22987 Ecologically Sustainable Transport
Content
Page 1 of 14
ECOLOGICALL ECOLOGICALLY Y SUSTAINABL SUSTAINABLE E TRANSPORT TRANSPORT::
Issues and perspectives perspectives V.P. JAIN JAI N Abstract The paper focuses on the growth and pattern in ownership ownership and use of motorized vehicles within the framework of sustainable development. There is a considerable evidence to demonstrate that the current mega-trends in transport are at odds with the imperative of maintaining ecological balance. An attempt has been made to substantiate substantiate the argument from the empirical evidence available, especially in the Indian context. A variety of policy strategies have been suggested to reconcile the economic objectives of transport with the attendant environmental concerns. INTRODUCTION Recently Recently,, transport transport questions have increasingly increasingly been addressed addressed in the context of ecologically sustainable development (Banister and Button 1993, Button, Nijkamp and Priemus1998). Transport is, today, positioned in the conflicting role between economic and environmental interests. Transport, as an infrastructural support is a pre-requisite for econom economic ic devel developm opmen ent. t. An effi effici cien entt tran transp spor ortt syst system em enhan enhance cess prod product uctio ion n and and consumpt consumption ion and promote promotess quality quality of life. life. A robust robust transp transport ort sys system tem improv improves es the accessibility of all the regions in a country, while simultaneously being consistent with envir environm onment ental ally ly sust sustai ainab nable le outc outcom omes es.. Trans ranspo port rt can prom promot otee prod product uctio ion n and and consumption but also has an intricate linkage with the environmental quality of these economic activities. The environmental effects of transport itself are enormous. Transport erodes the natural resource base of an economy besides polluting the environment in a big way. way. Half of the current world oil production, for example, is consumed by motor vehic vehicle less alon alone. e. Th Thee world world over over, ener energy gy use use and tran transp spor orta tati tion on are are the the two two main main contributors to ozone and green house gases, besides polluting urban air in a big way. Transport Mobility Trends
The world, today, has a fleet of more than 600 million road vehicles, where growth has constantly outpaced that of the human population. Since 1950, the global vehicle fleet has grown tenfold and is expected to cross the one billion mark by the year 2025. Urbanization, which has reshaped the world’s landscape since the Second World War, invariably means more vehicles and more travel. Within a metropolis, trip distances become longer as new housing colonies spring on urban outskirts. Currently, the vehicle fleet is concentrated in the high-income economies of the world. If current transport policy patterns continue, the motor vehicle kilometer traveled in OECD countries is expect expected ed to incr increas easee by 40 perc percent ent by 202 2020. 0. Th Thee prob problem lem is going going to be furt furthe herr compounded by a similar upsurge towards mass motorcar ownership in Asian cities. In the the 195 1950’ 0’ss only only a sm smal alll elit elitee owned owned priv privat atee vehi vehicl cles es in Asia. Asia. Howe Howeve verr, by 197 1970, 0,
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Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore had more than 50 cars per thousand, and the numbers had crossed 100 per thousand for Tokyo. Delhi adds 500-700 vehicles everyday, taking its vehicle population from 2.35 lakhs in 1975 to 37 lakhs in 2004, the increase being heavily skewed in favour of cars and two wheelers. The number of cars which was only 1.57 lakhs in 1984-85 rose to 8.41 lakhs in 1998-99 and is expected to cross the 25 lakh mark by 2009-10. India, not only, now produces three times the number of cars it made eight years ago, but the number of models has increased ten fold over as many years. For the Indian consumer, the options to acquire a car keep getting better. From a three model line-up in the 1980’s, the market has now exploded with new choices coming up every day. Today, a new car model is being introduced every couple of months, fastest growing segment being luxury cars. Table 1 shows the rapid growth of registered vehicles in India from a meager 0.3 million in 1951 to 60 million in 2002. Table1-Total Number of Registered motor vehicles in INDIA (in thousands) Year as on 1951 31st March
1961
1971
1981
1991
2000®
2001(P) 2002(P)
Twowheelers
88
576
2618
14200
34118
38556
41478
Cars, jeeps 159 and taxis
310
682
1160
2954
6143
7058
7571
Buses
34
57
94
162
331
562@
634@
669@
Goods vehicles
82
168
343
554
1356
2715
2948
3045
Others*
4
42
170
897
2533
5319
5795
6100
All vehicles
306
665
1865
5391
21374
48857
54991
58863
27
@ includes omni-buses
® Revised
(P) Provisional
Note: * Others include tractors, trailers, three-wheelers (passenger and goods vehicles and other miscellaneous vehicles which are not separately classified) Source: Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (2000), Motor Transport Statistics of India1999-2000.
