WRI Publications Feed: EMBARQ: The WRI Center for Sustainable Transport

Sustainable Urban Transport in India: Role of the Auto-rickshaw Sector

Kevin Lustig — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:50:16 -0500

Demand for the Auto-rickshaw

Study Objective and Approach

As the demand for urban transport increases in India, so too does the popularity of the autorickshaw. Production of this type of motorized three-wheeler has doubled between 2003 and 2010. In major Indian cities, it is responsible for a significant share of motorized trips. Strategies to improve urban transport must include a policy vision for this increasingly important sector. To that end, this paper examines the role the auto-rickshaw sector can play in promoting sustainable urban transport in India. It develops a policy vision for this sector and presents recommendations on reforms to address sustainability challenges.

The Avoid-Shift-Improve (ASI) framework, one of the key approaches to promote sustainable urban transport, is the basis of this study. The ASI framework is based on three key strategies: (1) avoid unnecessary trips, (2) shift to more sustainable transport modes, and (3) improve performance in all modes (Dalkmann and Brannigan 2007). In assessing the role of the auto-rickshaw sector in promoting sustainable urban transport, this paper looks specifically at how auto-rickshaws can contribute to Shift and Improve strategies, using a two-pronged approach:

Examination of the role of the type of service (contract carriage) provided by auto-rickshaws in promoting sustainable urban transport, as part of the Shift strategy;
Assessment of the need for improvements in the type of vehicle (motorized three-wheeler) in the auto-rickshaw sector to promote sustainable urban transport, as part of the Improve strategy.

Role of Auto-rickshaw Sector in Promoting Sustainable Urban Transport

Role of the Type of Service (Contract Carriage)

The findings from this study indicate that auto-rickshaw services in cities can help meet the objectives of the Shift strategy—of promoting public transport and reducing private motorization—based on the following aspects:

First and last mile connectivity to public transport: Auto-rickshaw services, integrated as a feeder mode providing such connectivity, can complement public transport systems by ensuring that all parts of the city have easy access to public transport stations.
Door-to-door transport alternative to private motor vehicles: The door-to-door on-demand service provided by auto-rickshaws will ensure that transport needs requiring door-to-door connectivity, such as occasional trips to the airport or emergency trips for health care, can be met in cities without having to rely on private motor vehicles.

Vehicle Performance and Need for Improvements

This paper assesses the performance of the motorized three-wheeler (auto-rickshaw) in Indian cities with respect to two important sustainability parameters—emissions and road safety—to identify current challenges and areas for vehicle-related reforms that can improve performance:

Emissions: A key challenge in the autorickshaw sector is its emissions of particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 microns (PM10). PM10 are known to have adverse impacts on health, and the conventional two-stroke engine auto-rickshaws prevalent in many cities are major sources of these emissions (Shah and Iyer 2004).
Road Safety: The paper looks at the impact of the auto-rickshaw sector on the safety of both city pedestrians and the rickshaws’ occupants (driver and passengers). Research conducted by EMBARQ India using pedestrian fatality data for Mumbai and Bangalore shows that autorickshaws lead to fewer fatal pedestrian accidents than do motorized two-wheelers and cars. This is likely a result of their lower speeds and lighter weights (Mohan and Roy 2003). There are concerns for the safety of auto-rickshaw occupants, however, particularly in multivehicle collisions (ones between auto-rickshaws and other motor vehicles). A study of auto-rickshaw injury patterns in Hyderabad revealed that multivehicle collisions were the leading cause of injury for auto-rickshaw occupants (Schmucker et al. 2009).

The Way Forward for the Autorickshaw Sector in Indian Cities

Policy Vision

The National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, is the key guiding policy at the national level focusing on urban transport in India (MoUD 2006). With the underlying rationale of people-based transport planning, the NUTP framework focuses on planning and investments in public transport and nonmotorized transport (NMT) systems in cities.

