The recent Sixth Assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change¹ has underscored the need to urgently act towards limiting emissions. This reduction, or even a net-zero approach that has been called for, cuts across all sectors, including transport. The transport sector, particularly city transportation, needs specific reforms, investments, and behavioral changes in lifestyle to neutralize the rising emissions.
Mobility, being the “cog” to propel the engines² of economic growth and innovation, is currently energy-intensive, necessitating the need to be decarbonised as we transition towards a sustainable future. An increase in the mode share of active and shared mobility will be vital to improving the city’s sustainability quotient and reducing the carbon footprint. Investment in walking and cycling infrastructure can intuitively encourage higher adoption of shared mobility while improving the health and productivity of people.
The sustainable development of cities requires a renewed focus on new-age approaches based on changing mobility trends. Despite recurring provisions in state and union budgets for investments in mass transit and augmentation of buses to improve mobility in cities, the intended outcomes have been achieved only partially. Experts often attribute lower uptake in public transit to weaker linkages and connectivity, affecting smooth access to transit. Bridging this gap through strategic investment in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure will “unleash the true potential” of mass transit by attracting higher passenger traffic, improving fare revenue, and lowering emissions by reducing personal vehicles on the roads.
The World Bank estimates that urban infrastructure in India requires an investment of USD 840 billion³ in the next 15 years or USD 56 billion annually to manage the needs of a rapidly growing population. A substantial share of this investment must be made available for mobility infrastructure to manage and support this growth. The budget recognizes the importance of private investment in building the necessary infrastructure and has allocated INR 1.3 lakh crore. This would be a 50-year interest-free loan to encourage policy actions by state governments. In addition, establishing an Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore per annum is a shot in the arm for building necessary infrastructure in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. However, much of this would need a detailed action strategy focused on building essential active mobility infrastructure.
While public-private partnership models to build and operate public transit-related infrastructure are well-known, negligible attention and investments are made to build essential active mobility infrastructure. The absence of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure due to a lack of priority and funds impacts safety, leading to higher usage of private vehicles and reducing accessibility to public transit, causing congestion. This engulfs the municipal corporation in building a vicious cycle of inefficient infrastructure such as grade separators, road widening, etc., affecting the quality of life in cities.
The inclusion of active mobility, i.e., mobility powered by walking and cycling, in the globally recognised “New Urban Agenda”⁴ is aligned with net-zero goals and could unlock economic opportunities if investments are prioritized. Active mobility is known to yield an economic benefit of up to 5.5 times⁵ the initial investments, including boosting the property value and the subsequent tax yield. It encourages commuting by walking or cycling for short distances, saving fuel, and reducing emissions. While active and shared mobility are pivotal to bridge the first- and last-mile, it is also essential to enhance the investability of cities. This is vital as improving connectivity leads to shorter commute time to reach transit and therefore improves accessibility to better jobs, education, and other services. A robust network of active mobility can deter personal vehicle ownership, increase productivity, and encourage economic growth to make cities ready for raising financing on their own through measures such as Municipal bonds.
Thus, it is time to shift gears and implement a ‘result-oriented’ mobility development plan that can spur growth. Since the budget encourages property tax governance reforms and ring-fencing user charges on urban infrastructure, the urban local body could take measurable actions. In the recent past, the Brihan Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had proposed a 2%⁶ land transport cess on property tax for the upkeep of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, while the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has proposed discretionary Environmental Improvement Charges to be levied. These reforms and actions will encourage the building of a better working city, but finances could be a constraint to accelerate the process. Developing cycle tracks costs between INR 26 – 146 lakh/km⁷, depending on road width, while walking infrastructure costs INR 62-66 lakh/km.
Proactive investment in active and shared mobility infrastructure is at the convergence of equitable, inclusive, and green urban development. The reduction in transportation costs and improvement in the quality of life will empower everyone to choose and build a sustainable urban mobility ecosystem, as their LiFE (Lifestyle For Environment) mission. This will also create an impetus for private investment in public infrastructure, building sustainable infrastructure with innovative technology, and ushering the cities into a sustainable future. A cohesive plan to build active and shared mobility infrastructure will enable optimal use of resources and result in not just ecological but economically sustainable cities of tomorrow.
Views expressed by Roshan Toshniwal— The authors is an urban planner and architect and is the Head of the Centre for Future Mobility at OMI Foundation.
References:
1. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/
2. https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2022-05/ Mod_CEOG_Executive_Summary_18052022.pdf
3. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/ en/099615110042225105/pdf/ P17130200d91fc0da0ac610a1e3e1a664d4.pdf
4. https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/ c6de7aa3e8b4b081029f639767 c1486c-0190062021/original/TDI-paper-Investing- for-Momentum-in-Active-Mobility-October-2021.pdf
5. https://www.teriin.org/sites/ default/files/2020-06/benefits-cycling-report.pdf
6. https://dult.karnataka.gov.in/uploads/media_to_ upload1636448555.pdf
7. https://shaktifoundation.in/wp-content/ uploads/2017/06/NMT-Guidelines.pdf
