Delhi is expected to reach a population around 20 million in 2018. It is the largest commercial center in northern India. In 2018, the city registered a vehicular growth of more than 10 % for the past five years, making it one of the rapid emerging cities in the region. Presently, the Delhi urban area continues to experience inadequate public transport system, leading to inadequate and unhealthy modal split of less than 50 % in favour of public transport system.
The first and foremost issue is inadequate buses — there are nearly 5000 buses, including Delhi Transport Corporation and Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), as against the desired 15000 buses. It results in congestions on the roads.
Another concern is the increasing pressure of commuters on the Metro. Both Delhi metro and bus service are not integrated with each other at various levels — physical and operational, fare and institutional level.
The existing feeder buses at Metro stations are insufficient. Existing buses don’t have provision for wheelchair to enable the physically disabled persons to enter them. Passengers are not aware of bus route information. The road network is not at all disabled-friendly. With many bus routes out of service in most of the residential areas, commuters are compelled to switch over to their own vehicles.
All the above attributes symbolise the unsustainable transport system in Delhi. A new smart city is proposed to be developed by the Delhi Development Authority where transport will be an important component to be developed with smart technologies.
The ICT spending for Smart Cities could comprises of 10-15% of the budget. Even in Delhi, smart technologies in the Metro system, ITS apps like Pooch developed by DIMTS, Ola and Uber apps, Google car navigation with a display of traffic congestion, and GPS-enabled buses are being used to some extent.
The DMRC reveals the saving of carbon footprint of 232,182 tonne of CO2 due to its regenerating braking system alone.
The Metro appears to be the primary mode of transport for Delhiites. Along with the above initiatives, it is imperative to consider various steps to ensure sustainable transport system in the capital. The steps include implementation of comprehensive mobility plan for goods and passenger traffic, reduction of road accidents using road safety audits coupled with red light and speed violation detection cameras, use of electric vehicles preferably from solar-powered source, greater use of public transport with last mile connectivity, use of non-motorised transport, commitment towards zero vehicular emission.
Also, certain tasks have to be kept in mind while going about with the purpose such as preparing strategy and action plan in line with National Urban Transport Plan, developing ITS architecture and implement ITS-based transport infrastructure to minimise traffic congestion, road accidents and vehicular emission with strict emission norms, strengthening the institutional mechanism by developing Unified Metropolitan Authority couple with capacity building programme, and developing multi-modal public transport system with strong feeder system for ensuring comprehensive mobility for all.
Enhancement of road safety through five E’s (Education, Enforcement, Engineering, Emergency and Environment, reduction in accident rates using electronic surveillance system with safe road design, improvement in overall quality of life for types of road users by creating universal accessible design for road network, application of congestion pricing in all congested areas, effective parking management strategies and removal of all forms of encroachments from roads and sidewalks are the other tasks.