To meet the objectives of the NUTP, the findings from this study highlight the need for an overarching policy vision for the auto-rickshaw sector in urban transport (Figure E.1) based on the Shift and Improve strategies of the ASI framework to promote sustainable urban transport.

Reform Needs and Next Steps

In accordance with the policy vision, the following regulatory and vehicle-related reforms will help ensure that the auto-rickshaw sector supports public transport and provides alternatives to private vehicles, while addressing the sustainability challenges of emissions and road safety:

Ensure Availability of Dispatch Services: Auto-rickshaw services in the majority of Indian cities are provided by individual owner-operators rather than by fleet companies. The lack of organization makes it difficult to provide dispatch (dial-a-rickshaw) services. This needs to be addressed through regulatory reforms that enable fleet-based operations with dispatch services to enter the auto-rickshaw sector.
- These regulatory reforms should be pursued by State transport departments, which are the nodal regulatory agencies for the auto-rickshaw sector.
Reduce Emissions: Findings from this study highlight that improvements in engine technology (moving from two-stroke to four-stroke engines) is potentially the best approach to reduce PM10 emissions from the auto-rickshaw sector. Four-stroke engines have lower PM10, hydrocarbon (HC), and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than two-stroke engines (Shah and Iyer 2004). Further, four-stroke engines can reduce PM10 emissions by running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and other alternatives to gasoline (Reynolds, Grieshop and Kandlikar, 2011). However, higher oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions from four-stroke engines need to be addressed through reforms in current emission standards.
- The engine and fuel-related reforms should be pursued by State transport departments as the nodal regulatory agencies.
- The needed reforms in emission standards are the adoption of separate emission standards for HC and NOx emissions, instead of the current combined (HC + NOx) standard. These reforms should be pursued by the Standing Committee on Implementation of Emissions Legislation set up by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) for emissions legislation (SIAM 2011b).
Improve Road Safety: Vehicle design improvements such as seat belts and padding on stiff surfaces (Schmucker et al. 2009) have been noted as key reform needs to improve occupant safety in multivehicle collisions. Further, infrastructure interventions such as dedicated lanes for auto-rickshaws, narrow lanes, and speed tables on urban roads to reduce average speeds will reduce the risk of occurrence of multivehicle collisions.
- Vehicle design improvements, through reforms in current motor vehicle safety regulations, should be pursued by the Automotive Industry Standards Committee (AISC) (SIAM 2011b) set up by MoRTH for motor vehicle safety regulations.
- Infrastructure interventions to improve autorickshaw occupant safety should be pursued by City governments as part of their citywide road safety enhancement strategies.

The Role of Driving in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Oil Consumption

Maggie Barron — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:27:45 -0400

Transportation represented 71 percent of oil consumption and 31 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States in 2008. Therefore, federal transportation policy presents an opportunity to reduce both oil consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This report explores whether technology improvements alone can achieve oil consumption and GHG emissions reduction targets consistent with recent draft legislation and international climate negotiations. The report finds that the United States must achieve significant improvements in vehicle technology and reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per capita (compared to business as usual projections for 2050, which anticipate a 40 percent increase in VMT per capita over 2010 levels) to meet these targets. With improvements to vehicle technology and reductions in per capita VMT, the United States would not need to import any oil by 2030.

The report also reviews evaluations of existing federal transportation programs for their impact on GHG emissions, oil use, or VMT and finds a general lack of evaluation for these metrics. For a wide variety of transportation strategies (e.g., public transit, pricing, parking management), the report finds evidence that they reduce GHG emissions, oil use, and VMT.

To achieve GHG emissions and oil use targets, the United States should modify federal transportation policy to prioritize investments that reduce VMT, GHG emissions, and oil consumption. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) should—

Encourage states and regions to boost usage of existing funding flexibility to increase investments in transportation strategies that reduce VMT, GHG emissions, and oil use;
Provide technical support for standardized evaluation of programs and projects; and
Simplify public access to DOT’s project spending databases to promote evaluation of spending patterns and encourage transparency and accountability.

