scenario. Finally, the proceeds from the toll (accruing to the government) could be channelled back to citizens, directly or indirectly (e.g. by reducing other tax burdens, or by funding infrastructure projects, preferably linked to the congested area itself). Social welfare increases as the efficiency terms dominate. However, the worsening of consumer welfare post-toll indicates why relatively few nations have actually implemented congestion pricing, another reminder of the importance of political considerations and acceptability for successful policy promulgation. Things look more promising from an implementation perspective once one introduces a dynamic component, such as the dependence of travel demand on time or the evolution of travel flows over space and time. The most tractable approach involves considering congestion at a "bottleneck", in recognition of the fact that they are quite pervasive and require a different sort of analysis. Now, individuals are assumed to care about both the cost of travel delays, analogous to the time cost above, and also a schedule delay cost incurred when one arrives at the destination at a time other than his/her preferred time. The bottleneck is assumed to have a fixed capacity (i.e. only a limited number of vehicles can traverse the stretch at a point in time). Consequently, the traffic inflows and outflows help determine the length of a queue (if any) and the duration of traffic delay and also schedule delay. Naturally, if inflows are below full capacity, there is no bottleneck queue and the rate of inflows equals that of outflows. In the other case, there is queuing and outflows equal the capacity of the bottleneck. It is assumed that travellers can decide their starting times (the time taken to reach the bottleneck from the origin, and to reach the destination from the bottleneck are assumed to be identical for all agents and often ignored). In the no-toll case, the outcome is a Nash equilibrium with the choice variable being the departure time. An individual's choice would depend on his relative evaluation of the costs of travel versus schedule delay, which are often correlated with the income level. The optimal outcome is one determined by a hypothetical social planner maximising citizen welfare. Both the decentralised outcome and the optimal outcome result in no travel delays as traffic flows are maintained at capacity for the duration of the period. However, at the optimum, departure times are chosen so as to minimise aggregate schedule delays. The social optimum could be achieved with the aid of a time-varying congestion toll, which would depend on a variety of factors (including preferences over arrival times) and could be quite complex. However, the time delay cost would vanish, and schedule delays too might be lower, although travel costs would be higher under the toll. The toll would also tend to benefit those who valued travel time more, suggesting regressiveness. The fact that only departure times differ between the decentralised and optimal outcomes suggests a greater degree of "acceptability", i.e. a higher chance of implementation. This model has been extended to cover elastic travel demand, heterogeneity in travel costs, preferences over arrival time etc. The last extension in particular suggests more gains from the imposition of a toll, as arrival times could be tailored according to preferences, raising welfare. Another extension has been to the study of networks, and the pricing of various constituent links. Here, the optimal outcome is for each linked to be tolled efficiently, which is often infeasible. A related concept is cordon pricing, wherein access to and within an entire area is tolled. These two approaches are simple, focusing on a single congested path (although several authors have used more realistic settings). Na?ve adoption of an optimal congestion toll without consideration of other distortions in the system (e.g. other taxes) can reduce welfare, an accounting of which leads us to the theory of the second-best. Many studies have sought to move away from the ideal, first-best scenario highlighted above toward a constrained sort of analysis. Inevitably, welfare gains will be lower than what could be achieved in the ideal scenario. One example is when not all links in a network can be tolled, for political or even logistical reasons. This includes an often seen situation where tolled and toll-free routes coexist. The existence of a (perhaps imperfect) substitute suggests travel demand elasticity is a factor. Indeed, the optimal second-best toll includes not only a marginal congestion cost for the tolled route, but also accounts for route diversion effects owing to toll spillovers on the toll-free route, which in turn depend on price elasticity of travel demand and route capacities. The relative efficiency with regard to the ideal depends on the degree of information available and the reach of the instrument at hand. Second-best tolls are also more complex, so even well intentioned programs could be damaging if potential spillovers are not accounted for. Allowing for dynamic aspects brings efficiency gains following the aforementioned channels. It is difficult in practice to implement a time-varying toll such as the one suggested by bottleneck analyses. A compromise has been the introduction of differential pricing over