By Kanreddy Yeshwanth Reddy, Ola Mobility Institute
Every city aspires to offer the best services of connectivity for its denizens. Be it world-class metro or train service, WiFi-enabled, air-conditioned public transport, or intracity roadways with superfast lanes. Every city in new India aspires to be a global city truly reflective of its rapid economic growth. It is, therefore, a welcome change to have the India’s Silicon Valley, the hub of all innovations, to focus on the fundamentals of mobility. With the intent to make every part of Bengaluru truly accessible - and for all at that, the state government has introduced a much-needed, comprehensive mobility plan for the city.
The Bengaluru Mobility Plan, recently announced by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, aims to integrate various modes of transport with a heavy emphasis on augmenting footpaths in every part of the city. While an initial fund of Rs 50 crore has been earmarked for footpath development, the state budget has also allotted Rs 8,300 crore for development of citizen-friendly infrastructure in the next three years such as elevated corridors, LED street lighting, smart parking systems, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, last mile connectivity for metro, along with construction of a peripheral ring road, among others.
The thrust by the government to reduce dependence on private vehicles and increase reliance on public transport is evident and much needed. Under the Bengaluru Mobility Plan, the government shall initiate a feasibility study for multimodal transport hubs at various parts of the city as well as to improve seamless intermodal integration of the metro rail service with bus terminuses located throughout the city. Such an initiative by the state government could not have come at a more opportune time for Bengaluru. The city today is reeling under the constant pressure of traffic-congestion, resulting from rapid urbanisation and unfettered motorisation.
Data from Ola Analytics suggests that the average speed in the city has dropped from 20.4 km/hr in 2016 to 17.2 km/hr in 2017, with Bengaluru recording the lowest average speed amongst the top 7 metro cities in India. At 6.1 million, Bengaluru has the highest number of registered vehicles, second only to Delhi which as 8.5 million registrations, according to data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 2016. This translates to a whopping 725 vehicles per 1000 persons in Bengaluru, compared to 528 vehicles per 1000 persons in Delhi, and 351 vehicles per 1000 persons in Hyderabad. Further, Bengaluru has a vehicular density of 469 per km of road as against the vehicular density of 310 per km of road in Delhi. These alarming trends elucidate the stress on the urban infrastructure in Bengaluru due to high vehicle ownership.
While the government’s efforts in 2019 are welcome, it is imperative to acknowledge that there is no single solution to transform mobility across all cities. Every city by virtue of its unique culture, economy, geography, and size has characteristics different from those of others and makes urban mobility planning and implementation that much more challenging.
What is essential is to understand a citizen’s choice and needs as best as the government can. Is there a blueprint perhaps that cities could adopt, customise, and practise? The answer lies in the Ease of Moving Index recently developed by Ola Mobility Institute. The Index is a comprehensive framework to help cities evaluate their mobility scenarios on 50+ parameters categorized into the three pillars of People, Infrastructure, and Sustainability. The 2018 edition of the index, based on a survey of 43000+ residents across 20 Indian cities, provides rich insights on the mobility scenario in Bengaluru and captures the mobility choices, needs, and aspirations of its denizens.
Bengaluru’s citizens feel public transport is safe, that the coverage of public transport is good, and that trip lengths are short. The city ranks high on the awareness of and necessity for eco-friendly vehicles. About 75% of the citizens feel that the mobility scenario in Bengaluru has improved in the last five years. However, this number is lower than the national average where 80% feel the mobility scenario has improved. While there are lessons to be learnt for every city, Bengaluru’s rating on the different parameters in the Index indicates the need for a comprehensive strategy to improve mobility for citizens, while reducing traffic-congestion.
The Ease of Moving Index for Bengaluru reveals that 86% of the citizens would shift to public transport if it was affordable, had better coverage, and was more comfortable. Further, 70% citizens do not use public transport because of concerns on safety, availability, and convenience. 70% of the citizens also emphasise the need for improving first and last mile connectivity to increase adoption of Public Transportation. The thrust on augmenting footpaths in new Mobility Plan of the city is, therefore, in synchronisation with the needs of the citizens.
As recognised by the government, the Ease of Moving Index study for Bengaluru too, acknowledges that large scale infrastructure projects to reduce congestion would achieve the desired results only if they are accompanied by a change in modal preference by commuters in favor of non-motorized transport and public transportation. Given that 78% of Bengalureans feel owning a car is important and given the limitations of coverage of public transportation, first and last mile connectivity would play a crucial role in bringing in a behavioural shift.
While the comprehensive mobility scheme is a welcome initiative by the government, the proposed measures need to further address the expectations of the citizens to achieve desired results. This means that intermediate public transport in the form of auto-rickshaws -- shared or single hail --, taxis and cabs, bikes and public bicycle sharing, mini-buses and more should all be strengthened, for these forms of shared mobility offer the requisite first- and last-mile connectivity in cities.
The Index, additionally, identifies improving frequency and coverage of public transport, parking at public transit stations, real-time information system on public transport, cycle tracks and footpaths, improving air quality, reducing accidents and fatalities, increasing the share of public transport, improving street lighting as some of the top focus areas for Bengaluru.
In the same vein of the new comprehensive mobility plan for Bengaluru, the government should continue prioritising its spending on making public transportation and non-motorized transport as the most preferred modes of commute for the citizens. The returns on such an investment are higher than investing in large infrastructure projects. Given that a large number of Bengalureans feel the urgent need to bring back the Garden City to its glory days and the government seems to agree, with the right emphasis on comprehensive mobility, this is definitely mission possible.
Views expressed are author's own
Kanreddy Yeshwanth Reddy is a graduate from Indian School of Business. He is a Public Policy expert in transportation and currently leads research and outreach for Urban Mobility at Ola Mobility Institute, a policy research and social innovation think-tank. He has previously worked at the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