Congressional reauthorization of surface transportation funding should—

Establish national goals for transportation, including reducing GHG emissions and oil use, and track progress toward these goals.
- Implement performance-based funding (tied to progress toward national goals).
- Require or incentivize performance-based planning. Reserve or competitively distribute funding for states and regions that plan for GHG emissions reductions and/or oil savings.
Increase direct funding for programs and strategies that reduce GHG emissions, VMT, and oil consumption, in two ways:
- Direct a larger portion of federal transportation funds toward programs that dedicate funding to, or achieve, reductions in GHG emissions, VMT, and oil use (e.g. CMAQ, SRTS, etc.); and
- Directly fund transportation strategies that reduce VMT, GHG emissions, and oil use through set-asides or new programs.

Although the rate of technological progress, such as fuel efficiency improvements, is uncertain, these improvements are encouraged by federal incentives and standards. Similarly, the United States can ensure reductions in VMT, GHG emissions, and oil consumption by planning for and funding transportation and land use strategies that provide alternatives to driving. Transportation planning at the local, regional, and state level should incorporate strategies to reduce VMT in order to reduce GHG emissions and oil consumption.

Planners and policymakers committed to reducing oil use and GHG emissions should encourage Congress to pass a reauthorization bill that incorporates the recommendations above.

Modernizing Public Transportation: Lessons learned from major bus improvements in Latin America and Asia

Maggie Barron — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:52:37 -0400

The mega-cities of Latin America and Asia rely on public transport to keep their citizens moving and economies working while mitigating the negative environmental impacts of rapid motorization. Increasingly, these cities are upgrading or even transforming their public transport systems to better serve the needs of their populations and the environment. Some of these efforts have been more successful than others and some more widely publicized. To date, however, there has been no synthesis of benefits and shortcomings of the various approaches taken, in order to inform future urban transport projects in emerging nations. There are several studies, for example, about the celebrated successes of the TransMilenio bus rapid transit system in Bogotá, Colombia, and its counterpart in Curitiba, Brazil, but little literature on the shortcomings of these, and similar systems, creating an informational gap in constructive advice on lessons to be learned.

This study seeks to fill that information gap by summarizing key findings and lessons learned from a comprehensive review of major bus improvements in 13 Latin American and Asian cities. In particular, it reviews and synthesizes information regarding challenges experienced by transport system decision makers in three key areas: planning, implementation and operations. In order to assist urban transport planners and implementing agencies, the study also provides recommendations on avoiding or mitigating similar difficulties when introducing bus reforms in developing world cities.

The selected cities were chosen for several reasons including: long-term recognition in urban transport practices, multi-functional land usage practices for urban environments, and/or the recent1 completion of bus system improvements. The review includes the following cities: Curitiba, Quito, Bogotá, São Paulo, León, México City, Pereira, Guayaquil, Santiago and Guadalajara in Latin America, and Jakarta, Beijing and Ahmedabad in Asia. The cities vary in size and socioeconomic characteristics (see table 1), but in each case buses account for a substantial portion of total public transport use and bus rapid transit (BRT) was introduced as a component of reform.

How to Use this Report

This synthesis report summarizes cross-cutting issues gleaned from an in-depth review of 13 cities based on an analysis of available material, site visits, and interviews with stakeholders, especially members of implementation teams and transit operators. Case studies about several of the reviewed cities have been published on the EMBARQ (www.embarq.org) website.

The following three sections of this report provide:

An overview of transit provision in the target cities, together with technical, financial and performance information about the bus systems;
A synthesis of lessons learned from addressing issues that arose in the planning, implementation and operation of the bus systems;
Conclusions and recommendations for urban planners and transit decision makers in developing countries.