There is, however, an intricate link between economic growth and transport behavior which explains current mega-trends in mobility patterns (See Table 2). Historical data suggests that, throughout the world, traffic volume (motorized mobility) grows in tandem with the increase in personal income. As average income increases, the annual distance traveled per capita increases more or less in the same proportion. In OECD Europe, on an average, one point increase in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has been accompanied by an increase of about two points increase in road freight mobility and one and a half points increase in private car traffic. The developing countries of Asia
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exhibit a similar trend. It is not surprising that Delhi, which has the highest per capita income in the country, accounts for a vehicle population equal to the combined strength of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. It is observed that, on an average, people devote a predictable fraction of their income to transportation. In developing countries, this fraction is typically around 3-5 percent, where people rely more on non-motorised transport. The fraction tends to rise with automobile ownership, stabalising at 10 to 15 percent The industrial nations belonging to OECD have already completed this automobile transition. In future, developing countries will contribute a rising share to global traffic volume as their average income is expected to grow faster than those of OECD nations. In India, the sale of passenger cars has already crossed the one million mark in the annual domestic market, which is growing at the rate of 20 to 30 per cent. However, the trend can not be explained solely by the growth of the economy, which is booming only at rate of only 6-7 per cent. The phenomenon has emerged primarily due to spurt in the income of the rich, reduction in taxes and duties on cars, softening of interest rates and easier availability of bank loans to both rural and urban sectors. According to CSO estimates the retail loans as a percentage of disposable income have increased from 3.5-4 per cent in the year 2000 to 8 per cent in March 2004. Table 2: Country
Relationship between transport growth and economic growth Numbers
Per capita GDP
Number of Vehicles
(in thousands)
(in US dollars ppp)
Per 1,000 people
US
132,432
35,600
740
Japan
62438
26,100
640
Germany
42,840
25,900
570
FRANCE
28,060
24,400
520
UK
25,029
24,500
410
Brazil
13.827
7,400
190
Australia
9,981
24,000
610
Korea
7,908
4,000
32
China
5,106
4,300
21
India
4,565
2,500
30
Sourse: Anon, Transport Statistics of Great Britain,2002; Anon, CIA Word Fact book,2002; Anon, Automotive Industry2001 and beyond 2001; Anon, Asia pacific cooperation,2003; E A Vasconcellos, Urban Transport, Environment and equity-the case for developing countries, Earthscam Publications Ltd, London, 2001.
Even though many countries have tried to manage transport within the confines of ecological boundaries, it has been more than offset with a structural rise in spatial mobility. In most countries not only road traffic has more than doubled in past two decades but the trend is particularly skewed in favour of private cars, and trucks. Since 1970 fleet of road vehicles in the world has averaged 4.7 per cent for cars and 5.1 per
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cent for trucks. Table 1 gives the break up of different modes of transport and their growth in India from 1951 onwards which exhibits a phenomenal increase in favour of private vehicles. Delhi has witnessed an unprecedented increase in private car ownership and mobility in last one decade and a half and the trend continues unabated. More than 91 per cent of on road transport traffic in Delhi, 88 per cent in Banglore and 83 per cent in Kolkata consist of cars and two wheelers, buses constitute only 1, 1 and 2 per cent respectively. In spite of a sharp increase in the number of cars in Delhi, for example, their importance in meeting travel demand is insignificant compared to that of buses and two wheelers.(see table3 ) In Western Europe, the share of buses and railways which accounted for 70 per cent of the total traffic volume came down to a meager 15 per cent in 1997. The scenario has a unique structural dimension in South Asia. Public transport in the region meets very high level of travel demand of its people despite extremely decrepit and ill-maintained vehicles in its fleet. In Delhi, buses meet 64 per cent of the travel demand of the commuters even though they form less than 1 per cent of the total vehicular fleet. In Mumbai, buses account for 59 per cent of all trips in the city, and use only 5 per cent of the road capacity. While in 1957, the most eco-friendly mode, namely bicycle, met 36 per cent of travel demand in Delhi, it declined to 17 per cent in 1981 and then dramatically to just 6.61 per cent in 1994.
