CHPATER-1 INTRODUCTION

Transcription

1 Introduction: CHPATER-1 INTRODUCTION During early civilization all economic activity was in primary sector, i.e. agriculture and agriculture related activities. When the food production became surplus people s need for other products increased. This led to the development of secondary sector i.e. manufacturing of goods. The growth of secondary sector spread its influence during industrial revolution in nineteenth century. After growth of economic activity, a support system was needed to facilitate the industrial activity. Certain sectors like transport and finance play an important role in supporting the industrial activity. Moreover, more shops were needed to provide goods in people s hand. Ultimately, other services like tuition, administrative support developed. Thus service sector developed. The service sector is known as tertiary sector of the economy. Table-1.1 shows changes in occupational distribution from 1965 to Table-1.2 shows changes in sectoral distribution of domestic products. Table-1.1: Changes in Occupational Distribution of Population Occupation Primary Sector Secondary Sector Tertiary Sector TOTAL Source: Development - role of Different Sectors Table-1.2: Changes in Sectoral Distribution of Domestic Product Occupation Primary Sector Secondary Sector Tertiary Sector Source: Development - role of Different Sectors From table 1.1 and 1.2 it is clear that Indian economy is shifting from agriculture dependent primary sector to service sectors. Urbanisation is obvious outcome of this shift because industry is generally located in cities and towns and the service sector is also concentrated around these industrial centres. The shift is faster in last decades and it is going to increase in coming years. 1

2 Table 1.3 shows increasing urbanisation in the country. The resultant social and cultural changes in the society have lead to increased motorisation. This has resulted in to increasing necessity of travel. This can be seen from table-1.4 showing increase in number of vehicle from year 1951 to Table-1.3 India's Rural / Urban Population Growth Total Rural Urban Urban Population Share (%) Source: Transport Vision 2020 mahesh kapoor, planning commission of India Table-1.4 Growth of vehicle Population Year No of vehicles (in million) Source: Road safety in India, S. K. Mishra Director, Road Transport Govt of India. Table-1.5 shows the increasing trend in road transport compared to railway, the other most important mode of transport. It clearly shows that road traffic has been increasing at a faster rate than the railway traffic for passengers as well as freight. This also clearly emphasises the need for increased road network and better management of traffic. Table-1.5: Growth of Road Traffic and Modal Shares Passenger Km.(Billion) Rail Road Total Freight Km ( Billion ) Rail Road Total Source: Transport Vision 2020 mahesh kapoor, planning commission of India 2

3 The scenario become more clear when we see the road statistics of India prepared by Ministry of surface transport, Government of India (Table-1.6) Table-1.6: Compound Annual Growth Rates (in %) of Registered Motor Vehicles and Road Length, Period Vehicles Roads Two Wheele rs Buse s Oth ers Tot al NH s Rur al cars, Jee ps & Taxi s Good s Vehic le SHs & OPW D Urba n Proje ct 2011/ / / / / / / Tot al Source: Basic Road statistics of India, Ministry of surface Transport Government of India, Aug 2012 From Table-1.6, it is very clear that the road infrastructure has not kept pace with the increasing vehicular traffic. While the number of registered vehicle has grown at a CAGR of 10.6 percent from 1951 to 2011, the road network during the same period grew at a CAGR of 4.2 percent. During the last decade, i.e , the number of registered motor vehicle increased at a CAGR of 9.9 percent while the total road network increased at a CAGR of 3.4 percent. Thus the road infrastructure is unable to keep pace with the increasing number of vehicles. The table-1.7 shows the composition of vehicles. The mixed traffic indicated by Table-1.7 makes the traffic management more difficult and highlights the need to study it more and find out better solutions to provide safer and safer transport of man and material. 3

4 Table-1.7: Composition of Fleet Category Percentage share in 2003 Cars 12.9 Buses Trucks Motorcycles Source: Road safety in India, S. K. Mishra Director, Road Transport Govt of India. Table-1.8 shows the trends of accidents and Tabel-9.1 shows the trend in accidents in relation to vehicles. Table-1.8 shows that the Highways are more prone to accident and take more lives of people compared to all other roads. Table-1.8: Trend of Accidents Year All Road National Highways Accidents Killed Injured Accidents Killed Injured (P) (P) Source: Road safety in India, S. K. Mishra Director, Road Transport Govt of India. Table-1.9 shows the trend in road accident in relation to number of vehicles. The number of accident per vehicles and the number of fatalities per vehicles have shown decreasing trend. The reason for the same is not known. 4

