Everything you need to know about controlling Vehicular Emissions in India!
The orderly flow of traffic in most of the Indian cities is hindered by several factors, including “traffic mix”, road side activities, lack of adequate road space and urban infrastructure that is not adopted for motor vehicle traffic. Traffic mix is a serious problem in Indian cities where motorized and non-motorised traffic shares road space. The streets in Indian cities are old and narrow, occupying only about 6-10 percent of land area.
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Increasing motorisation, traffic mix and limited road space have reduced peak hour speeds to 5-10 kms an hour apart from serious safety problems in many Indian cities. Recent studies indicate that the existing Delhi roads can accommodate 2-3 times the existing number of vehicles if modern traffic management is applied.
Severe traffic congestion is also evident in many smaller Indian cities, especially on their central streets that are parts of the national or state high ways where inter-city traffic mixes with the local traffic and due to increased commercial activities.
The slow movement of motor vehicles on the congested Indian city roads results in higher fuel consumption and increased rates of pollutant emissions. Vehicles under start-stop conditions use about three times more fuel and cause about three times more pollutant emissions than those in free flowing traffic. Effective traffic management can improve the flow of traffic on the roads, reducing emissions and enhancing mobility.
The objective of traffic management is to optimize the capacity of the existing street system and to improve the quality of traffic flow, as a result of which the number of stops, uneven speeds of operation, sudden braking, idling of vehicles etc.; are minimized, thereby reducing vehicular pollution. Traffic management comprises of both “supply side” measures – traffic system management to improve speeds of existing traffic volumes – and “demand side” measures-traffic demand management to improve speeds by reducing traffic volumes.
Traffic management measures are intended to establish a smooth traffic flow and increase road safety by minimising conflicting movements between vehicles and between vehicles and pedestrians. Some traffic management measures include installation of signals at intersections, re-routing of traffic, prohibition of conflicting turns, designation of one-way streets, segregation of motorized and non- motorized traffic etc.; which are generally known as traffic engineering measures.
Sophisticated coordination of traffic signalizing can effectively increase road capacity by as much as 30 per cent and increase speeds to levels at which emissions from vehicles are much lower.
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The traffic engineering measures involved in traffic management generally tends to have a short gestation period and low cost. So, traffic management has the potential to achieve rapid reductions in air pollution and are affordable even by developing countries like India.
The adverse impact of local air pollution is highly location (and to a lesser extent, time) – specific. From vehicular emissions point of view, the critical features to address by traffic management are the variability of traffic flows, particularly congested flows.
Traffic management actions in industrial countries have been estimated to reduce emissions by 2-5 percent over all, but by much greater proportion in specific corridors or areas. Because of the worse initial situation, the potential in Indian cities should be much greater.
International experiences demonstrate that prudent traffic management schemes can improve traffic efficiency by upto 45 percent. Studies indicate that a combination of traffic engineering measures, demand management measures, and measures giving priority to public transport vehicles is a best approach in large cities to achieve the objectives of traffic management.
Promotion of Non-Motorised Transport – Pedestrians and Cycles:
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According to a recent study, in medium-size towns of India, between 50-80 percent of the trips are by walking and cycling. Nearly 30-40 percent of passenger trips in most Indian cities are made on foot. It is about 33 percent in Hyderabad, 24 percent in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, and 55 percent in Lucknow.
Walking can be promoted by providing sidewalks, improving the quality of walking environment, making city centers more friendly to pedestrians and closing certain streets to motor vehicle traffic. Use of cycles can be enhanced by constructing bicycle ways and convenient parking facilities for cycles at bus stations. Pedestrians are poorly served in most of the Indian cities. They tend to be controlled rather than provided for.
The existing road design in most of the Indian cities does not cater to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and other slow moving traffic. Foot paths are often not provided, and when they are, are left in poor state of repair or taken over by traders and parked vehicles. Pedestrians are expected to walk among parked vehicles, electric and telephone poles, electric transformers, traffic signs, litter bins and commercial and household waste.
The consequence is that pedestrians are forced to walk in the high way pavement. This is not only unsafe, but contributes to traffic congestion. The number of pedestrians waiting at the median is often more than those waiting on the side of the road. Absence of adequate number of crossings, high medians and guard rails on the medians affect pedestrian movement. The situation is made worse as a result of poor public management of streets and public places, including litter and pavements.
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The most important requirement is to address the safety concerns of pedestrians and cyclists. This is best done by developing segregated rights of way for these modes. According to recent studies, only 5% killed in road accidents in Delhi were in vehicles, the rest were pedestrians and cyclists.
Studies indicate that in Delhi, the walking trips were about 32% and cycling trips about 4.5% of the total trips in 1994. In 2000, walking and cycling trips share fell down by 50% compared to 1994. Longer trip lengths due to increasing urban sprawl, increased inconvenience and reduced safety are the major reasons for declining pedestrian and cycling trips.
