Page 46 - TT Magazine Aug-Sep 2018

MOBILITY

Accelerating mobility innovation

for Better Bus transit in India

The growing mobility demand presents a

great opportunity for public bus transport
to leverage the innovative commuter
experience and establish more efficient
service models says Krithi Venkat,
Consultant- Cities and Transport, WRI India

ver the last decade, India subject public buses to congestion and operated and maintained using a digital
has established itself delays, affecting their reliability and data backbone, to make systems more
as one of the fastest attractiveness. efficient, reliable and cost effective.
growing economies in Owing to multiple financial and While digitization of the public bus
Othe world. With a GDP technical challenges faced by Indian system in India has been slow, certain
growth rate of 7.1% per annum, the transit agencies, urban bus capacity cities with established ITS systems have
country is adding over 12 million people and service upgrades have been limited. already started to see improvements.
to the workforce every year. Coupled The private mobility sector, on the other Management Information Systems
with this growth and development, hand, has seen a huge boom over the (MIS) used by Karnataka State Road
the country’s mobility needs have also last few years, with no less than 250 new Transport Corporation (KSRTC), in
grown tremendously. Mysore city has improved the reliability
mobility start-ups being registered every
Bus-based public transport in India year since 2015. According to a report of their services with 90% of all
is operated by 62 government-owned published by Tracxn, USD 3.6 Billion departures happening within five
State Transport Undertakings (STUs). has been invested in mobility start-ups minutes of the scheduled compared to
While the system caters to the needs in 2017 alone. Additionally, 15 out of 27% in 2012. This has led to reduced
of over 70 million people for their daily 62 transit agencies across the country wait times for commuters and improved
commute, cities around the country are have invested millions of dollars into their perception of the bus system.
burdened with extreme traffic woes. setting up Intelligent Transport Systems Making public transit
If you are one among the 70 million, (ITS) as a first step to improve efficiency user-friendly
chances are that you don’t think very and operations of their systems. This Congestion is costing over USD 22
highly of our bus systems. presents a great opportunity for Indian billion annually in Bangalore, Mumbai,
Only 18% of all work trips made in mobility ecosystem to leverage the Delhi and Kolkata alone. There is a
the country are on public transport. innovative capacity of the private sector dire need for transit agencies to take
Since 2001, the country has seen a to improve our public bus operations, the lead to make public transit more
seven-fold increase in the number of commuter experience and establish attractive and catalyse a shift from
registered vehicles, owned by a mere more efficient service models. private modes. Leveraging the value
11% of all Indian households, majority of the data they collect, cities around
of which are concentrated in cities. Making optimal use of the world have improved ridership and
The proliferation of private vehicle transit agency data enabled greater integration between
ownership and usage has, in turn, Globally, city bus systems are modes. Exemplifying this, Transport

46 August-September ’18 / TrafficInfraTech www.trafficinfratech-com-500653.hostingersite.com