5 From Table-1.10, it is very clear that the number of fatalities per million persons has started increasing trend since the year Year Table-1.9: Trend of Accidents in Relation to Vehicles No of Vehicles (In thousands) Accidents Fatalities Accidents Per Vehicles (P) Source: Road safety in India, S. K. Mishra Director, Road Transport Govt of India. Table-1.10: Road traffic fatalities in India Fatalities per Vehicles Year Fatalities Population (Million) Fatalities / Million persons , , , ,900 1, ,900 1, ,059 1, ,430 1, ,376 1, ,254 1, ,725 1, ,590 1, Source: Road accidents in India Dinesh Mohan, IATSS Research Volume.33 No.1,

6 The above data clearly shows that the road transport infrastructure is not able to keep pace with the increasing transport need of the country resulting in to increasing number of people dying in traffic accidents. In such a scenario traffic management has become very important. From above statistical data it is very clear that India is growing form predominantly agrarian economy to industrial and service driven economy and that this shift has become faster and going to increase with a faster speed in coming years. The policy of economic liberalisation and globalisation has acted as a catalyst to this and also resulted in to socio-economic and cultural changes that has resulted increased numbers of personalised vehicles that has made the issue of traffic management more significant. With the growth of the Indian economy and increase in per capita income, the transport of goods has also increased many folds. Table-1.5 shows it very clearly. It also shows that freight transportation through road has been increasing at much faster rate than that transported through railways. For a nation transport network is like the circulatory system in the human body and it is called the growth engine of any economy. Poor traffic network may choke the economy. Effective traffic management is very essential for the economic growth of the country. As shown by the above data traffic infrastructure is not keeping pace with the need of the growing economy. The most worrying aspect is near stagnation in the growth of public transport in qualitative and quantitative terms. This coupled with surplus income in the hand of growing middle class has lead to disproportionate growth of personalised vehicles. This has led to serious traffic problems especially in urban areas. If it is not handled effectively, in a timely manner, it may hamper economic growth of the country. Now let us deal with important aspects of this subject: Traffic Management: It is that aspect of management which deals with the planning, organizing, coordinating and regulating traffic operations, tools and methods so as to ensure safe, convenient and economic transportation of persons and goods. 4 Es Traffic Management: In traffic management, four aspects are very important. They are known as 4 Es of traffic management. They are: 6

7 (1) Enforcement (2) Education (3) Engineering (4) Environment. Let as look at each of these: (1) Enforcement : It is that aspect of traffic management that deals with enforcement of traffic rules and regulation. It is one of the very important aspects of traffic management because traffic rules and regulations are made so that road traffic moves in an orderly manner, the road capacity is utilised optimally and the safety of road user is ensured in best possible manner. It is a very visible aspect. Therefore, common man, sometimes, feels that it is the only aspect. They feel that any traffic problem can be solved only by improving enforcement. Actually this is closely related with other two aspects viz engineering and education. Enforcement becomes very difficult if people are not educated about traffic rules and if they don t understand importance of traffic rules for their own safely. Similarly the problem of traffic congestion cannot be solved if the road infrastructure is inadequate. In India, the responsibility for enforcement of various provisions of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 pertaining to or having a bearing on road safety is vested with the State Governments. Such measures include testing the competence of drivers at the time of licensing, and checking the physical fitness of vehicles and their compliance with regulations at the time of registration and periodical fitness check of commercial vehicles. There are also statutory provisions on use of helmets, wearing of seat belts, detection / prosecution of drunken drives and prevention of plying of over loaded vehicles. The enforcement of these provisions is the responsibility of the Transport and Police Departments of the State Governments. 1 It is a general observation that the enforcement is not very effective in India. People do not observe traffic rules on their own. There is no self discipline. They need policemen to force them to obey traffic rule. This is so because police are not very effective in enforcement. In western countries we see a lot of self discipline on road. Actually this is an outcome of strict law enforcement for decades. This has 1 Road safety in India, S. K. Mishra Director, Road Transport Govt of India. 7