Key Findings

The transit improvements in 13 cities reviewed in this report resulted in a variety of improved conditions for city commuters, some of which also benefited the population at large and the environment. These included reductions in air pollutants, greenhouse gas emissions, noise and traffic accidents, and efficiency improvements by bus rapid transit corridors compared with traditional bus services. Corridors in the selected bus systems exhibit very high usage levels (1,780-43,000 passengers/hour/direction), with comparatively low capital investments2 (US$1.4-12.5 million/km), and little or no operational subsidies.

The review also revealed common challenges and lessons:

No project was perfectly executed, due to a combination of institutional, technical, financial and/or politically induced time constraints;
Initial implementation was generally rushed, causing operational and user problems;
Financial and institutional sustainability was not necessarily assured;
Bus rapid transit routes were often not fully integrated into the rest of the cities’ public transport system;
Many projects faced extensive challenges in accommodating regular city traffic;
In cities where BRT services were new, or expanded quickly, public information and user education was critically important to a smooth launch.

Recommendations

Planning Phase

Institute a comprehensive planning process which combines financial, legal, institutional and environmental concerns with engineering/ technical efforts.
Improve the quality of information used to make decisions on key building blocks of a new or improved transport system, such as: route selection, basic infrastructure concepts (median lanes, types of stations, terminals), vehicle technologies, and types of operation.
Dedicate enough resources—time and money— for adequate project preparation, but avoid endless alternatives analysis.
Use experiences from other cities as a reference, but adapt system components and characteristics to local conditions.
Seek to create special purpose full-time teams for system planning and implementation, independent from day-to-day responsibilities.

Decision-making Process

Get early approval from high-level decision makers as top-down approaches are faster and resolve interagency conflict. At the same time, maintain community involvement through education and participatory processes.
Maintain and nurture high-level approval and buy-in during the implementation and operation of the system.
Pay careful attention to regulatory/institutional issues, adapting the existing regulatory framework if required. Where bus improvements are to be integrated with an existing metro system, convince the rail operator that the BRT is complementary, not a competitor.

Citywide Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories: A Review of Selected Methodologies

Maggie Barron — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 04:48:22 -0400

The transportation sector accounted for 14.3% of world greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2005, behind electricity and heat (24.9%) and industry (14.7%), but ahead of agriculture, land use change, and waste. As one of the three highest emitting activity sectors, transportation is an important field to target for emissions reductions strategies. It is even more crucial in the United States, where its share of emissions is considerably higher than in the rest of the world. The US transportation sector accounted for over 33% of total nationwide CO2 emissions in 2008. Urban passenger transport in the US represents almost half of total transportation emissions, and around 15% of total CO2 emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The ability to perform accurate transportation emissions inventories at multiple geographic levels and update them regularly is critical for identifying opportunities for emissions mitigations activities, as well as for measuring their progress over time. EMBARQ – The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport is engaged in this area in order to assist local and national governments around the world to reduce GHG emissions. Reductions in GHG emissions represent one of the key performance indicators across all EMBARQ projects, from the low emissions zone in Istanbul’s historic peninsula to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors across Latin America and Asia.

A citywide transportation emissions inventory is critical in order for local actors to understand the magnitude of transportation emissions and evaluate the relative contribution of different factors to overall emissions. Furthermore, an accurate inventory is an essential step in developing a comprehensive climate action plan, an effort that many cities, regions, and states are undertaking.

Developing an inventory involves making important decisions about which emissions from what trips to include, what the boundary should be, and what data collection method should be used. Depending on how it addresses these different issues, an inventory for the same city or metropolitan area can report significantly different results. In this paper, we analyze the main methodological issues involved in making an inventory and explore how they can influence the inventory’s results. There is no single way to address all these challenges successfully, and each city’s decision on how to develop a methodology for creating an inventory will depend on the local political and geographical context, as well as data availability.

In the second part of the paper, we review several methodologies currently used around the world to develop citywide transportation emissions inventories, including international methodologies such as the World Bank Citywide Methodology, the European Commission’s COPERT model, as well as inventories developed by local planning agencies in San Francisco and Lisbon. These inventory methodologies vary significantly in terms of scope, data requirements, and data collection methodology. They also illustrate the diversity of approaches currently used around the world to track urban transportation emissions.