time slots, e.g. during rush hour and off-peak hours, which compare favourably from an efficiency perspective with flat (invariant) tolls. The more the number of steps in such a "step" toll, the greater the efficiency. Another issue might be the inability (due to informational or political problems) of differentiating between users, which could produce further distortions, like possible substitution between modes, besides direct efficiency losses. One should also consider the interactions with other distortions that motivate the second-best theory. Tolls raise the cost of living and thus lower the real wage rate, thereby discouraging work incentives. This could be mitigated through judicious use of toll revenues, like improving capacity, but simple redistribution could further dampen labour supply. We would also do well to realise that individuals might not always be able to predict what traffic will be like, either due to general or idiosyncratic uncertainty. In such cases, real time information sharing systems could be useful (e.g. through radio, GPS and sites like Traffline.com) Tolls might also affect incentives for capacity expansion, which has been the long-standing palliative for congestion problems. On the one hand, travel costs go down with an increase in capacity. On the other hand, the number of trips made goes up as well when the price of a trip declines. With underpricing of road use, the second effect is negative (using the argument in the simple model that marginal social benefits are less than corresponding costs), so the net effect is ambiguous. Choosing a toll lower than the first-best level could raise the marginal benefit from expansion, as the first positive effect would dominate. In the bottleneck model, expansion would alter departure times, which should be accounted for while setting tolls. Two topics that bear some relevance in a second-best environment are parking fees and public transport, both of which are sometimes used as indirect decongesting mechanisms. Parking is a vital problem in most developing nations, with encroachments rampant and not enough facilities. Parking fees are a significant component of total travel costs, and so optimal pricing should follow the marginal cost approach described earlier. This is rarely practiced, however, distorting both incentives for travellers regarding modal choice, and the possible creation of facilities on account of an effective zero charge due to encroachment. A spatially differentiated parking toll could bring about a desired parking pattern. If the ultimate aim of any policy is to bring the number of vehicles down (which also reduces emissions), one must consider alternative arrangements like public transport that, as seen above, would also affect second-best road tolls. Marginal cost pricing would suggest low public transit fares (when capacity is adequate), which neglects the impact of underpriced roads on fares that would tend to subsidise public transit (to reduce overall congestion). The subsidy would depend on scale economies in public transit, as well as on the degree of congestion reduction due to modal diversion (which would not matter if road travel were optimally priced).The first factor arises when marginal costs are below average costs, for example due to fixed costs or a decline in waiting time when frequency increases. The relative importance of these two factors is time, mode and location specific. In practice, public transit subsidies are often motivated by distributional concerns, and the related idea of acceptability. >From theory to practice Actual congestion pricing schemes are hardly universal, with the incidence of higher tolls on travellers, regressiveness and consequent acceptability issues being prime factors. The complexity of optimal tolls obtained in more realistic settings is also not ideal. Nevertheless, the sweeping transformation that information technology has brought to our lives suggests that such complexity can be handled at an increasingly lower cost. The classic application of congestion pricing is the Area License Scheme (ALS) OF Singapore, instituted in 1975 in the business district, which has been increasingly reliant on technology like smart cards. Spillover effects onto substitute routes have been a problem over the years, despite the gradual accounting for of such effects in toll setting. The tolls are time varying, depending on average speeds measured in the last quarter, and are frequently revised. The London cordon-pricing scheme, applicable to vehicles traversing its business district, began in 2003 and relied on video identification using number plates. It has been successful in that traffic has declined in the area while road speeds have gone up, with the already extensive tube and bus systems proving very useful. The United States too employs time varying tolls in certain areas in an approach called "Value Pricing", where some routes have to be left toll free, but results have been mixed with spillover effects often underestimated. In the context of what we have learnt, a higher tax on additional vehicles would be a crude tool (although other proposals include revised parking charges and fuel taxes). Automobile expansion is inevitable, being a facet of a higher standard of living and a tangible embodiment of social mobility. In the absence of capacity expansion