8 succeeded in creating respect for law in the society. In that sense India enforcement agencies have to go a long way before this happens in India. If Indian enforcement agencies together with people are able to achieve this, it will be great service to the nation and it will help reduce loss of life and property due road accidents. It will lead to improvement in traffic management. There will be less traffic congestions and time of the people will be saved to a great extent. It will also create a sense of wellbeing in people. It may also lead to increased self esteem. We will be proud to be Indian. Table-1.11 shows the data of traffic enforcement of Bhavnagar district. It doesn t show much relation between enforcement actions and Number of accidents. The reasons may be that the enforcement actions did not follow specific strategy. It was not designed and implemented after proper study of the traffic problem. It did not intend specific results. This will be analysed later. Table 1.11: Enforcement Actions and Traffic Accidents- Bhavnagar district IPC IPC Using mobile phone while driving Drunken Driving Action against School van protruding material in truck Driving without license ( In 10) Teen-age driving Dazzling light Seat belt ( in 10 ) Brake light etc Transportation of passengers illegally ( in 10) riders on 2 wheeler ( in 10) wrong side driving ( in 10) Wrong overtaking Fatal Accidents serious accidents Minor accidents Total Accident Source: Bhavnagar District Police 8

9 (2) Education :- Traffic education brings awareness about traffic rules among people. They understand that following traffic rules and regulation is in their own interest. This brings self discipline amongst the people. If we succeed in bringing self discipline among the people, it may become very effective tool of traffic management. Enforcement and education are closely related. It is very difficult to enforce traffic rules and regulations if people do not understand importance of traffic rules. It has been experienced that enforcement without self discipline many a times becomes mere figures. They do not lead to the desired result of reduction in traffic accidents and better traffic management. Educational effort should be coupled with strict enforcement. Without fear of enforcement, educational efforts do not bring fruits. We are impressed by the road discipline in western countries. But this is actually the result of strict enforcement for several decades. Following are the important issues concerning traffic education: 1. Traffic education is very essential. How can we expect people to follow rules if they do not know the rules? 2. Enforcement cannot be effective without education as the personnel of police or transport agencies cannot be present every where all the time. This is more so in countries like India where the manpower is very less due to financial constraints. 3. Self regulation is the best regulation. 4. The traffic accident leads to major emotional and economic loss to the family and economic loss to the country. It should be dealt with effectively. One important way of doing that is through education. 5. Traffic education should become part of the school syllabus. If the duties of a citizen are inculcated in early childhood, they will get implanted deep in to our culture. 6. The children can take this message for their parents. This will reinforce these values in them. 7. The student form higher classes and colleges should be involved in awareness drive. It will help in their self development. The values of patriotism and service will be infused in them. 9

10 8. It has been observed that in India funds are provided for construction and maintenance of roads as well as for enforcing traffic rules but the educational aspect is neglected. This needs to change. Traffic education should get utmost attention from government. 9. The world over there is trend of community policing involving community in policing. Involving community in traffic education will be great step forward as community involvement will make the initiative more acceptable. 10. NGO should be given more roles in traffic education. (3) Engineering: It is the aspect of engineering which deals with planning, geometric design and traffic operations of roads and streets and highways, their network, terminals, abetting land relationship with other modes of transportation for the achievement of safe, efficient and convenient movement of persons and goods Engineering can contribute a lot in traffic management Because of faulty engineering design some locations literally become death trap. Some of the serious traffic problems can be solved by taking small simple engineering measures. Indian Road Congress (IRC) is responsible for formulating, updating and disseminating various codes on construction and maintenance. As per Govt of India report road safety specifications and designs are incorporated in the Planning and construction of National Highways. The designs of highways are done by reputed consultant meeting all relevant and geometric safety standards including provisions for flyovers, grade separation by passes, railway over/under bridges bus/truck bus/truck lay-byes, service roads, junction improvements, overhead signs, cautionary /regulatory/ informatory retro-reflective sign boards, crash barriers etc. 2 Table-1.9 shows the trend in road accident in relation to number of vehicles. The number of accident per vehicles and the number of fatalities per vehicles have shown decreasing trend. The reason needs to be studied. One of the reasons may be the improved designs of the National Highways as the National Highways are the major contributors in terms of the number of accidents. These standards are needed to be implemented vigorously for other types of roads too. 2 Road safely in India, S.K. Misra, Director (Road Transport) Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Govt. of India 10