Table-3
Meeting Travel Demand in Delhi-Mode Wise (in per cent) Year
Mode
1957
1969
1981
1994
Cycle
36
28.01
17
6.61
Scooter/M-cycle
1.0
8.42
11.07
17.6
Motor Car
10.1
15.54
5.53
6.94
Bus
22.4
39.57
59.74
62.0
Taxi
4.4
1.16
0.23
0.06
Auto
7.8
3.38
0.77
2.8
Rail
0.4
1.23
1.56
0.38
Others
17.9
2.19
4.1
3.62
Source: ORG, Household Travel Survey in Delhi, Final Report, September, 1994 At present private vehicles constitute 80 per cent of transportation in metros. India, like many other profligate developing countries, has adopted an extremely energy intensive growth path, which is surprisingly, at variance with the practice in many advanced countries of the OECD. To achieve a one point growth in GDP in the country, we consume twice as much energy as in the rich countries. Western Europe and Japan, to take another example, consume 40-60 tons of oil to add $ 1 million to their national income. In sharp contrast to this, the Indian requirement is 189 tones. What is most distressing is that of all modes of transport road transport is most devastating in its impact e-mail:[email protected]
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on furthering air and soil pollution besides being a high risk factor to human life and safety which is portrayed by the following table. Table 4. The impacts on the environment by modes of transport Air Pollution
Water pollution
Soil pollution
Health Safety
Road
***
*
***
***
Rail
*
**
*
Inland Waterways Sea Air
* *
**
*
**
* *
and
*
*small impact; ** significant impact; *** great impact Source==Gwilliam and Geerling, Research and Technology Strategy 1992.
Environmental Impacts
World’s people will, increasingly, live in cities, so traffic jams and pollution will loom large in their lives. Worst of all will be mega-cities of Asia. By 2025, Beijing and Kolkata will each be home to as many as 20 million people, Mumbai to 25 million. The explosive growth of cities is devouring the countryside around them and fast turning into mega settlements. These mega trends makes fusion of economic needs with ecological constraints a difficult task. Such a trend, as is occurring, may be wholly undesirable from the economic and ecological standpoint, and destructive of rational transport and energy priorities. With explosive growth of cities come problems like environmental degradation, higher cost of transportation and infrastructure. For example, 23 million plus cities, which accommodate only 8 per cent of India’s population, account for 33 per cent of total motor vehicles. Unless this trend is reversed, efficient transport management, which is a very complex process, not only will remain elusive, but create insurmountable problems. Transport in our modern society has a wide variety of negative environmental consequences (externalities) which manifests in depletion of natural resources, noise, local and global air pollution, landscape deterioration, urban sprawl, fatalities, congestion and socio-psychological stress. AIR POLLUTION
Today, globally, motor vehicles put out 900 million tons of carbon dioxide a year which constitutes 15 per cent of the total emission. Urban air pollution has worsened in most large cities in the developing world due to increased reliance on motorized vehicle for transportation (see table 5). Despite pollution control effects, air quality has approached dangerous levels in a number of mega cities, such as Beijing, Delhi, Jakarta, and Mexico City, where pollutant levels sometimes exceed WHO air quality standards by a factor of three or more. Delhi, once a green city, is now clubbed with the most polluted e-mail:[email protected]
Page 13 of 14
Delhi to CNG mode, at the instance of the Supreme Court, has greatly helped improve ambient air quality in Delhi. 4. Urban Settlement Planning: But the problem remains because we merely respond to each crisis, as it comes without a perspective. A lasting and meaningful solution would emerge only when the issue is taken up in its totality as an integral part of the overall ecological crisis. There are several very difficult, and in some cases unpopular, choices to be made in dealing with the vexed problems of traffic pollution and congestion. These choices will be almost impossible to implement unless they have the understanding and support of the traveling public. The sustainability of the urban transport system must be considered as a critical part of the sustainable development in the broader sense to mean a balanced, coevolutionary industrial, social, ecological and economic development.
