The City Survey: Transport & Air Qualities Indicator report was conceived and prepared with the aim of building a database and forming preliminary compartive analysis of the transport and air quality indicators from the projects submitted to the Indian MoUD for approval under the JnNURM. The report compares the basic transport and air-quality indicators of 12 predetermined Indian cities as presented in the city development, mobility, traffic plans and other mandated documents submitted to the JnNURM for funding. The report also indicates towards gaps in data collection and analysis as well as identifies opportunities for sustainable urban transport initiatives.
The cities were selected with an intention to include metropolitan cities with ongoing or future Bus Rapid Transit projects. They include the Metro Cities of Chennai, Mumbai & Delhi; Millennium Bloomers such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore & Pune; Now Exploding cities such as Bhopal, Indore, Mysore, Surat, & Rajkot.
6 Indicators:
The indicators are selected to provide key information on the overall performance of projects with respect to their goals and broader literature on sustainable development.
- Population, population density and growth.
- Travel Characteristics
- Non-motorized transport
- Public transport & intermediate public transport
- Motorization
- Ton CO2 emissions per capita per year
Source: Indicators Suite Project Report, EMBARQ Network; 2007
Findings:
Some significant observations from the transport & air quality indicators are as follow:
- Trip Length: Average travel distances for the metropolitan cities and Bangalore is over eight kilometers. For the rest of the cities it is currently at six kilometers or below. Trip lenghts are likely to increase with increasing income, participation of women and industrial structuring towards a service orientated economy.
- Active Transport: All cities show an extremely high use of active transport, however, recent reports suggest a decrease in share of modal transport by active transport. Most cities in the Now Exploding category have no footpaths at all.
- co2 emissions: Figures range from 0.01 ton co2 per capita per year for Mysore to 0.11 ton per capita per year for Mumbai. Mumbai despite a high public transport mode share shows more co2 emission due to longer trip lengths and higher share of cars versus two wheelers. Fuel use and co2 emissions are 3-4 times higher for cars in comparison with two-wheelers; emissions that are likely to increase with a shift from active transport and two wheelers to cars in India.
The report was created with assistance from the Institute of Urban Transport (IUT) for their in assembling the database of indicators. The preparation of this study was supported by Shell Foundation, Caterpillar Foundation and the Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia –SUMA