11 (4) Environment : Earlier traffic management used to be identified with 3Es- Enforcement education and engineering. With stagnation of public transport system and growth of personalized vehicle, environment has become a very important aspect and that is how fourth E is added in traffic management. This aspect needs to be addressed very seriously. Several important policy level decisions needs to be taken and implemented with utmost seriousness so as to find out sustainable traffic solution for the fast growing Indian economy. This should include issues like Control of environmental pollution and improving quality of the environment. Care should be taken that the creation of road infrastructure should not lead to degradation of environment. It should not adversely affect the natural beauty of the landscape. The control of noise and air pollution is another aspect that needs to be kept in mind while planning, organizing, coordinating and regulating traffic operations, tools and methods In this study, the first three Es of traffic management are studied. More emphasis has been put on the first two aspects i.e. enforcement and education because various stake holder can make a major difference to this issue, provided they are presented with the well researched facts. Traffic problem of the whole Bhavnagar district has been taken up for this study so that various aspects of urban and rural traffic management can be studied and presented before all the stake holders for their application of mind and effective action. Table1.12 shows ambient air quality of different cities of Gujarat. The situation is not very encouraging. It suggests that the planners need to pay attention to the environmental issues too. This shows just the level of air pollution, the noise pollution should also not be ignored. Sustainable Transport System: A sustainable transport system is a transport system that provides mobility and accessibility to all its residents a safe and environment friendly mode of transport. Sustainable transportation involves infrastructure investments and travel policies that serve multiple goals of economic development, environmental 11

12 sustainability and social equity. (Dominic Spaethling, 1996). A sustainable transportation system has its goal to maximize the use of the transportation system to achieve economic and related social and environmental goals, without sacrificing the ability of future generations to do so. Table1.12: City wise Ambient Air Quality for select cities of Gujarat for the year 2008 in terms of pollution level Classification/ categorization (L: Low, M: Moderate, H: High, C: Critical) * *Pollution Level Classification STATE, UT/ CITY SO2 NO2 RSPM SPM AREA CLASS I R I R I R I R Ahmedabad L L L L M H M H Ankleshar L L L L M H M H Jamnagar - L - L - C - H Rajkot L L L L M H M H Surat L L L L M H M H Vadodara L L M L M M M H Vapi L L L L M H L H Source: National Ambient Air Quality Status, 2008, Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India, This can be accomplished by: 1. Concentrating on moving people and goods rather than vehicles or avoiding movement altogether if telecommunications or changes in land use can substitute for present travel needs 2. Increasing the use of market - based policies to encourage innovation in transportation operations and to capture the full environmental and social cost of transportation 3. Improving the efficiency of existing infrastructure through technical fixes in a multi-modal network, and addressing public concerns regarding social equity in system design. 12

13 The term "sustainable transport" has been subjected to a great deal of analysis in recent years (Whitelegg, 1997). A consensus has about the meaning of the term and its underlying assumptions. Amongst the most important underlying assumptions are the following: 1. The growth in the demand for mobility and the demand for motorized transport is the largest single source of greenhouse gases and the source that is growing the fastest. 2. Transport is the largest single source of health damaging air pollutants in urban areas. 3. Transport is the most important source of health damaging noise pollution in urban areas 4. There is a measurable, direct, and statistically significant relationship between the volume of traffic in urban areas and the health of urban residents. Those who live in polluted cities have a shorter life span, an increased incidence of cancers and respiratory disease, more frequent absences from work and school because of illness and more frequent spells of hospitalisation. 5. The volume of motorized traffic will rise in direct proportion to the amount of road space and parking space that is provided. 6. The construction of new roads, new bridges and additional car parking capacity will increase the demand for private motorized transport and damage public transport and non-polluting modes of transport. 7. It is not possible to provide enough space, energy and financial resources to cope with the remorseless increase in demand for motorized transport. 8. A new equilibrium has to be struck through demand management (i.e. reducing the demand for transport), by improvements in accessibility through careful land use planning, and by improving the conditions for walking, cycling and public transport. 9. Sustainable transport solutions are solutions that meet the need of all residents regardless of income; protect, preserve and enhance the health of the residents; and are not damaging to the present and future conditions for life. 13