Many urban planning models have proposed ways to reduce reliance on automobiles. An integrated land use and transport strategy to cluster homes, accessibility of jobs, shops and recreational facilities can reduce the need to travel by car considerably. Other models propose compact city as the ideal, where high densities facilitates walking or bicycling. Many cities around the world have began observing carfree day every year. In response to a major initiative from the French Ministry of Land Planning and Environment, 35 French towns organized ‘In town, without my car’ day on September 22, 1998. Since then it has become an organized movement motivating 60 European towns to join the Car-Free Cities Network, committed to reduction in traffic volume by encouraging the use more environmentally friendly modes of transport. Delhi is an excellent example of mindless traffic planning. Obsessive emphasis has been put on personal transport, widening roads, constructing flyovers and converting open spaces into parking lots. Public transport has been neglected, boosting the need and purchase of cars. Delhi figures most prominently among the world’s most pedestrianhostile environments. As a result, pedestrians and cyclists have been pushed aside. Yet there is a considerable scope to create car- free zones in Delhi. There is a great potential for bicycle use in Delhi, since 40 per cent of the journey distance is less than 2.5 km and more than 57 per cent less than 5 km (Dinesh Mohan). It is an irony that, in spite of several proposals by town planners and engineers to provide exclusive bicycle tracks, no action is forthcoming. Apparently, the commitment to develop and implement technologies which are more environment friendly is lacking.
conclusion Various short, medium and long term steps to ensure air quality have been identified by the relevant governments and their instrumentalities in different countries, and some of them have been implemented with varying success. Yet, there has been no discernible impact on pollution levels in most of the cities in the world. The situation is particularly grim in the emerging mega-cities in underdeveloped countries. What is, therefore, important is not to reiterate the well known actions or policy interventions, but to establish a methodology based on an integrated approach to problem solving. A
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strategic approach would be to promote multimodal transport in the movement of both people and goods. This would necessitate interconnectivity and interoperability of networks using various kinds of infrastructure, namely road, rail and air. It may require the construction of new infrastructure with regard to any missing links in the networks, and in some cases the creation of entirely new networks such as Delhi Metro. Efforts should also be made to wards limiting the need for physical transport itself, substituting telecommunications for physical mobility, wherever possible. It may also mean reducing transport distances to levels that people can travel by bicycle or on foot. Thus, changes in technology, public policy and individual behavior are required to foster transport system to be compatible with sustainable environment. References
Banister, D; and K Button Transport and Environment and Sustainable Development, E.& F.N. Spon, London 1993. Beaton et.al. Cited in Reddy, Vehicles Emissions Beyond Technology, The Hindu Survey of the Environment,2000. Gwilliam, K.M., and H. Greelings, Research and Technology Strategy to Help Overcome the Environmental Problems in Relation to Transport, Monitor- SAST, EC. Brussels, 1992 Kenneth Button, Peter Nijkamp and Hugo Priemus, Transport Networks in Europe, Concepts, Analyses and Policy, Edward Elgar 1998. Mohan, Dinesh “Smokeless Vehicles For A cleaner Future”, The Hindu Survey of the Environment,1998. Tiwari, Geetam. Heterogenous Cities, Limits of Old Paradigms” in The Hindu Survey of the Environment,1998. Zahavi, Yacob., cited in “The Past and Future of global mobility” by Andreas Schafer and David Victor, Scientific American, October 1997 Paper published in “Sustainable Development an Interdisciplinary Perspective” Edited by Dr. Guljit K. Arora Ph.D, and Arunabh Talwar M.D., F.C.C.P. Research and Publishing House, in association with Human Development Research Centre, New Delhi, 2005.
