India as part of its commitment to global climate change action has pledged “45% reduction in emission intensity of GDP by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.” The transport sector is one of the key drivers of GDP and a reduction in the emission intensity of transport by adopting low carbon initiatives in cities will contribute to this Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Transport is the third-largest source of CO2.
Cities, while not the largest contributors to GHG in absolute numbers, have a high per capita carbon footprint. For e.g., while nationally the number of automobiles (cars, jeeps and taxis) per 1000 people is ~28 , cities such as Pune have almost 215 cars registered per 1000 people. Not only does this lead to problems such as air pollution (Pune is one of the 131 “non attainment” cities designated by the Government of India), congestion (Pune ranks 2nd in the list of congested cities in India) and deaths/injuries in road crashes, but also creates negative externalities that are borne by all segments of society, especially the poor.
Shifting to sustainable modes of transport – walk, bicycle and transit – not only has GHG mitigation potential but also plays a key role in making cities equitable, inclusive and liveable. This approach also advances the SDG Goal 11 (Targets 11.2 and 11.7). Mission LiFE, promoted by the Prime Minister as part of India’s NDC, also encourages the use of public transport and cycling.
Various national policies (National Urban Transport Policy, National Mission on Sustainable Habitats 2.0, the Metro Rail and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policies) also advocate these same principles.
While walking, cycling and transit are key to reducing GHG emissions, the infrastructure and levels of service for these modes are deficient leading to higher use of personal (predominantly fossil-fuel based) vehicles. Greater and targeted public investments are needed to rectify these issues.
The key objective of the project is to quantify the walk, bicycle and transit “score” of the city of Pune and use this to direct public investments to drive improvements in the infrastructure, design and service levels. The initiative will not only seek to increase public awareness about the issues related to sustainable mobility but also spur citizen engagement. Scores will further disaggregate both spatially (allowing, for example scoring at sub-city/ward levels) and demographically (score for women, the elderly, school children) which will aid in advocating for specific improvements and targeted investments (such as better street lighting for safety of women who walk/use public transit).
Several methodologies for developing walk, bicycle and transit scores and their graphical depiction (such as by “heat maps”) already exist . Primarily these toolkits (and now more commonly apps) rely on gathering (or crowdsourcing) “walking perceptions” or allow for infrastructure audits to be undertaken (which are then converted to scores). A similar approach can be taken for cycling as well as transit. Parisar has in the past undertaken a walkability audit (based on an ADB Walkability Toolkit), developed its own cycle track assessment tool and published transit “report cards”.
The plan is to use these methodologies like gathering user perceptions, infrastructure audits and secondary data to develop walk, cycle and transit scores for the city.
The data from all three sources will be published independently as well as combined into a single score. Specific frameworks will be developed to assess demographic-specific parameters. For e.g. walk/cycle scores for children commuting to school, safety parameters for women, etc.
Scores for the city will be published, submitted to various agencies responsible, and used to develop an action toolkit for citizens to be able to engage with government agencies. Ward-level scores will be developed to create ward rankings and used to engage with local elected representatives.
The major outcomes that are anticipated:
- A city-recognised scoring system for walk, cycle and transit used as one of the inputs to city investments.
- Increased citizen engagement and civic participation in governance processes related to sustainable mobility.
The project is supported by AVPN (Asian Venture Philanthropy Network).