14 10. Sustainable solutions reduce energy consumption, reduce the space requirements for transport, reduce pollution and improve the welfare of disadvantaged groups such as the poor, the elderly, the handicapped and young children; 11. Sustainable transport solutions are also economically efficient. They reduce dependency on imported oil, saving large amounts of valuable foreign exchange, 12. They are capable of local development and local implementation. They maximize local input and local employment Sustainable transport policies are easily defined, very practical in scope, of the greatest benefit to the poorest sections of society and relatively cheap to implement. Their defining characteristics and objectives can be: 1. Reducing air pollution and noise levels. 2. Increasing the space, security and comfort for pedestrians and cyclists 3. Reducing the number of cars and lorries on the roads and increasing the proportion of journeys accomplished by walking and cycling. 4. Developing and improving those modes of transport that are zero pollution on the streets. 5. Establishing safe routes to schools, hospitals, workplaces, etc. 6. Reducing road traffic accidents. 7. Reducing total energy consumption. 8. Increasing the amount of green space in urban areas. 9. Increasing the number of trees. 3 Providing sustainable transport system is a very difficult task as need and demand of different class of people are different. For example there has been a trend of increased motorisation in upper income group. More and more people of this group are buying vehicles. Their need is wider open roads. Poor and low income people cannot afford personalised vehicles. Their need is different. They need a traffic system where they can safely walk to their place of work or they can travel by cycling also they need public transport. 3 Issues in and future of urban transportation and traffic management systems in Nigeria, Oni, S. I., Department of Geography, University of Lagos, Akoka- Lagos, Sixth International Conference On Competition And Ownership In Land Passenger Transport 14

15 Constructing new roads to increase speed of motorised vehicle and catering to the need of richer section of the society is more popular as this looks as development. Moreover this class is more vocal. It is obvious that their needs are paid more attention to. Sometime it is done at the cost of public transport system. The urbanisation has been increasing but the public transport is not increasing. Increased motorisation makes roads less safe for pedestrian and cyclists. Increase in speed of motorised vehicles leads to increased risk of accident and injury to nonmotorised road users like pedestrians, cyclist, and non-motorised rickshaws. They are not benefited by the increased speed of motorised vehicles but they are put to more risk of accidents. This needs to be kept in mind while planning any transport system. Let us go in to the definition of the sustainable transport system. It has following elements: 1. Providing mobility and accessibility to all residents. 2. Safe manner 3. Environment friendly manner. As discussed above the present transport system and the policies being followed promote motorised transport by making provision for increased speed to this traffic but the poor sections of the society do not have access to this benefit. When we look at safety aspects, this put these groups at higher risks of accidents. It also increases the risk to the motorised vehicle users too due to increased speed, more so in a mixed traffic environment especially where no special provision is made for these sections of the society for pedestrians, cyclists and non-motorised rickshaws. In terms of environment, this policy has been leading to pollution and that is why it is not environment friendly. The quantity of fossil fuel is limited and therefore, too, it is not sustainable. Increased Motorisation The dictionary meaning of motorisation is equipping a vehicle or a device with a motor. Thus motorisation in traffic management is using motorised vehicles for transport. World over the trend has been for increased motorisation means increased use of motors. The walking and other means of travel like cycling, using bullock cart or using cycle rickshaw has been decreasing. 15

16 Table-1.13 shows increase in number of different types of vehicles from 1951 to 2002, it shows the huge increase in number of vehicles. The growth of motorised personalised vehicles like two wheelers, cars, jeeps etc is alarming. Table-1.14 and 1.15 give these figures for selected metropolitan cities. The situation is worse here. Table-1.13: Total Number of Registered Motor Vehicles in India : Cars Year, Gro Gro Gro Gro Good Gro Gro All Two Jeep wth wth wth Bus wth s wth Othe wth Vehicl Wheel s (%) (%) (%) es (%) Vehicl (%) rs (%) es ers and es Taxi s (P) (P) Source : Transport Research Wing Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India New Delhi, Motor Transport Statistic of India 16

17 Table -1.14: Total number of registered vehicles in selected metropolitan cities of India, (in thousands) Metropolitan Cities Ahmedabad Bangalore Chennai Delhi Hyderabad Jaipur Kolkata Mumbai Nagpur Pune Source : Transport Research Wing Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India New Delhi, 17