plans, it is true that a congestion toll would reduce the number of vehicles plying a route. Yet, the ideal congestion toll brings about the socially efficient outcome, and more realistic tolls are designed to get close to that outcome. The proposed tax hike would distort consumption decisions, for example by inducing consumers to switch to cheaper modes of transport (although it is not difficult to imagine congestion itself as a factor in a vehicle purchasing decision). Further, route or even cordon pricing is applicable to specific areas or roads, while such a tax hike would dissuade consumers from overall travel. Given the obvious correlation between income and the number of vehicles owned, such a tax would be progressive, although the behavioural response to so exorbitant an increase (captured by elasticity) hints at limited revenue being actually generated. Considering also that the affluent would tend to have a greater willingness to pay high tolls, potential revenue could also be forgone. One could also question the impact such an increase would have on congestion, as multiple vehicle owners are unlikely to make up a significant proportion of the vehicle driving population. The muted response of automakers is surprising as well, and could be construed as scepticism regarding the plan's outcome and even its implementation. Finally, issues of fairness in treating purchasing cohorts differently and penalising large families should be considered. Interestingly, a committee under the aegis of the Mumbai High Court last March mooted the idea of congestion pricing through a sort of cordon tax imposed on vehicles in the Central Business District, while also recommending paid parking for residents and in older, less capacious areas (see here). It especially advocated the use of technology in gathering and disseminating information and setting tolls (recall that the use of instruments like GPS alleviate uncertainty discussed above). They too proposed a cap on new registrations alongside these measures. A few final points are in order. First, vehicles have other externalities as well, the most insidious being accidents and pollution. The fuel tax and emission standards are the appropriate instruments with regard to the latter, and India too has been utilising them. Second, it is imperative that a decongesting plan employing whatsoever instrument should also keep in mind the availability of alternatives, and not just from a pricing viewpoint. While the aim of keeping road traffic manageable is laudable, a policymaker must realise that although he could certainly influence mode-specific demand, he should not try to distort overall travel decisions, i.e. going to work, making purchases etc., which he could do via ill-thought policies. Public transit is a natural outlet for decongestion, and urban planners and local, state and central governing agencies have focused increasingly on improving their quality, through schemes like the JNNURM, metropolitan area metro services (including monorail services) and Bus Rapid Transit schemes (BRTs). There are questions regarding the viability of the Metros, and the half-baked nature of implementation of BRTs, which often do not have separate lanes and therefore lose most of their raison d'?tre. Nevertheless, the successful implementation of BRTs in some cities like Ahmedabad bodes well. References for the curious reader The pioneer in the field of congestion pricing was the versatile economist William Vickrey, who proposed the simple bottleneck model. A comprehensive account of his work and that of his peers and followers can be found in the (technical) text, The Economics of Urban Transportation, 2007, Routledge, by Kenneth Small and Erik Verhoef, particularly chapters 2 and 3. Good and less technical reviews are 'Traffic congestion and road pricing' by Robin Lindsey and Verhoef in the Handbook of Transport Systems and Traffic Control, Pergamon, 2002; and 'The Rationale for Road Pricing: Standard Theory and Latest Advances' by Kenneth Button in Road Pricing: Theory and Evidence, Research in Transport Economics (Volume 9), 2004. An account of the externalities imposed by automobiles with a decidedly American perspective is 'Automobile Externalities and Policies' by Ian Parry, Margaret Walls and Winston Harrington in the Journal of Economic Literature, June 2007. There have been papers on urban poverty and transport using data from Mumbai by authors affiliated with the World Bank. Note also that transport costs (including those due to congestion) play a key role in theories of trade and economic geography. A good resource on road taxes is the study, 'Road User Taxes in India' by Mahesh Purohit and Vishnu Purohit, commissioned by the Planning Commission (available here). An interesting experiment conducted by researchers affiliated with Stanford University and Infosys in Bangalore (called INSTANT) provided decongesting incentives to commuters, described here. Lalit Contractor has a MPhil in Economics from Oxford University and is curious about Economics and its interactions with politics and society. From yanivbin at gmail.com Fri Feb 14 17:34:24 2014 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 14:04:24 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Norms for fuel efficiency to put auto makers under pressure Message-ID: http://www.livemint.com/Industry/XctQqjlxvTagxqh4ZzsD3K/Norms-for-fuel-efficiency-to-put-auto-makers-under-pressure.html *Norms for fuel efficiency to put auto makers under pressure* The move, once implemented, is likely to reduce the carbon footprint of the automobile industry Amrit Raj Under the new norms, the industry will have to ensure that the mileage of cars on Indian roads improves by 10% by 2021. Photo: Bloomberg New Delhi: In a setback to the automobile industry, already under pressure because of declining sales, the government has notified mandatory fuel efficiency norms that would push up their production costs. At the same time, the move, once implemented, is likely to reduce the carbon footprint of the automobile industry. It is the first time that such norms have been introduced. Of the more than 80 car models plying on Indian roads at present, only around eight comply with these standards. Under the new norms, the industry will have to ensure that the mileage of cars on Indian roads improves by 10% by 2021. The second phase, for which the government did not specify a deadline, will begin from 2022 and targets a fuel efficiency improvement by 30%. Failure to comply will invite a penalty. Under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, car makers that fail to meet carbon emission norms will be fined Rs.10 lakh initially and asked to pay a penalty of Rs.10,000 a day till their car models meet the norms, said Ajay Mathur, director general, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). These norms were finalized by BEE, which functions under India's power ministry. The move couldn't have come at a worse time for the Indian automobile industry, which is struggling with a decline in sales in the face of slowing economic growth and is on course to post its first sales drop in 10 years in the 12 months to 31 March. Higher fuel costs and more expensive loans have deterred car buyers in Asia's third-largest economy. The move to enforce stringent fuel-efficiency norms is significant in the context of higher oil prices, a weaker rupee and efforts to contain pollution in the country. India imports around 80% of its oil requirement and spent $144.293 billion on oil imports in the last fiscal year. Carbon dioxide emissions by vehicles, after the implementation of the new norms, are projected to come down from 142gm per km in 2010-11 to 129.8gm by 2021-22 and 113gm 2022 onwards. A report by Yale and Columbia universities last month called Delhi the world's most polluted city. Car penetration levels in India are only 1/15th those of the US. Carbon dioxide emissions by cars is likely to come down by 8.59 % by 2021-22 and by 20.42% from 2022 onwards. This would mean that the car makers will have to make further investments in new technologies in order to achieve greater fuel efficiency, which, in turn, will have an impact on their profit margins. Mint reported in September 2012 that the government's plan to enforce stricter fuel efficiency norms for cars is likely to increase the cost of cars by at least 15%. The industry lobby Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) could not confirm the expected increase in cost. Mathur of BEE added that since the norms had been notified, the bureau will now begin work on a star rating system for vehicles. As per the original plan, BEE was to give a one-star rating for the least fuel efficient vehicles and five stars for the most efficient in their respective weight class. Vehicles with a higher star rating are expected to be more expensive. BEE had earlier formulated similar standards and star labels for electrical appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators. According to data provided by Siam, car makers have sold at least 29 million passenger vehicles in India between 1960 and 2013. A power ministry notification dated 30 January said the new norms are applicable on the vehicles "used for the carriage of passengers and their luggage and comprising not more than nine seats including driver's seat, and of gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3,500kg tested on chassis dynamometer (hereinafter referred to as the said motor vehicle) for the purpose of manufacturing or importing for sale of the said category of motor vehicles". Chassis dynamometer is a device that measures the amount of power translated from the wheels to the racing surface. These energy consumption standard are for the motor vehicles using petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). The government has extended the deadline for implementation of the new norms by a year. Initially, the first phase was to be launched from 2015, and the second from 2020. But a delay in notifying the norms has led to the years being pushed to 2016 and 2022, respectively. Vishnu Mathur, director general of Siam declined to comment. I.V. Rao, executive adviser at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, said car makers need to improve the overall performance of their vehicles. "In order to increase the mileage, the industry needs to reduce the friction, increase combustion or reduce the inertia of the vehicle. Better fuel efficiency could also be achieved reducing the weight and air resistance," Rao said. The power ministry has derived a formula based on the average fuel consumption standard, where the mileage will be decided on the basis of litres