Micro-mobility devices: what could they mean for India?

22nd February 2019 by admin

Last month, Uber was reported to be considering the introduction of electric scooters, as part of their shared mobility services, in India. Part of an emerging global trend in the search for environmentally viable last-mile connectivity solutions, micro-mobility devices such as e-scooters have attracted over half a billion dollars in investment from Alphabet, Ford, Uber, and others in the last year. As a result, their arrival in India might be inevitable, and our cities could benefit from by creating a favourable regulatory environment.

How so? Electric micro-mobility devices have the potential to address two major challenges faced by our cities: enabling the mobility of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and reducing dependence on carbon-intensive modes of private transport, including two-wheelers.

First, the various forms they are available in makes electric micro-mobility devices suitable for a wide range of applications, including aiding the mobility of the elderly or PWDs. Further, their lower upfront and maintenance costs could help reduce private vehicle usage.

Reducing India’s dependence on two-wheelers

A recent study by IIT-Delhi found up to 70 percent of all work-related trips in Indian cities do not exceed five kilometers in length. These are distances typically covered sooner and more conveniently on two-wheelers than by using public transport in most Indian cities, perhaps explaining why 79 percent of all vehicles sold in the country in 2018 were two-wheelers.

Arguably, however, the usage of as many two-wheelers every day can prove detrimental to our cities, as they clog our roads and pollute the air we breathe. These are issues we have been unable to address despite years of awareness, as solutions have ranged from the impractical to the unviable. For instance, most State Transport Undertakings (STUs) in the country lack the wherewithal to expand public bus service capacity to meet the ever-growing demand. Even if they did, quality of bus service remains a concern. Then there is road rationing, which governments, perhaps mindful of political ramifications, do not want to subject two-wheelers to, as observed in Delhi during the Odd-Even trials.

In micro-mobility, however, our cities might finally have the means to reduce two-wheeler usage, owing to lower costs of ownership and usage. E-scooters in the US now cost between $100 and $300. Assuming similar prices in India, and even before subsidies, they could cost at least $150 (or about ₹10,000) less than most entry-level two-wheelers in India. Further, with shared usage models for micro-mobility, akin to public bicycle sharing, the residents of a city could be spared the costs of ownership, thus making e-scooters an attractive proposition compared to private two-wheelers.

Being powered by electric motors, micro-mobility devices also have an advantage over two-wheelers in terms of tailpipe emissions, any potential reduction of which could significantly improve air quality in most of our polluted cities.

Considering these factors, a favourable regulatory environment in India could make micro-mobility devices the preferred mode of travel in cities for rides up to 5 kilometres, the distance they are being used to cover in most American cities. In addition to the potential of reducing two-wheelers usage, this could also reduce dependence on shared cab rides over short distances. The likely threat to shared taxi firms perhaps explains why they are actively investing in e-scooter startups. The same threat – of losing ridership to e-scooters – unfortunately applies to state-run public bus services as well and herein lies the challenge in framing a favourable regulatory environment for micro-mobility devices meant for the general public in India.

Aiding the Mobility of PWDs

Micro-mobility devices for persons with disabilities and the elderly, however, might not face the same regulatory hurdles. In cities mostly hostile to their daily commute, chair-type micro-mobility devices, capable of being operated on the roads as well as indoors, could make lives easier for persons with special needs.

Research has found these devices, already in use in Japan and some other countries, to be essential in providing an active life to those with declining abilities. This makes them essential in a country where most public transportation modes are not suitable for use by people with special needs. Consider buses, for example. The Department of Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities, in its 2017-18 Annual Report, found only 9.1 percent of all buses in the country were “provided with accessibility features”. It should be noted that ‘accessibility features’ here may not necessarily mean a ramp or wheelchair harness, and could instead indicate the presence of audio announcements and other amenities accessible only upon boarding the vehicle.

Trains fare no better: most platforms are accessible only through a footover bridge. Then, there’s a gap between the train and the platform in almost every Indian city, with the latter often at a much lower level.

