[sustran] Can the Affluent Be Convinced to Ride Transit in Delhi?

[Vinay Baindur]

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/12/can-the-affluent-be-convinced-to-ride-transit-in-delhi/547775/?utm_source=SFTwitter







Can the Affluent Be Convinced to Ride Transit in Delhi?

   1. ASHISH MALHOTRA <https://www.citylab.com/authors/ashish-malhotra/>

 DEC 11, 2017

Despite severe air pollution, higher-income residents of Delhi prefer to
drive or hail cars rather than ride the metro. What will change their minds?

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Every winter when New Delhi’s air quality reaches hazardous levels, much of
the conversation about it tends to focus on two causes—the practice of crop
burning
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/world/asia/farmers-unchecked-crop-burning-fuels-indias-air-pollution.html#https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/world/asia/farmers-unchecked-crop-burning-fuels-indias-air-pollution.html>
by
farmers in nearby states, and the bursting of firecrackers
<http://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/delhi-diwali-2017-pollution-24-times-higher-despite-supreme-court-ban-on-crackers-sale/story/262326.html#http://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/delhi-diwali-2017-pollution-24-time>
during
the Hindu festival Diwali.

There’s no doubt that these are both major contributors to the Indian
capital’s toxic winter air. But putting these events in the spotlight can
be frustrating for those who study pollution and wish there was greater
public scrutiny of the issue year-round.

Air-quality issues in Delhi, after all, are not restricted to October and
November. According to data from India’s Central Pollution Control Board
<http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/only-two-good-air-days-since-may-2015-in-delhi-4918253/#http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/only-two-good-air-days-since-may-2015-in-delhi-4918253/>,
only two days between May 2015 and October 2017 had “good” air quality.
Adding “satisfactory” air-quality days to the “good” ones still accounts
for less than 8 percent of the two-and-a-half year period.
A policeman wears a mask while controlling traffic on a road in Delhi in
October 2017. (Saumya Khandelwal/Reuters
<http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0BXZVC4J08P&SMLS=1&RW=1348&RH=919#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0BXZVC4J08P&SMLS=1&RW=1348&RH=919&POPUPPN=3&POPUPIID=2C0FQE3HAZW8E>
)

“The problem is that a lot of times when these conversations [about
pollution] happen, it’s because of a trigger which takes it from very bad
to hazardous levels,” said Amit Bhatt, the head of integrated urban
transport at EMBARQ India, an arm of the World Resources Institute. “But
very bad cannot be constructed as the new good,” he said, referring to the
rest of the year.

If the focus shouldn’t be on crop burning or Diwali, where should it be? To
road and transport specialists like Bhatt, the answer is vehicular
pollution, a much more consistent source of Delhi’s severe air-quality
problems. One study, released by the Indian Institute of Technology last
year, recommended five separate vehicular pollution related measures
<http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/what-should-we-do-delhi-govt-asks-citizens-iit-answered-10-months-ago-17033#http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/what-should-we-do-delhi-govt-asks-citizens-iit-answered-10-months-ago-17033>
to
the Delhi government, each of which could significantly improve the city’s
air quality.

Still, the number of registered private vehicles in Delhi continues to
rise. It crossed 10 million
<http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/number-of-registered-vehicles-in-delhi-crosses-1-crore-mark/417394.html#http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/number-of-registered-vehicles-in-delhi-crosses-1-crore-mark/417394.html>
earlier
this year, and almost 900,000
<http://www.businesstoday.in/latest/trends/vrooming-in-9-lakh-vehicles-added-to-delhi-roads-in-2016/story/243261.html#http://www.businesstoday.in/latest/trends/vrooming-in-9-lakh-vehicles-added-to-delhi-roads-in-2016/story/243261.html>
cars
were added during India’s 2015–2016 fiscal year alone.

This worries Bhatt, who believes there must be efforts to get more of
Delhi’s affluent residents to move away from private vehicles and onto
public transportation. “That’s the starting point,” said Bhatt. He would
initially focus on people with motorbikes, which make up more than 6.6
million of the private vehicles on Delhi’s roads, rather than car owners,
who may be less inclined to give up their comfort and convenience.