Pedestrians and cyclists provide access to the public transport network. Public transport requires walking trips to bus stops (before boarding and after alighting) and hence all public transport users are also pedestrians. Every public transport trip involves atleast two access trips and street crossing by walking. Difficulties and lack of safety for pedestrians is one of the major reasons for declining public transport patronage in Indian cities.
Many cities in Europe, U.S.A and Latin America are providing special facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. Curitiba in Brazil has done well in the recent years to encourage pedestrians and cyclists. By the end of 1992, Curitiba city had 150 kilometers of cycle paths and integrated them with public transport network. In the city centers of Curitiba, pedestrians and cyclists are given higher priority than cars. In most of the European and American cities, certain avenues are closed to vehicular traffic and allows only pedestrians and cyclists.
There is an urgent need in most of the Indian cities to promote pedestrian and cycling trips. Exclusive path ways, making city centers more friendly for pedestrians and cyclists and closing certain streets for motor vehicles can improve walking and cycling in Indian cities.
Urban Planning and Vehicular Emissions:
If people live nearer to their place of work or work from home, the travel trips will be less and shorter and the amount of energy consumption and emissions will be less. Work and education trips account for about 60-90% of the total trips in Indian cities. Hence if people can live nearer their place of work and if good educational institutions are available in major residential areas, travel demand can be cut down substantially.
Effective land use planning can significantly reduce the travel demand – number of trips as well as trip lengths. Environmentally sound land use policies can create mixed-use multinucleated urban areas that promote walking or bicycles for short trips and public transport for long trips.
The amount of air pollution generated by vehicles in an urban area depends on the length, speed and number of motorized trips and the type of vehicles. For a given urban population, the length and number of daily trips are closely correlated with the average population density in built-up areas, and the spatial distribution of trip destinations and origins.
Population density affects motorized trips for two reasons. First, for a given population, the higher the density, the shorter the distance between two points in general, and higher the number of people who can walk to work, education or shopping. Second, higher the density, easier it is to provide frequent and easily accessible public transport services, thereby reducing demand for private motorized transport.
To help control transport emissions, it would be helpful to develop a policy that increases, or atleast maintains the population density and that favours the concentration of employment, education and retail in a central business district. The important questions are then what type of land use legislation, infrastructure investments are required to achieve these outcomes.
Floor space index (FSI) is the tool used by city planners to regulate the land use density. Floor space index (FSI) is the ratio of the maximum total floor area permitted to the total area of the plot. Many cities in India have limited FSI to 1, whereas typical FSI in other Asian cities is between 5 and 15 Q. Many cities restrict FSI to lower levels to “avoid congestion”. If the urban land is under-used because of low FSI, unnecessary extension of urban areas ensures, increasing demand for private motorized transport, and hence vehicular emissions.
Increase in FSI and consequently the increase in population densities in urban areas requires effective traffic management. In the cities of the developing countries like India, the number of two and three wheelers often increases appreciably because of their better maneuverability in congested traffic following increased density.
This increase in two and three wheelers poses problems in traffic management apart from higher emissions. Higher FSI requires better traffic management, stricter enforcement of parking laws and capital investments in sidewalks and pedestrian overpasses.
Managing high densities requires adequate infrastructure investments. But these investments are not higher and in many cases are lower than required to accommodate an equivalent growth in the periphery.
High densities in urban areas may result in lower fuel consumption, but are associated with the disadvantage of high housing costs and a low level of residential space per person. Controls in master plans through FSI generally prevent population densities from growing. Hence urban planning and fixation of FSI requires careful attention.
The existing road structure and the other infrastructure facilities will have to be closely examined before deciding the population densities. Though higher population densities are desirable from energy and environment view point, they should not result in congestion, ultimately affecting environment and quality of life.
Traffic Engineering Measures:
Traffic engineering measures generally have a short gestation period and low cost. Traffic mix is an important factor that effects emission levels significantly because of its impact on traffic speed. This is a serious problem in most of the Indian cities where motorized and non-motorized traffic share the same road space. Measures to segregate motorized and non-motorized traffic on main thorough fares is important both from pollution and safety reasons.
Traffic signals at major road intersections are the most common traffic engineering measures to secure traffic flow and safety objectives. However, because they achieve their advantages by bringing traffic flows to a stop, some experts have argued that they are a major cause of air pollution and should be replaced by round-about or fly-overs.
Many urban transport planners have expressed doubts on the wisdom of building flyovers or widening city roads to resolve the problems of traffic jams at intersections on a long term basis. It has been the experience in several parts of the world that though such investments do help in easing traffic flow in the short term, congestion soon resurfaces at a higher volume.