Article 41 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 guarantees government support to aid the mobility of PWDs. But with accessibility improvements to buses and suburban trains being hard to implement, and with metro rail access being limited to certain stretches of a city, micro-mobility devices are perhaps the easiest means of aiding the movement of the elderly and PWDs.

Regulating Micro-Mobility

In micro-mobility, India has a rare opportunity to address long unresolved, critical issues of public interest. India could also benefit from the lessons learned by other cities where micro-mobility solutions have been implemented. For instance, some cities in the United States have been affected by haphazard parking of e-scooters on footpaths and in public places. Some others have been wary of the road safety challenges posed by these vehicles.

The lessons learned by these cities, fortunately for India, has been documented in the form of reports, such as those published as part of the San Francisco Powered Scooter Share Pilot Program. These publications could inform regulatory decision-making in India to ensure micro-mobility complements existing public transport capacity, of which there remains a perennial supply deficit, and enables the mobility of PWDs and the elderly, a concern long unaddressed.

Written by Varun Shridhar

Edited by Kashmira Dubash

Cover photo credits: Ian Sane, Flickr

Mobility Matter: Why smart governance today ensures smarter cities tomorrow

19th February 2019 by admin

The first edition of the Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) Congress will lead a global reflection on the future of mobility and ITDP India is excited be a part of it! Shreya Gadepalli, South Asia Programme Lead at ITDP, has been invited to participate in an expert panel discussion on the role of public policies and governance in shaping sustainable urban mobility systems. The Congress is being hosted in the city of Bilbao on 20 and 21 February.

Presently, Indian cities lack clarity on objective ‘decision-making’, based on data, that can fetch them the right results. In response to this, Shreya Gadepalli will draw light on a strategic approach—which emphasises on clarity and capital, capability and capacity, coordination and communication—to establish a system of rational decision-making that uses data combined with public consultations to arrive at appropriate decisions.

A key element of CLARITY is also the institution of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that can guide decision-making. The issue of CAPITAL is closely linked to clarity of vision. It is a bit of an enigma. When it comes to high-value projects like elevated roads and metro-rail projects, there’s never a dearth of capital. The drought of funds somehow arises when it comes to basics like Complete Streets, that pay as much attention to footpaths and cycling facilities as well as buses that ensure urban transport is affordable, accessible and most importantly, for the public.

In addition, money is more forthcoming for capital expenditure but very limited or almost missing when it comes to maintenance. Often, maintenance is done through serial asset replacement. But now, in a few places, things seem to be changing. Indian cities like Chennai and Pune, with technical assistance from the ITDP India Programme, have developed urban mobility policies that prioritise walking, cycling, and public transport.

Next in line are the twin issues of CAPABILITY and CAPACITY to plan, implement, manage, and monitor. Indian cities have a very thin layer of senior management sourced from a permanent cadre of civil servants. Capacity at the mid-management level to plan and implement is missing except for in the top few cities, and in these cities too, the capability, i.e., the necessary skills, is often marginal.

There is an urgent need to establish this capacity, not just in the sheer number of staff required at appropriate levels, but also augmenting their capacity to plan, implement, manage, and monitor the vision that has been established. ITDP has been at the forefront of this issue. It has developed easy to learn training programmes and has trained hundreds of municipal officers across India in planning and implementing sustainable mobility initiatives.

Further, it is now collaborating with the national Smart Cities Mission to guide the top 100 cities in developing Complete Streets, managing parking, and implementing a monitoring and evaluation system.

Last comes the vexing issues of inter-agency COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION. Authority is fragmented in more or less all cities of India. For example, metropolitan areas have multiple municipalities. Further, these municipalities have limited jurisdiction over issues of mobility. Often, key arterial streets are administered by provincial highways or public works departments. So are bus services. Heavy [sub]urban rail—where it exist—comes under the national railways.

Each one of these agencies has its own plans and budgets that do not communicate with the rest. Only now are some cities like Chennai—one of ITDP’s deep-dive cities—starting to institute unified metropolitan transport authorities.

Shreya Gadepalli will throw further light on these issues and speak about how progress is now being made across India.