“Getting people on two-wheelers is much easier than getting people with
cars.”
Who Rides the Delhi Metro?

A cursory glance at Delhi’s metro system might suggest this wouldn’t be
hard. Unlike equivalent systems in major U.S. cities, such as New York and
Washington, D.C., Delhi’s metro is sleek, sophisticated, and fast, fully
equipped with top-notch equipment and trains that run on time.

And to be clear, many people are already using it. The system’s cumulative
ridership exceeded 1 billion
<http://www.delhimetrorail.com/press_reldetails.aspx?id=ZlXC4jMrU00lld#http://www.delhimetrorail.com/press_reldetails.aspx?id=ZlXC4jMrU00lld>
people
during India’s most recent fiscal year, a number that could be broken down
to 2.76 million riders a day. But very few of those riders come from the
city’s most affluent classes.

According to a survey
<https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/metro-still-not-popular-choice-for-delhiites/articleshow/57926450.cms#https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/metro-still-not-popular-choice-for-delhiites/articleshow/57926450.cms>
conducted
by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) last year, less than 2 percent
of metro riders earn more than 100,000 rupees (about $1,540) a month.
Defining classes of income levels is notoriously tricky in India
<https://scroll.in/article/740011/everyone-in-india-thinks-they-are-middle-class-and-almost-no-one-actually-is>,
but by using the standards set by Pew in 2015
<http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/07/08/a-global-middle-class-is-more-promise-than-reality/>,
those earning more than 100,000 rupees a month can be categorized as
high-income.
Passengers in an all-women compartment of a Delhi Metro train in 2013
(Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters)

Even when one looks at one income level below that, ridership isn’t high.
Those earning 50,000 to 100,000 rupees a month (about $770–$1,540) make up
less than 10 percent of Delhi Metro riders. Most of these people would be
upper-middle income by Pew’s standards.

These numbers fit with the events of January 2016, when many affluent
Delhiites bemoaned a 15-day partial car ban and, in some cases, found ways
around
<http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/rich-neighbours-find-way-out-will-exchange-cars-on-odd-even-days/story-SG16Lot834xs7OlhxWEZjK.html#http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/rich-neighbours-find-way-out-will-exchange-cars-on-odd-even-days/s>
it
to avoid taking public transportation. India’s then-Chief Justice even went
so far as to suggest more expensive “premium”
<https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/odd-even-top-court-suggests-premium-metro-as-incentive-for-car-owners-1262395#https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/odd-even-top-court-suggests-premium-metro-as-incentive-for-car-owners-1262395>
seats
as a way to lure more wealthy commuters onto the metro.

The aversion of some rich Delhiites to public transportation is no surprise
to many others in the city, who are fully aware of its starkly drawn class
lines. “I go on the metro, I’m a poor person. … But why would a rich person
go on it, in the middle of all the crowds? They’ll hire a car or taxi or
take their own car,” said Jitender, an Uber driver who works in Delhi’s
National Capital Region.

Just last month, though, a few hundred relatively affluent residents of
Gurgaon—a city within Delhi’s National Capital Region—tried to buck the
trend, participating in a Car Free Week
<https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/struck-by-smog-gurugrammers-will-go-car-free-to-show-government-whats-wrong-with-city/articleshow/61717083.cms#https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/struck-by-smog-gurugrammers-will-go-c>
.*

“We can complain about crop burning, we can complain about everything
else,” said Manas Fuloria, a 45-year-old software company CEO who
participated in the initiative. “But if we won’t forgo these large diesel
SUVs that we want to buy because we feel a petrol car won’t be right, or a
smaller car won’t do the job, then we shouldn’t be surprised when a farmer
thinks it’s okay to burn their fields for one or two days in the year.”
(Diesel cars accounted for 27 percent
<http://www.firstpost.com/business/diesel-car-sales-fell-to-27-of-total-in-2016-17-from-47-five-years-back-says-govt-3908237.html>
of
cars sold in India in the 2016–2017 fiscal year. In Delhi, diesel vehicles
that are more than 10 years old were recently banned
<http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/ngt-refuses-to-lift-ban-on-10-year-old-diesel-vehicles-in-delhi-ncr/story-t4VPNK5OmrADHLEfUOd3hL.html>
.)
Missing Infrastructure

If the Car Free Week indicated that some affluent Indians are willing to
change their transportation patterns, it also served as a reminder of the
absence of infrastructure supporting them in doing so.