V.P.Jain, Reader in Economics(Retd) School of Open Learning, University of Delhi..
e-mail:[email protected]
ECOLOGICALL ECOLOGICALLY Y SUSTAINABL SUSTAINABLE E TRANSPORT TRANSPORT::
Issues and perspectives perspectives V.P. JAIN JAI N Abstract The paper focuses on the growth and pattern in ownership ownership and use of motorized vehicles within the framework of sustainable development. There is a considerable evidence to demonstrate that the current mega-trends in transport are at odds with the imperative of maintaining ecological balance. An attempt has been made to substantiate substantiate the argument from the empirical evidence available, especially in the Indian context. A variety of policy strategies have been suggested to reconcile the economic objectives of transport with the attendant environmental concerns. INTRODUCTION Recently Recently,, transport transport questions have increasingly increasingly been addressed addressed in the context of ecologically sustainable development (Banister and Button 1993, Button, Nijkamp and Priemus1998). Transport is, today, positioned in the conflicting role between economic and environmental interests. Transport, as an infrastructural support is a pre-requisite for econom economic ic devel developm opmen ent. t. An effi effici cien entt tran transp spor ortt syst system em enhan enhance cess prod product uctio ion n and and consumpt consumption ion and promote promotess quality quality of life. life. A robust robust transp transport ort sys system tem improv improves es the accessibility of all the regions in a country, while simultaneously being consistent with envir environm onment ental ally ly sust sustai ainab nable le outc outcom omes es.. Trans ranspo port rt can prom promot otee prod product uctio ion n and and consumption but also has an intricate linkage with the environmental quality of these economic activities. The environmental effects of transport itself are enormous. Transport erodes the natural resource base of an economy besides polluting the environment in a big way. way. Half of the current world oil production, for example, is consumed by motor vehic vehicle less alon alone. e. Th Thee world world over over, ener energy gy use use and tran transp spor orta tati tion on are are the the two two main main contributors to ozone and green house gases, besides polluting urban air in a big way. Transport Mobility Trends
The world, today, has a fleet of more than 600 million road vehicles, where growth has constantly outpaced that of the human population. Since 1950, the global vehicle fleet has grown tenfold and is expected to cross the one billion mark by the year 2025. Urbanization, which has reshaped the world’s landscape since the Second World War, invariably means more vehicles and more travel. Within a metropolis, trip distances become longer as new housing colonies spring on urban outskirts. Currently, the vehicle fleet is concentrated in the high-income economies of the world. If current transport policy patterns continue, the motor vehicle kilometer traveled in OECD countries is expect expected ed to incr increas easee by 40 perc percent ent by 202 2020. 0. Th Thee prob problem lem is going going to be furt furthe herr compounded by a similar upsurge towards mass motorcar ownership in Asian cities. In the the 195 1950’ 0’ss only only a sm smal alll elit elitee owned owned priv privat atee vehi vehicl cles es in Asia. Asia. Howe Howeve verr, by 197 1970, 0,
e-mail:[email protected]
Page 2 of 14
Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore had more than 50 cars per thousand, and the numbers had crossed 100 per thousand for Tokyo. Delhi adds 500-700 vehicles everyday, taking its vehicle population from 2.35 lakhs in 1975 to 37 lakhs in 2004, the increase being heavily skewed in favour of cars and two wheelers. The number of cars which was only 1.57 lakhs in 1984-85 rose to 8.41 lakhs in 1998-99 and is expected to cross the 25 lakh mark by 2009-10. India, not only, now produces three times the number of cars it made eight years ago, but the number of models has increased ten fold over as many years. For the Indian consumer, the options to acquire a car keep getting better. From a three model line-up in the 1980’s, the market has now exploded with new choices coming up every day. Today, a new car model is being introduced every couple of months, fastest growing segment being luxury cars. Table 1 shows the rapid growth of registered vehicles in India from a meager 0.3 million in 1951 to 60 million in 2002. Table1-Total Number of Registered motor vehicles in INDIA (in thousands) Year as on 1951 31st March
1961
1971
1981
1991
2000®
2001(P) 2002(P)
Twowheelers
88
576
2618
14200
34118
38556
41478
Cars, jeeps 159 and taxis
310
682
1160
2954
6143
7058
7571
Buses
34
57
94
162
331
562@
634@
669@
Goods vehicles
82
168
343
554
1356
2715
2948
3045
Others*
4
42
170
897
2533
5319
5795
6100
All vehicles
306
665
1865
5391
21374
48857
54991
58863
27
@ includes omni-buses
® Revised
(P) Provisional
Note: * Others include tractors, trailers, three-wheelers (passenger and goods vehicles and other miscellaneous vehicles which are not separately classified) Source: Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (2000), Motor Transport Statistics of India1999-2000.