E-mobility: a game-changer for Informal Public Transport in India

15th February 2019 by admin

Across Indian cities, ‘informal public transport’ such as the shared-auto, mini-bus, tempos, and e-rickshaws are increasingly being replaced by cab aggregators such as Uber and Ola. While this is great news for the affluent section of society, who can get a ride in a jiffy and travel in the relative ease of an air-conditioned cars, millions of Indians who rely heavily on informal public transport (IPT) modes are left in the lurch.

Apart from being affordable, IPT offers efficient mobility, especially in smaller towns and cities which lack formal public transport systems. This sector also plays a major role in the creation of jobs—thousands migrate to cities to take up jobs driving rickshaws, despite the low wages. Yet, the modern definition of ‘shared mobility’ excludes them.

It is important to understand just how much Indian cities depend on IPT. The ITDP India Programme’s extensive study in Ranchi showed that over a fourth of all trips are made by shared autos. This situation is common among tier-2 and tier-3 cities where public transport is missing in action. However, there is ample scope to improve how IPT operates – for instance, route planning [by the RTO and the urban local body] can reduce congestion in busy localities and provide coverage throughout a city.

For Indian cities to have efficient, sustainable, safe and comfortable mobility, they need to start improving the IPT sector alongside public transport systems. The recent conversations surrounding electric mobility provides an excellent opportunity to intervene in ‘formalising’ IPT.

How much of an impact could electrification of IPT have on Indian cities?

As stated above, a significant number of trips are made using IPT in several Indian cities. Electrification will reduce the nation’s dependence on oil imports. Oil imports are a significant drain on the public exchequer, costing Rs. 5.6 lakh crores in the fiscal year of 2018. Electrification will also significantly reduce carbon emissions from fossil-fueled vehicles (assuming that the source of electricity is also clean).

It has been extensively reported that Indian cities are grappling with very poor air quality. WHO reports that 14 out of the world’s 15 most polluted cities are in India, nearly all of them in the northern region. These are also the same cities where IPT forms the backbone of public transport. Given that electrification will drastically reduce local emissions from transport, cities should actively try to switch from fossil fuel based vehicles.

This is not to say that electrification of IPT is at a nascent stage in India. Several northern Indian cities have taken to e-rickshaws over the past decade, so much so that they currently form the largest electric fleet in the world, comprising of 1.5 million vehicles!

E-rickshaws evolved from efforts in the late 1990’s to modernize the humble cycle-rickshaw. They first gained popularity in Delhi as efforts to improve mobility infrastructure in the lead up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. These vehicles used cheaper lead-acid batteries for power and were easy to drive, with low capital and maintenance costs. These factors led to an increase in its popularity across cities in north India. Today, estimates show that more than 11,000 such vehicles enter the market every month.

This growth has been largely driven by the private sector; efforts from the State have been rather limited. The Government of Delhi, realising the potential of electric IPT in reducing local air pollution, offered a subsidy of Rs 30,000 upon purchase. However, states and cities have yet not addressed the issue of ‘regulating’ these vehicles which can improve last mile connectivity, reduce road congestion, and improve air quality. In fact, initial uncertainties over the categorization of e-rickshaws under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, as well as concerns over safety had even led to e-rickshaws being banned in cities like Delhi and Ranchi.

A conducive policy and regulatory environment is necessary to maximise the benefits of electrification. This would involve the set-up of supporting infrastructure such as charging stations and e-rickshaw stands, identifying routes for operation, and having a clear set of guidelines on enforcement. However, as mentioned above, IPT often does not get the attention it deserves. An example for the same can be seen in the FAME scheme. The initial focus of the scheme was to incentivise electrification of private motor vehicles. Even though three-wheelers were part of the scheme, the lack of attention to the end-users—the owner and the commuter—meant that the uptake was minimal.

To unlock the full potential of electrification, India should have a clear vision expressed through a model ‘national electric vehicle’ policy. While addressing the whole spectrum of electric vehicles, the core focus of the policy should undoubtedly be on the electrification of modes that have low per capita energy and space requirement—specifically buses and informal public transport—and disincentivize the use of modes that are polluting, and consume higher per capita energy and space, such as cars. Such progressive policies would help states adopt a similar stance based on their contextual requirements.

