Making Urban Mobility Sustainable, Seamless and Safe

Published on : Wednesday 08-04-2020

Growing Population and Urbanization Resulting in Sprawling Urban Cities, …

India will be home to over 600 million urban dwellers by 2030, with most of the growth coming not from the core cities, but the peripheries. From an urban mobility perspective, this means longer travel distances and high density of commuters and freight deliveries.  This in turn has resulted in an ever increasing number of private vehicles on the road, in absence of an efficient public transport system and logistics network management.  Overall, this unprecedented demand for urban mobility is leading to problems such as traffic congestion, pollution, parking challenges and freight inefficiencie

… Increasing pressure on cities’ infrastructure and demand for fossil fuels, … 
 

Increasing demand for urban mobility which is primarily met by private vehicles has put considerable pressure on country’s infrastructure, specifically the roads, which transport two-thirds of all freight and 90% of the passenger traffic.  As a result, traffic congestion, poor road safety and parking challenges has become synonymous with urbanization in India. Another challenge which comes with increasing number of private vehicles on the road is – country’s high dependence on fossil fuels.
 

...In turn resulting in high levels of pollution, the major cause behind climate change
Air pollution is a major driver behind climate change, the biggest threat countries across the globe are facing. Globally, traffic remains the highest contributor of urban outdoor air pollution accounting for 25% of the total fine particulate matter (PM2.5) generated. Notably, in case of India the share of traffic in outdoor air pollution is even higher at 37% (which is also the highest share across regions

Rising pollution has become a health hazard globally with 9 out of 10 people breathing polluted air. Moreover, pollution is expected to account for seven million deaths and cost nearly USD225 billion (~INR1,597,500 crores) to world economy in 2019.
The air pollution situation in India is alarming considering it is home to seven of the world’s top 10 polluted cities.

This highlights a dire need of transforming urban mobility with a shift towards cleaner technologies, where India is a laggard
Globally countries are solving for their need for cleaner mobility through electric vehicles (EV) which has witnessed significant increase over the last few years. Notably, global EV deployment resulted in a net savings of more than 50% emissions in 2018.
However, India has a lot of ground to cover as far as electric vehicles are concerned. Though, there is some uptake on electric two wheelers and three wheelers, India lags significantly on cars, buses and freight vehicles. 
 

Integrated data systems which forms the basis of an efficient urban mobility system is an immediate requirement which needs to be fulfilled
A key requirement for an efficient urban mobility system is standardized data, which can act as the basis for efficient city planning as well as for integrated mobility solutions.  This highlights a need for increased focus on mobility as a service (MaaS), which includes usage of technology solutions for improving efficiency of transportation.  Globally, multi-modal integrated systems forms the basis of all successful urban transport systems, and India needs to implement similar systems to address urban mobility challenges.

Overall, a successful mobility system needs a shift towards mobility as a service, which would require a strong, collaborative effort across stakeholders.
NASSCOM proposes a five pronged action plan that will bring together key stakeholders such as government, automotive and technology industries and NASSCOM together to drive sustainable, seamless and safe mobility in urban India. 

? Focus on Comprehensive Urban Planning- Establish centralized mobility authority at state/city level which can take a planned and integrated approach to urban mobility development
? Driving Public Transport and Shared Mobility Adoption- Support for higher adoption of public transport and shared mobility options while regulating private transport 
? Push for Clean Mobility- Create conducive ecosystem for large scale adoption of electric mobility for people and goods
? Create and Implement Integrated Mobility Systems- Implement integrated digital mobility platform at a country level   

To shift India from being a developing country to a developed county, where developed is defined in the words of Gustavo Petro — “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation.”

To read the full research report and download it in PDF visit the link (https://www.nasscom.in/knowledge-center/publications/industry-40-primer-startup-driven-industrial-stories)