There is, however, an intricate link between economic growth and transport behavior which explains current mega-trends in mobility patterns (See Table 2). Historical data suggests that, throughout the world, traffic volume (motorized mobility) grows in tandem with the increase in personal income. As average income increases, the annual distance traveled per capita increases more or less in the same proportion. In OECD Europe, on an average, one point increase in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has been accompanied by an increase of about two points increase in road freight mobility and one and a half points increase in private car traffic. The developing countries of Asia
e-mail:[email protected]
Page 3 of 14
exhibit a similar trend. It is not surprising that Delhi, which has the highest per capita income in the country, accounts for a vehicle population equal to the combined strength of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. It is observed that, on an average, people devote a predictable fraction of their income to transportation. In developing countries, this fraction is typically around 3-5 percent, where people rely more on non-motorised transport. The fraction tends to rise with automobile ownership, stabalising at 10 to 15 percent The industrial nations belonging to OECD have already completed this automobile transition. In future, developing countries will contribute a rising share to global traffic volume as their average income is expected to grow faster than those of OECD nations. In India, the sale of passenger cars has already crossed the one million mark in the annual domestic market, which is growing at the rate of 20 to 30 per cent. However, the trend can not be explained solely by the growth of the economy, which is booming only at rate of only 6-7 per cent. The phenomenon has emerged primarily due to spurt in the income of the rich, reduction in taxes and duties on cars, softening of interest rates and easier availability of bank loans to both rural and urban sectors. According to CSO estimates the retail loans as a percentage of disposable income have increased from 3.5-4 per cent in the year 2000 to 8 per cent in March 2004. Table 2: Country
Relationship between transport growth and economic growth Numbers
Per capita GDP
Number of Vehicles
(in thousands)
(in US dollars ppp)
Per 1,000 people
US
132,432
35,600
740
Japan
62438
26,100
640
Germany
42,840
25,900
570
FRANCE
28,060
24,400
520
UK
25,029
24,500
410
Brazil
13.827
7,400
190
Australia
9,981
24,000
610
Korea
7,908
4,000
32
China
5,106
4,300
21
India
4,565
2,500
30
Sourse: Anon, Transport Statistics of Great Britain,2002; Anon, CIA Word Fact book,2002; Anon, Automotive Industry2001 and beyond 2001; Anon, Asia pacific cooperation,2003; E A Vasconcellos, Urban Transport, Environment and equity-the case for developing countries, Earthscam Publications Ltd, London, 2001.
Even though many countries have tried to manage transport within the confines of ecological boundaries, it has been more than offset with a structural rise in spatial mobility. In most countries not only road traffic has more than doubled in past two decades but the trend is particularly skewed in favour of private cars, and trucks. Since 1970 fleet of road vehicles in the world has averaged 4.7 per cent for cars and 5.1 per
e-mail:[email protected]
Page 4 of 14
cent for trucks. Table 1 gives the break up of different modes of transport and their growth in India from 1951 onwards which exhibits a phenomenal increase in favour of private vehicles. Delhi has witnessed an unprecedented increase in private car ownership and mobility in last one decade and a half and the trend continues unabated. More than 91 per cent of on road transport traffic in Delhi, 88 per cent in Banglore and 83 per cent in Kolkata consist of cars and two wheelers, buses constitute only 1, 1 and 2 per cent respectively. In spite of a sharp increase in the number of cars in Delhi, for example, their importance in meeting travel demand is insignificant compared to that of buses and two wheelers.(see table3 ) In Western Europe, the share of buses and railways which accounted for 70 per cent of the total traffic volume came down to a meager 15 per cent in 1997. The scenario has a unique structural dimension in South Asia. Public transport in the region meets very high level of travel demand of its people despite extremely decrepit and ill-maintained vehicles in its fleet. In Delhi, buses meet 64 per cent of the travel demand of the commuters even though they form less than 1 per cent of the total vehicular fleet. In Mumbai, buses account for 59 per cent of all trips in the city, and use only 5 per cent of the road capacity. While in 1957, the most eco-friendly mode, namely bicycle, met 36 per cent of travel demand in Delhi, it declined to 17 per cent in 1981 and then dramatically to just 6.61 per cent in 1994.