Written by Vishnu M J

Edited by Kashmira Medhora Dubash

Everything you need to know about the introduction of e-buses in India!

1st February 2019 by admin

Urban mobility has always been a keystone sector to gauge urbanisation in India. Given that India’s population explosion is nowhere close to being defused, concerns regarding public transport issues are increasing by the hour. Most Indian cities rely heavily on public buses and informal public transport modes. In cities where public bus services are constrained by operational and financial issues, informal public transport services address the gaps in connectivity. However, both buses and informal public transport have not kept pace with the rapid rise in population; invariably, there has been a rapid influx of personal motor vehicles in recent years and with it a plethora of issues—environmental, mobility, and living conditions.

Over the past five years, electrification has been pushed forward as a panacea towards reducing these negative effects. This has triggered interest at the national level with schemes supporting acceleration of electric vehicles in India. The Government of India approved the National Mission on Electric Mobility and subsequently, the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 was launched in 2013. As part of the mission, the Department of Heavy Industry notified the FAME scheme [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India] for the purpose of incentivising and implementing electrification of motor vehicles.

City bus operators in India have a fleet comprising mostly of diesel and CNG buses. Electric buses are new to many operators and given the diversity of products available in the market, selecting optimum technology is challenging. For example: should operators procure a bus with overnight charging or intermediate charging? Should they try battery swapping? Which route should an operator choose to use the electric buses on; will the battery last a full day of service? Given the lack of clarity, many operators chose to run electric buses on trial before taking a decision to procure them.

BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) was one of the first operators in the country to test an electric bus in 2014. Following this, public bus operators in cities like Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and Mumbai tested electric buses successfully. These trials helped the operators understand the challenges in operating electric buses. The most significant finding was that some electric buses could ply up to 250 kilometers after charging them for four hours at the depot. This meant, myths regarding the distance a bus can travel in a single charge and the time taken to charge the bus, were busted.

Following successful trials, some operators initiated plans to introduce electric buses in their fleet. Public bus operators such as the BMTC decided to procure 150 electric buses. Government of Delhi too, announced its plans to procure 1000 electric buses in their 2018-19 transport budget. However, given the high procurement costs and lack of funding, many projects failed to take off.

The FAME scheme had initially focused on electrification of private motor vehicles rather than buses and other forms of public transport. Incentives within the scheme were available to procure ‘hybrid’ electric buses but a very few operators showed interest. However, after the inclusion of incentives for full electric buses in the scheme, in 2016, the Department of Heavy Industries-Government of India received proposals from operators in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru to induct electric buses

In November 2017, Mumbai’s BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) flagged- off 6 electric and 25 hybrid buses for passenger service. There was an uptake in proposals in response to an EoI (Expression of Interest) issued by Department of Heavy Industries to procure electric buses, cars and bikes. The Department received more than 40 proposals with plans for 3000 buses. However, the department only selected 11 cities with plans to procure 390 electric buses.

A month later, 10 cities completed the tendering process to procure electric buses. Of the 10 cities, Indore, Lucknow, Kolkata, Jammu, and Guwahati decided to go with outright purchase of e-buses. On the other hand, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur decided to invite bids under a Gross Cost Contract (GCC). Under GCC, buses would be operated and maintained by the supplier at a fixed cost per kilometer. These cities expect to receive a subsidy of upto 60% of the capital cost of electric bus.

However, only a few cities have managed to complete the procurement process. Bangalore’s plans to procure electric buses under the Gross Cost Contract was put on hold after differences with the state government, and Mumbai cancelled tenders after challenges in procurement. Hyderabad on the other hand, received a few buses and is expected to launch services soon. Ahmedabad and Kolkata are also expected to launch services in February.

In 2019, cities like Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, and Ahmedabad will join Mumbai in operating electric buses. As more cities take their first steps towards transitioning to an electric future, it is important to take learnings from the past five years on procuring, rolling-out and operating electric buses. This is also the right time to evaluate funding mechanisms and focus on prioritising electrification of public buses over private motor vehicles.

Written by Sai Ratna Chaitanya

Edited by Kashmira Medhora Dubash