18 Table-1.15: Total number of registered vehicles in selected metropolitan cities of India, (in thousands) Sr No Cities Ahmedabad Bangalore Chennai Delhi Hyderabad Kolkata Mumbai Source: MA Salim, Traffic management in metropolitan cities The planners are promoting increased motorisation by building roads so that people can travel through vehicle at a high speed. At first sight it looks very attractive. It is seen as a development. But it has following impact on overall traffic management: 1. Increased motorisation leads to increased use of fossil fuels and thus leads to environmental pollution. 2. It leads to noise pollution too. 3. It leads to congestion. The congestion has become common in cities and towns the world over. 4. It leads to increased numbers of accidents. The gravity of the accident is also more. The injury, possibility of death is more when a motorised vehicle is involved. It leads to damage to property too. It is basically a national loss. 5. It affects the poorer sections of the society very badly: a) They are put at higher risk of accidents. b) The roads become less safe for them to walk or use cycle. c) The public transport also do not grow at a speed of the demand, therefore, they face issue of availability of public transport. d) They are put higher risk of accident even if they travel by public transport as it becomes more difficult to cross the road, board the bus and alight the bus and walk back to their home due to over-speeding motorised traffic on the road. 18

19 This can be addressed by necessary modification to the infrastructure. This issue can be solved if the needs of weaker section of the society also become priority. Provision for safe infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians should be made. This may include segregation of road space for bicyclists and pedestrians from motorised traffic etc. 6. Thus weaker section of the society is not much benefited out of the infrastructure created promoting increased motorisation, they suffer form congestion, noise pollution and air pollution. Public Transport The system of buses, trains, etc. provided by the government or by companies, that charge set fares, and run on fixed routes, which people use to travel from one place to another is known as public transport. Table-1.16: Private and Public Transport Vehicles in Selected Metropolitan Cities in India (as of March 31, 2000) Metropolita n Cities Two Wheelers % of total Cars ( including Jeeps ) % of total Taxies ( including auto rickshaws % of total Buses % of total Others % of total Total Ahmedabad Bangalore Chennai Delhi Hyderabad Jaipur Kanpur Kolkata Lucknow Mumbai Nagpur Patna Pune Source : Transport Research Wing Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India New Delhi, Motor Transport Statistic of India Various issues. 19

20 Transport demand in Indian cities has increased manifold due to increase in population and due to migration from rural areas. Availability of motorised transport, increase in income and increase in economic activities has further increased transport demand. Therefore congestions, delays, accident and environment are very common in Indian cities. This will become clearer when we have a look at the data table-1.16 below: Table-1.17 shows the existing modal split and Table1.18 shows the desirable modal split in Indian cities. The share of mass transport is quite low compared to what is desirable. This is the main cause of traffic problem in Indian cities. That is accident, noise as well as air pollution and congestion. Table-1.17: Existing Modal Split in India Cities (as a % of Total Trips) City Population ( in millions) Walk Mass Transport Fast IPT Slow Car Two Wheeler Bicycle Source : Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, New Delhi Traffic and Transportation Policies and Strategies in Urban Areas in India, Final Report. Table-1.18: Desirable Model Split for Indian Cities (as a % of Total Trips) City Population ( in millions) Mass Transport Bicycle Other Modes Source: Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, New Delhi Traffic and Transportation Policies and Strategies in Urban Areas in India. Final Report. 20

21 Table-1.19 shows the pollution and the congestion effects of different mode of transport. Table1.19: Pollution Rate and Congestion Effect of Private and Public Type of Vehicle Transport Vehicles Two-stroke two-wheeler petrol engine For- stroke two- wheeler petrol engine Car with catalytic converter petrol engine Bus with diesel engine Average Passenger per Vehicle Pollution Load in gm/pass.km Congestion Effect in PCU/ Pass Note: PCU = Passenger Car Unit where 1car=1PCU, 1bus=2.5PCU,1 Scooter=0.75 PCU, etc Source: Review of urban transport in India, Sanjay K. Singh, Journal of public transportation, volume-8, No-1, As we see in the table-1.19, two wheelers are 7 times more polluting than a bus and a four wheeler is almost 5 times more polluting when we take in to consideration the number of passengers taken by them. Similarly a normal (without catalytic converter petrol engine) or a two wheeler creates five times more congestion effect. The weaker sections of the society are at disadvantage as they cannot effort to have personalised vehicle. Therefore they are not benefited by the investment made by government in developing and maintaining road infrastructure. At the same time they share the problems created due to this situation. For example they suffer the pollution most as they walk or cycle on noisy roads for a long period of time and their bus get trapped in to the traffic jam. Thus the promotion of public transport can provide a sustainable transport solution for Indian cities and towns. There are mainly three options of public transport. 1. Buses 2. BRTS 3. MRTS 21