For years, Fuloria made a point of cycling to work a few times a week,
despite how unsafe the ride could be. But he hasn’t cycled regularly this
year due to roadwork that has made his route twice as long and less safe.
Fuloria also complains that there are few operational buses in Gurgaon, and
none that would get him anywhere close to work.

Delhi’s bus system hardly meets public demand, either. In 2007, the Delhi
High Court mandated the city have 11,000 buses
<http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/with-just-272-buses-per-million-people-how-can-delhi-adhere-to-odd-even-rule--59065#http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/with-just-272-buses-per-million-people-how-can-delhi-adhere-to-odd-even-rule--59065>.
But when the smog hit last month, Delhi’s bus fleet was just over 5,000
<https://theprint.in/2017/11/11/delhi-govt-hasnt-bought-bus-since-2010/#https://theprint.in/2017/11/11/delhi-govt-hasnt-bought-bus-since-2010/>.
No buses have been added since 2010.
“If you have a car, you are treated like a king. If you come by bus or
metro, then you are a second-grade citizen.”

Although the city’s metro system may be world-class, it’s never going to be
as convenient as door-to-door ride-hailing apps like Uber, which recently
claimed to have surpassed 500 million rides in India, or its Indian rival
Ola. Such options are especially attractive in Delhi, where the metro’s
“last mile” connectivity—how people actually get to and from Metro
stations—is a particular problem.

This is due in part to a lack of high-quality sidewalks
<https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/10/24/photos-why-its-so-tough-to-walk-in-delhi/#https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/10/24/photos-why-its-so-tough-to-walk-in-delhi/>,
a major impediment to pedestrian culture in the city. Bike lanes
<http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/its-time-to-break-the-cycle/article17766211.ece#http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/its-time-to-break-the-cycle/article17766211.ece>,
where they exist, are also generally problematic, either by design or
because they end up usurped by cars, motorbikes, or even street vendors.

Infrastructure for vehicles continues to be built, however, which Bhatt
believes sends off the wrong signal. “We are promoting the use of private
transport by giving more flyovers, by widening roads, by giving free
parking,” he said. “If you have a car, you are treated like a king. If you
come by bus or metro, then you are a second-grade citizen.”

Ultimately, some say it’s a combination of factors—Delhi’s existing
transportation infrastructure *as well as* people’s considerations of class
and status—that keeps the city’s most affluent away from public transit.

“Delhi is very much a city that’s aspirational … that’s very aware of
upward mobility and status and class,” said Mukta Naik, who focuses on
urban planning at the Centre for Policy Research, a leading Indian
think-tank. “But at the same time, [people] also see the car as the most
convenient way to get from Point A to Point B. … Until we reach a point
where we cannot get from point A to Point B without public transport, we’re
going to be like this.”

Nair and Bhatt both talk about disincentivizing the use of private
transportation through policies like higher parking fees, congestion and
pollution charges, and a cap on vehicle registrations. But for now, they’re
encouraged by what they’ve seen through initiatives like the Car Free Week,
which they feel is a sign that the mindsets of the affluent can be changed.

“There are people who have gotten away from a car-centric mindset and
they’re willing to really make an effort to change,” said Bhatt. “But for
them to make a permanent change, they need some infrastructural support.”

**CORRECTION: This article originally misstated the timing of Gurgaon’s Car
Free Week. It was held November 20–26.*

About the Author[image: Ashish Malhotra]
Ashish Malhotra <https://www.citylab.com/authors/ashish-malhotra/>

   - @AMALHOTRA2 <https://twitter.com/amalhotra2>
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Ashish Malhotra is a journalist who has previously held positions at Al
Jazeera English and *The Hindustan Times*. He has also worked as a
correspondent for Deutsche Welle and contributed articles to Vice News and
ThinkProgress from New Delhi.