of fuel consumed by a vehicle to run 100km. In the first phase, the government expects the cars to consume 5.49 litres of fuel on average to cover 100km by 2016, thus increasing the average mileage to 18.2km per litre from 16.5km in 2010-11, when the norms were initially proposed. In the second phase, the consumption of fuel will come down to 4.77 litres for 100km, increasing the mileage to 21km per litre. Since fuels such as CNG, LPG and diesel offer better mileage for passenger vehicles, the ministry has notified guidelines that make these fuels equivalent to the petrol proportionately. The average vehicle weight for this class of vehicles for the first phase will be 1,037kg, which will be increased to 1,145kg. On Thursday, the BSE Auto Index of 10 companies was down 0.17% to 11,922.86 points while the benchmark index Sensex was down 1.25% to 20,193.35 points. From pbachu at embarqindia.org Fri Feb 14 18:06:57 2014 From: pbachu at embarqindia.org (Prashanth Bachu) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 14:36:57 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: Norms for fuel efficiency to put auto makers under pressure In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: While the initiative seems good and much awaited, the penalty conditions come as surprise. Most car companies spend many times more in advertising daily. It should have been at least of the order of Rs.10,000 per car sold. Another important thing would be the method of fixing the 2011 benchmark. Unsure if the policy is for every single vehicle achieving that fuel-efficiency or if it is the combined fleet sold by the manufacturer. In any case, it is good that the process has taken off. *Prashanth Bachu* *Project Manager - Urban Transport* *EMBARQ India* 1st Floor, Godrej & Boyce Premises, Gasworks Lane, Lalbaug, Parel, Mumbai 400012 pbachu@embarqindia.org | +91 8305696456 Blog: TheCityFix.com | Twitter: @EMBARQIndia | Facebook.com/EMBARQIndia www.EMBARQIndia.org www.WRI.org EMBARQ helps cities make sustainable transport a reality. On 14 February 2014 14:04, Vinay Baindur wrote: > > http://www.livemint.com/Industry/XctQqjlxvTagxqh4ZzsD3K/Norms-for-fuel-efficiency-to-put-auto-makers-under-pressure.html > > > > > > > *Norms for fuel efficiency to put auto makers under pressure* > The move, once implemented, is likely to reduce the carbon footprint of the > automobile industry > > Amrit Raj > > > Under the new norms, the industry will have to ensure that the mileage of > cars on Indian roads improves by 10% by 2021. Photo: Bloomberg > > > New Delhi: In a setback to the automobile industry, already under pressure > because of declining sales, the government has notified mandatory fuel > efficiency norms that would push up their production costs. > > At the same time, the move, once implemented, is likely to reduce the > carbon footprint of the automobile industry. It is the first time that such > norms have been introduced. > > Of the more than 80 car models plying on Indian roads at present, only > around eight comply with these standards. > > Under the new norms, the industry will have to ensure that the mileage of > cars on Indian roads improves by 10% by 2021. The second phase, for which > the government did not specify a deadline, will begin from 2022 and targets > a fuel efficiency improvement by 30%. > > Failure to comply will invite a penalty. Under the Energy Conservation Act, > 2001, car makers that fail to meet carbon emission norms will be fined > Rs.10 lakh initially and asked to pay a penalty of Rs.10,000 a day till > their car models meet the norms, said Ajay Mathur, director general, Bureau > of Energy Efficiency (BEE). > > > These norms were finalized by BEE, which functions under India's power > ministry. > > The move couldn't have come at a worse time for the Indian automobile > industry, which is struggling with a decline in sales in the face of > slowing economic growth and is on course to post its first sales drop in 10 > years in the 12 months to 31 March. Higher fuel costs and more expensive > loans have deterred car buyers in Asia's third-largest economy. > > The move to enforce stringent fuel-efficiency norms is significant in the > context of higher oil prices, a weaker rupee and efforts to contain > pollution in the country. India imports around 80% of its oil requirement > and spent $144.293 billion on oil imports in the last fiscal year. > Carbon dioxide emissions by vehicles, after the implementation of the new > norms, are projected to come down from 142gm per km in 2010-11 to 129.8gm > by 2021-22 and 113gm 2022 onwards. A report by Yale and Columbia > universities last month called Delhi the world's most polluted city. Car > penetration levels in India are only 1/15th those of the US. > Carbon dioxide emissions by cars is likely to come down by 8.59 % by > 2021-22 and by 20.42% from 2022 onwards. > > This would mean that the car makers will have to make further investments > in new technologies in order to achieve greater fuel efficiency, which, in > turn, will have an impact on their profit margins. > > Mint reported in September 2012 that the government's plan to enforce > stricter fuel efficiency norms for cars is likely to increase the cost of > cars by at least 15%. The industry lobby Society of Indian Automobile > Manufacturers (Siam) could not confirm the expected