22 Buses: The buses are the commonest public transport. In metropolitan cities and cities having population more than one million, this system is unable to provide efficient mode of transport due to following reasons: 1. Poor management 2. Poor services 3. The number of buses plying are very low, therefore the passengers have to wait for a long time to get a bus. 4. Their condition is so bad that the class of people who can afford a motorised vehicle, even a two wheeler, will not prefer to use a bus. 5. They are not cost effective. Their tariffs are closer to the expenses incurred in using a personalised motorise vehicle like a scooter or motor bike. That is why people avoid using buses. 6. Due to increased motorisation, these buses get trapped in to traffic jams BRTS: leading to delay and a lot of inconvenience. To deal with these issues a new system called Bus Rapid transit system has been developed the world over. Here a separate bus lane is created in existing roads to increase their speed. Several factors are taken in to consideration while designing such a system for a city. Metro Rail: Underground or over ground high speed metro railway can provide an efficient solution for metropolitan cities of India. The speed and quality of services is the main attraction for this. In the cities like London and many other such cities metro rail has turned out to be most preferred means of public transport. These three options have their own pros and cons. The metro rails are the most efficient in terms of the travel time and the comfort of the passengers but they are very expensive. They need huge initial investment and they have a long gestation period. The normal buses require very less investment. They use existing road infrastructure and do not require much initial investment. The BRTS require moderate initial investment. Also the gestation period also is low compared to that of Metro Rail Transit System (MRTS). As seen in the earlier tables personalised two wheelers compose 70% of the total number of vehicles in India. Any mass transport system has to compete with them in terms of cost. According to one estimate the operational cost of a 22

23 personalised two wheeler is 0.8 to 1.00 Rs per Kilo meter. The cost of MRTS is around 5.0 Rs per Kilo meter. Moreover expert observes that the Rail network is useful where the city has dense business district providing job to people. As Indian cities are growing in a radial fashion, it is unlikely that any Indian cities will grow in that manner and size. Some experts opine that the development of MRTS leads to growth of such Central Business District leading to imbalanced growth of the city. Due to increased two wheeler based motorisation, radial growth of Indian cities, absence of dense central business district and low rise multiple business centre rails and metros are not suitable for Indian cities, In such a situation BRTS can give a better option. It addresses the major weaknesses of inefficient bus system operating in most of the cities and towns presently. It reduces the time of travel as separate bus lane is provided for. The condition of the buses can also be improved. It is better than the metro rail in a sense that it takes the passenger closest to its destination, which is not possible in case of a metro train. In case of metro rail the passengers have to walk a long distances from the metro station or they have to catch another mode of transport, a bus or taxi or auto rickshaw. BRTS suits for low income population as it costs less. Some expert argue: There is evidence from the literature that expenditure on new rail-based schemes can divert resources away from bus routes used by low-income people with no alternative mechanized mode of travel. There are now some signs of a shift from light rail to bus-based systems, following on from the earlier shift from metro to light rail. Some experts also believe that Rail systems can only serve a very limited area of a city. Not one developing country city subway system serves more than 10% of population. BRT systems can achieve very high coverage at low investment costs. As they are road based they can go very close to homes and destinations and cover most of the city as planned. This would not be possible technically or financially with rail system 4 From the above discussion it is clear that Indian cities cannot afford to promote already increasing motorisation. The planners need to provide for efficient public transport system that takes care of weaker sections of the society too and that is more sustainable in terms of environment as well as catering to the growing need of the urban centres of India. 4 Public Transportation Systems for Urban Areas, A Brief Review, Dinesh Mohan 23