Table-3
Meeting Travel Demand in Delhi-Mode Wise (in per cent) Year
Mode
1957
1969
1981
1994
Cycle
36
28.01
17
6.61
Scooter/M-cycle
1.0
8.42
11.07
17.6
Motor Car
10.1
15.54
5.53
6.94
Bus
22.4
39.57
59.74
62.0
Taxi
4.4
1.16
0.23
0.06
Auto
7.8
3.38
0.77
2.8
Rail
0.4
1.23
1.56
0.38
Others
17.9
2.19
4.1
3.62
Source: ORG, Household Travel Survey in Delhi, Final Report, September, 1994 At present private vehicles constitute 80 per cent of transportation in metros. India, like many other profligate developing countries, has adopted an extremely energy intensive growth path, which is surprisingly, at variance with the practice in many advanced countries of the OECD. To achieve a one point growth in GDP in the country, we consume twice as much energy as in the rich countries. Western Europe and Japan, to take another example, consume 40-60 tons of oil to add $ 1 million to their national income. In sharp contrast to this, the Indian requirement is 189 tones. What is most distressing is that of all modes of transport road transport is most devastating in its impact e-mail:[email protected]
Page 5 of 14
on furthering air and soil pollution besides being a high risk factor to human life and safety which is portrayed by the following table. Table 4. The impacts on the environment by modes of transport Air Pollution
Water pollution
Soil pollution
Health Safety
Road
***
*
***
***
Rail
*
**
*
Inland Waterways Sea Air
* *
**
*
**
* *
and
*
*small impact; ** significant impact; *** great impact Source==Gwilliam and Geerling, Research and Technology Strategy 1992.
Environmental Impacts
World’s people will, increasingly, live in cities, so traffic jams and pollution will loom large in their lives. Worst of all will be mega-cities of Asia. By 2025, Beijing and Kolkata will each be home to as many as 20 million people, Mumbai to 25 million. The explosive growth of cities is devouring the countryside around them and fast turning into mega settlements. These mega trends makes fusion of economic needs with ecological constraints a difficult task. Such a trend, as is occurring, may be wholly undesirable from the economic and ecological standpoint, and destructive of rational transport and energy priorities. With explosive growth of cities come problems like environmental degradation, higher cost of transportation and infrastructure. For example, 23 million plus cities, which accommodate only 8 per cent of India’s population, account for 33 per cent of total motor vehicles. Unless this trend is reversed, efficient transport management, which is a very complex process, not only will remain elusive, but create insurmountable problems. Transport in our modern society has a wide variety of negative environmental consequences (externalities) which manifests in depletion of natural resources, noise, local and global air pollution, landscape deterioration, urban sprawl, fatalities, congestion and socio-psychological stress. AIR POLLUTION
Today, globally, motor vehicles put out 900 million tons of carbon dioxide a year which constitutes 15 per cent of the total emission. Urban air pollution has worsened in most large cities in the developing world due to increased reliance on motorized vehicle for transportation (see table 5). Despite pollution control effects, air quality has approached dangerous levels in a number of mega cities, such as Beijing, Delhi, Jakarta, and Mexico City, where pollutant levels sometimes exceed WHO air quality standards by a factor of three or more. Delhi, once a green city, is now clubbed with the most polluted e-mail:[email protected]
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Delhi to CNG mode, at the instance of the Supreme Court, has greatly helped improve ambient air quality in Delhi. 4. Urban Settlement Planning: But the problem remains because we merely respond to each crisis, as it comes without a perspective. A lasting and meaningful solution would emerge only when the issue is taken up in its totality as an integral part of the overall ecological crisis. There are several very difficult, and in some cases unpopular, choices to be made in dealing with the vexed problems of traffic pollution and congestion. These choices will be almost impossible to implement unless they have the understanding and support of the traveling public. The sustainability of the urban transport system must be considered as a critical part of the sustainable development in the broader sense to mean a balanced, coevolutionary industrial, social, ecological and economic development.