Finally, we discuss how transportation GHG emissions inventories could be integrated with climate policies in the US and internationally, noting that inventories would be particularly useful in implementing performance-based transportation funding, where federal funding would prioritize funding for projects that reduce GHG emissions. In the developing world, inventories provide the information that can inform emissions-reduction strategies and, when repeated over time, can help monitor the effect of projects and policies aimed at reducing emissions. This can help cities plan for GHG emissions reductions and apply for transportation-related Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) financing.

This report was made possible with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Measuring The Invisible: Quantifying Emissions Reductions From Transport Solutions - Porto Alegre Case Study

Tim Herzog — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:13:38 -0500

Porto Alegre, a medium size city in the State of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, is planning to implement a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor and a fare integration scheme to reduce the number of buses and terminals in the city center and to increase bus ridership. EMBARQ/WRI worked with local partners to estimate the impact of these two transport interventions on air pollutants and CO2 emissions.

The results show that the BRT system would reduce emissions by 25-31 thousand tones of CO2 per year, when compared to the business as usual scenario with fare integration, while the fare integration, if implemented on its own, may actually increase emissions. Further analysis shows that cleaner fuels and emission control technologies would have a significant impact if applied to fleets with high annual mileage, such as the municipal or the metropolitan bus fleets.

Measuring The Invisible: Quantifying Emissions Reductions From Transport Solutions - Hanoi Case Study

Tim Herzog — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:10:45 -0500

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, has a transport master plan that provides alternative scenarios for the City’s transport system. EMBARQ/WRI and local partners studied how these scenarios would impact on air pollutant and CO2 emissions.

The results of the analysis show that if government officials decide to promote public transportation to a higher degree and to mandate stricter fuel quality and vehicle emission standards, it will be possible to stabilize emissions in 2020 at 2005 levels, while still ensuring the same level of mobility to Hanoi residents.

However, without measures to restrain the growth in overall vehicle traffic, particularly that of individual vehicles, fuel use and emissions will grow significantly. A continued shift from two-wheelers to cars will mean an enormous increase in fuel use, even if the cars are very efficient. Such a shift is expected to cause enormous congestion problems because of the lack of space in much of the city of Hanoi.

Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia: Making the Vision a Reality

admin — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500

This report summarizes the main findings from the Partnership for Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia (PSUTA). The objective of the PSUTA is to work with stakeholders in Asian cities – specifically, Hanoi (Vietnam), Pune (India), and Xi’an (China) – to identify indicators of sustainable transport for use in the policy making process. It is a response to the extraordinary – and largely uncontrolled – growth of motorized transport through most of Asia.

After presenting the strategic framework, a broad theory of indicators of sustainable transport is developed. This is followed by a description of some of the indicators as they were developed by the three partner cities. Their assignment was to develop indicators, noting the gaps in information and suggesting ways of bridging those gaps in the future. Noting some of the shortcomings of each city’s findings, some general lessons are drawn, particularly the sustainability of transport in each PSUTA city. Recommendations are included for supporting the key aspects of filling the gaps.

A key theme that runs throughout the report is that the goal of the PSUTA is not wide data collection, rather identification of what data and indicators are necessary for each city’s leaders to make good decisions on sustainable transport.

Measuring the Invisible: Quantifying Emissions Reductions from Transport Solutions - Querétaro Case Study

Tim Herzog — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 11:20:41 -0400

Queretaro, a historic city in the center of Mexico named a United Nations World Heritage Site, faces the predicament of fast growing medium-size cities – a need to upgrade its public transportation system to control rapidly rising motorization rates and congestion levels.

EMBARQ/WRI worked with the city of Queretaro to quantify the emissions from the existing bus system, and showed that introducing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system and improving the efficiency of the bus network could yield extensive emissions reductions. Introducing alternative fuel and vehicle and emission control technologies yielded little additional reductions.