24 Community Participation: Community participation is participation of various stake holders in different aspects of traffic management. This helps in: 1. Using stake holder s knowledge for wider public good. 2. Taking their concern in account 3. Their involvement in decision making make them responsible. This brings ownership. They feel that this is their decision. They are responsible for it and they should ensure that it succeeds. 4. It brings self discipline and the task of all the government agencies become easy. 5. This brings down their grievances. 6. They have a sense of real democracy. 7. Decisions have wider acceptability Community participation can be thought of in various aspects of traffic management. Community may be involved in the decision making with respect to planning, organizing, coordinating and regulating traffic operations, tools and methods etc. In planning road infrastructure community should have a great role to play. They should decide what exactly they need. In the present system in India, the municipal bodies and district and block Panchayats have say in these decisions but sometimes it is felt that these decisions are not taken after taking in to account community s. Therefore, it is felt that, better alternative for wider participation should be devised. Community can play a major role in enforcement too. Road safety patrol and traffic warden are the schemes in which community members participate in enforcement. The main advantage is that it increases community acceptability of enforcement. People start understanding that it is in their interest to follow the rules. In Indian scenario, where the community leaders generally oppose the strict traffic for short term gains, it becomes more important. It becomes difficult for them to oppose strict enforcement of traffic rules when they are part of traffic drive. If done properly with earnest sincerity, it can give direction to the traffic enforcement drive. Sometimes traffic drive doesn t serve the purpose of orderly movement of traffic and road safety. This makes people against the drive. They feel that the enforcement agency is conducting this drive just to collect fines. It such drives are planned using community knowledge, it can be more effective in reducing traffic congestion and bringing down the number of accidents and fatalities. 24

25 Community has a great role in traffic education. The main purpose of traffic education is to ensure that road users adhere to traffic rules on their own. To ensure this they need to be educated about the importance of adherence of traffic rules. Traffic education drive cannot be thought of without the involvement of the community. The traffic awareness programmes are the programmes for the citizens and these programmes cannot be organised without community participation. Actually these programmes should be programmes of the people, for the people by the people. Road Safety: Road safety refers to methods and measures for reducing the risk of a person using the road network being killed or seriously injured. The users of a road include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, their passengers, and passengers of onroad public transport, mainly buses and trams. Best-practice road safety strategies focus upon the prevention of serious injury and death crashes in spite of human being s fallibility. Earlier road safety focused on simply reducing crashes assuming that the road user will comply with traffic regulations. But that is not the case. There is a general tendency of road user of not adhering to the rules unless very effective enforcement system, including that supported by modern technology, is in place every where round the clock. Road safety now focuses on safe road design where in effort is made to provide a road environment which ensures vehicle speeds will be within the human tolerances for serious injury and death wherever conflict points exist. The aim is to ensure that in the event of a crash, the impact energies remain below the threshold likely to produce either death or serious injury. The modern road safety strategy categorizes three level of road safety. The first level is sustainable prevention of serious injury and death crashes, the second level is real time risk reduction, which involves providing users at severe risk with a specific warning to enable them to take mitigating action. The third level is about reducing the crash risk which involves applying the road design standards and guidelines, improving driver behaviour and enforcement. Road safety is a major concern in India. Table 10 shows road fatalities from year 1997 to It has increased from in 1997 to almost in According to National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (WHO Collaborating Centre for Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion Department of 25

26 Epidemiology Bangalore In 2010, an estimated 1,60,000 persons died due to road crashes in India. Table-1.20 to 1.25 show the number of people injured and killed. These figures are alarming. Consider the trauma of affected families, number of man days lost in dealing with this trauma. Some families might have lost the single bread earner or the bread earner is become permanently handicapped. The nation suffers huge economic loss due untimely sudden death of people and damage and loss of property and productivity. Table -1.20: Road accident statistics of India Yea r Total no. of road accident s Total no. of Person s killed Total no. of Person s injured Total no of Registere d motor vehicles ( thousand No. of accident s per vehicles No of Person s killed per vehicle No. of accidents per populatio n No. of killed per populati on s) Source : morth.nic.in:transportation Research Wing, Ministry of Road transport and Highways, Road Accidents in India

27 Table-1.21: Road Accidents statics of Gujarat from the Year (2000 to 2009 ) Year Fatal Grievous Minor injury Non injury Total accidents Source: morth.nic.in: Transportation Research Wing, Ministry of Road transport and Highways, Road Accidents in India 2007 Table-1.22: Total Number of Road Accidents in Gujarat State, Year Total Number of Road Accidents share in total Number of Road Accidents in India Number of Accidents Per Lakh Population Total Number of Road Accidents Per 10,000 Vehicles Total Number of Road Accidents Per 10,000 Km of Roads , , , , , , , ,339 Source: morth.nic.in: Transportation Research Wing, Ministry of Road transport and Highways, Road Accidents in India 2007 Accidents in India