increase in cost. > Mathur of BEE added that since the norms had been notified, the bureau will > now begin work on a star rating system for vehicles. > > As per the original plan, BEE was to give a one-star rating for the least > fuel efficient vehicles and five stars for the most efficient in their > respective weight class. Vehicles with a higher star rating are expected to > be more expensive. BEE had earlier formulated similar standards and star > labels for electrical appliances such as air conditioners and > refrigerators. > > According to data provided by Siam, car makers have sold at least 29 > million passenger vehicles in India between 1960 and 2013. > > A power ministry notification dated 30 January said the new norms are > applicable on the vehicles "used for the carriage of passengers and their > luggage and comprising not more than nine seats including driver's seat, > and of gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3,500kg tested on chassis > dynamometer (hereinafter referred to as the said motor vehicle) for the > purpose of manufacturing or importing for sale of the said category of > motor vehicles". > > Chassis dynamometer is a device that measures the amount of power > translated from the wheels to the racing surface. These energy consumption > standard are for the motor vehicles using petrol, diesel, liquefied > petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). > > The government has extended the deadline for implementation of the new > norms by a year. Initially, the first phase was to be launched from 2015, > and the second from 2020. But a delay in notifying the norms has led to the > years being pushed to 2016 and 2022, respectively. > > Vishnu Mathur, director general of Siam declined to comment. I.V. Rao, > executive adviser at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, said car makers need to > improve the overall performance of their vehicles. > > "In order to increase the mileage, the industry needs to reduce the > friction, increase combustion or reduce the inertia of the vehicle. Better > fuel efficiency could also be achieved reducing the weight and air > resistance," Rao said. > > The power ministry has derived a formula based on the average fuel > consumption standard, where the mileage will be decided on the basis of > litres of fuel consumed by a vehicle to run 100km. In the first phase, the > government expects the cars to consume 5.49 litres of fuel on average to > cover 100km by 2016, thus increasing the average mileage to 18.2km per > litre from 16.5km in 2010-11, when the norms were initially proposed. > > In the second phase, the consumption of fuel will come down to 4.77 litres > for 100km, increasing the mileage to 21km per litre. > Since fuels such as CNG, LPG and diesel offer better mileage for passenger > vehicles, the ministry has notified guidelines that make these fuels > equivalent to the petrol proportionately. The average vehicle weight for > this class of vehicles for the first phase will be 1,037kg, which will be > increased to 1,145kg. > > On Thursday, the BSE Auto Index of 10 companies was down 0.17% to 11,922.86 > points while the benchmark index Sensex was down 1.25% to 20,193.35 points. > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries > (the 'Global South'). > From carlosfpardo at gmail.com Fri Feb 21 07:27:17 2014 From: carlosfpardo at gmail.com (Carlosfelipe Pardo) Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 17:27:17 -0500 Subject: [sustran] =?utf-8?Q?Training_course_on_Urban_Development_and_Urba?= =?utf-8?Q?n_Transport_-_Medell=C3=ADn=2C_World_Urban_Forum?= Message-ID: Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Technische Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), together with ICLEI-EcoMobility and Despacio will held a training course titled ?Urban Development and Urban Transport? on 06 April 2014 during the World Urban Forum 7, which will be held in Medellin, Colombia. More information on the course is available from: http://www.sutp.org/news-archive-mainmenu-156/sutp-articles-mainmenu-236/3874-training-course-at-world-urban-forum-7-medellin-colombia From carlosfpardo at gmail.com Fri Feb 28 23:57:25 2014 From: carlosfpardo at gmail.com (Carlosfelipe Pardo) Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 09:57:25 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Tools for Sustainable Urban Transport Experts Message-ID: *New collection released: Tools for Sustainable Urban Transport Experts* This new and comprehensive collection of urban transport tools supports experts in designing and implementing sustainable urban transport strategies and measures. ?Tools for Sustainable Urban Transport Experts? is structured in (I) Standards and Toolkits, (II) Quantification Tools, (III) Planning Guides, and (IV) Cost Comparisons. It is designed for experts involved in urban transport to find appropriate measures and approaches in order to make their urban transport vision come true. Thematically, it covers all areas relevant to sustainable urban transport including public and non-motorized transport, emission reduction strategies, and pedestrian and bicycle friendly street design. The collection is available from: http://www.sutp.org/news-archive-mainmenu-156/sutp-articles-mainmenu-236/3882-new-collection-released-tools-for-sustainable-urban-transport-experts