Intelligent Transport Systems In India

Government Initiatives

Under the NUTP to foster a long-term partnership between the central government and state/local governments in the implementation of a greener environment under the ambit of the NUTP, MoUD has been working on the Sustainable Urban Transport Project with the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), in which five demonstration cities: Indore, Mysore, Naya Raipur, Pune and Pimpri- Chinchwad, which were chosen to showcase pilot ITS infrastructure.

The core infrastructure elements in a smart city will include efficient urban mobility and public transport, smart parking and integrated multi-modal transport. In addition, the focus areas of the new urban renewal mission called AMRUT include development of infrastructure like pedestrian facilities, bus-rapid transit systems, multi-level parking systems and other public transport facilities.

Similarly, the government has initiated the building of three high-speed rail lines, which will bring in various ITS technologies including advanced traffic management systems (ATMS), signalling and communications.

Key Drivers for Sector Growth

Some of the prominent growth drivers for the ITS market in India are:

• Increase in number of vehicles has added to existing traffic congestion, especially in urban areas. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru have 5% of India’s population, but 14% of the total registered vehicles which leads to traffic congestion, deterioration in air quality, and increase in noise levels in the metropolitan cities.

• Intelligent Traffic Management features prominently in the Smart Cities Mission under the model of Pan-City development. The Smart City Mission will be a Central scheme with a total envisaged funding of `48,000 Crores over five years. A huge chunk of that is expected to be for transport related projects.

• The AMRUT mission will be implemented in 500 cities and towns with a population of one lakh and above, and adopts a project approach to install infrastructure services including transport. The total funding is expected to be `50,000 Crores.

• Under Government of India support, many cities are implementing Metro rail, BRT, monorail and other forms of public transport. This is opening up opportunities in passenger information systems, smart cards and integrated ticketing, and parking management.

• Freight is a disorganised sector in India and has huge potential for development. Use of ITS for vehicle tracking, vehicle emissions and fuel costs, can help reduce carbon footprint and introduce several degrees of efficiency.