Many urban planning models have proposed ways to reduce reliance on automobiles. An integrated land use and transport strategy to cluster homes, accessibility of jobs, shops and recreational facilities can reduce the need to travel by car considerably. Other models propose compact city as the ideal, where high densities facilitates walking or bicycling. Many cities around the world have began observing carfree day every year. In response to a major initiative from the French Ministry of Land Planning and Environment, 35 French towns organized ‘In town, without my car’ day on September 22, 1998. Since then it has become an organized movement motivating 60 European towns to join the Car-Free Cities Network, committed to reduction in traffic volume by encouraging the use more environmentally friendly modes of transport. Delhi is an excellent example of mindless traffic planning. Obsessive emphasis has been put on personal transport, widening roads, constructing flyovers and converting open spaces into parking lots. Public transport has been neglected, boosting the need and purchase of cars. Delhi figures most prominently among the world’s most pedestrianhostile environments. As a result, pedestrians and cyclists have been pushed aside. Yet there is a considerable scope to create car- free zones in Delhi. There is a great potential for bicycle use in Delhi, since 40 per cent of the journey distance is less than 2.5 km and more than 57 per cent less than 5 km (Dinesh Mohan). It is an irony that, in spite of several proposals by town planners and engineers to provide exclusive bicycle tracks, no action is forthcoming. Apparently, the commitment to develop and implement technologies which are more environment friendly is lacking.
conclusion Various short, medium and long term steps to ensure air quality have been identified by the relevant governments and their instrumentalities in different countries, and some of them have been implemented with varying success. Yet, there has been no discernible impact on pollution levels in most of the cities in the world. The situation is particularly grim in the emerging mega-cities in underdeveloped countries. What is, therefore, important is not to reiterate the well known actions or policy interventions, but to establish a methodology based on an integrated approach to problem solving. A
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strategic approach would be to promote multimodal transport in the movement of both people and goods. This would necessitate interconnectivity and interoperability of networks using various kinds of infrastructure, namely road, rail and air. It may require the construction of new infrastructure with regard to any missing links in the networks, and in some cases the creation of entirely new networks such as Delhi Metro. Efforts should also be made to wards limiting the need for physical transport itself, substituting telecommunications for physical mobility, wherever possible. It may also mean reducing transport distances to levels that people can travel by bicycle or on foot. Thus, changes in technology, public policy and individual behavior are required to foster transport system to be compatible with sustainable environment. References
Banister, D; and K Button Transport and Environment and Sustainable Development, E.& F.N. Spon, London 1993. Beaton et.al. Cited in Reddy, Vehicles Emissions Beyond Technology, The Hindu Survey of the Environment,2000. Gwilliam, K.M., and H. Greelings, Research and Technology Strategy to Help Overcome the Environmental Problems in Relation to Transport, Monitor- SAST, EC. Brussels, 1992 Kenneth Button, Peter Nijkamp and Hugo Priemus, Transport Networks in Europe, Concepts, Analyses and Policy, Edward Elgar 1998. Mohan, Dinesh “Smokeless Vehicles For A cleaner Future”, The Hindu Survey of the Environment,1998. Tiwari, Geetam. Heterogenous Cities, Limits of Old Paradigms” in The Hindu Survey of the Environment,1998. Zahavi, Yacob., cited in “The Past and Future of global mobility” by Andreas Schafer and David Victor, Scientific American, October 1997 Paper published in “Sustainable Development an Interdisciplinary Perspective” Edited by Dr. Guljit K. Arora Ph.D, and Arunabh Talwar M.D., F.C.C.P. Research and Publishing House, in association with Human Development Research Centre, New Delhi, 2005.
V.P.Jain, Reader in Economics(Retd) School of Open Learning, University of Delhi..
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