The reason is that congestion itself is a deterrent to vehicle travel demand and the removal of such a deterrent encourages the suppressed demand to manifest itself. Thus even if fly overs help to improve traffic flow, in the short run, they work against the objective of promoting the use of public transport. Therefore an appropriate policy would be to invest in facilities that make the use of public transport and non- motorized transport more attractive rather than invest in fly overs which encourage the use of personal vehicles.
According to recent World Bank studies, in the cities of developing countries, available technology can significantly improve traffic management. According to this study, sophisticated coordination of traffic signaling can increase road capacity by as much as 30% and increase speeds to levels at which fuel consumption and vehicle emissions will be much lower. Effective traffic signals coordination can reduce emissions by upto 3 percent. Developments in electronics have reduced both initial cost of equipment and need for maintenance.
Restraints on Vehicle Use:
Measures have been taken to curtail air pollution in urban centers by banning vehicle circulation based on vehicle types, day of the week, time of the day, location, etc. Vehicle bans in different forms have been used in a number of urban areas.
The movement of heavy trucks, although necessary for some businesses in city centers, generates air and noise pollution. Trucks can also be dangerous to other road users, including pedestrians and cyclists. In addition, they damage roads because of their heavier axle loading. Truck passage on narrow roads and on weak or low bridges is also restricted based on weight, width, or length limitations.
Many urban areas have implemented bans on truck circulations in an effort to maintain smooth traffic flows during the day time or during rush hours. In certain cities (for example, Windsor in the United Kingdom) truck circulation is totally banned. In Delhi, trucks are prohibited on many important streets.
Closure to vehicular traffic of congested commercial areas or environmentally sensitive residential areas of urban centers reduces air pollution in those areas. In some German cities, streets in certain down town areas have been closed to traffic since the late 1970s. This measure has brought remarkable success in increasing the number of pedestrians and decreasing motor vehicle traffic. For example, within one year pedestrian flow has increased by 40 percent in Banberg and 25 percent in Aachen.
For commercial areas, this measure is even more effective if pedestrians in the banned area benefit from improved public transport services. Traffic bans have been implemented in many U.S, European and Latin American cities.
The most popular restraint measures are schemes which limit use of vehicles on specific days according to their registration plate number. These schemes have been introduced in many cities in Latin America, Athens, Manila, Lagos, Seoul etc., for both congestion and environmental reasons. This policy is based on “odds and evens” of registration number. That is, vehicles with registration numbers ending on odd digits cannot drive on certain days, and those ending on even digits cannot drive on other days.
This system may increase the number of vehicles owned, and induce more trips by permitted vehicles than would otherwise have been made. They may encourage retention of old vehicles which may pollute more. However these schemes have worked well in some of the cities to reduce air pollution and congestion. In Bogota, this scheme increased travel speeds by 20 percent. These schemes are easy to implement.
Direct charges for traveling in designated areas prone to traffic congestion are now being considered better than vehicle bans in many countries. Singapore – which has for many years taxed vehicle ownership very heavily as well as being a pioneer in charging motorists for traveling into the city center, is now placing a greater emphasis on vehicle use rather than restrictions on ownership.
One aspect of restraint is particularly important. Both theory and practical experience indicate that combinations of car restraint and public transport improvement will work better than either in isolation at atleast in their effect on travel to city centers. A coherent policy is therefore likely to include a combination of measures.
Area Licensing:
Area licensing is an economic measure to control congestion and pollution through a charge that can be applied for the use of roads in designated sections of an area during specified times of the day or specified days of the week. The area licensing scheme in Singapore introduced in 1975 is a good example of this charge.
This scheme originally targeted passenger cars but was subsequently modified to include all vehicles except ambulances, fire engines, police vehicles and public transport buses. Under this scheme, vehicle owners were required to buy special licenses to enter certain restricted areas during morning rush hours.
Since 1991 Singapore has used a “week end car” scheme. Under this scheme week end drivers enjoy a 70 percent reduction in road taxes and a tax rebate of $9600. Week end cars, identified by their red license plates are allowed to circulate only between 7.0 PM and 7.0 AM on week days, after 3 PM on Saturdays, and all day on Sundays and public holidays. These vehicles can also be driven outside these periods for upto five days a year by displaying a special day license. Each additional day license costs $ 20.
On – Street Parking and Trading Restrictions:
Parking policies have impacts both on the effective supply of road space and the demand for it. In many Indian cities, both the high ways and the walk ways are encumbered with parked vehicles that congest traffic and increase air pollution. Strong regulation to limit on-street parking to locations where it has no effect on traffic flow is thus likely to be an appropriate “supply side” response.
In many urban areas in India and other developing countries, road capacities are reduced mostly by on-street parking and stopping of vehicles to load and unload passengers and goods. Especially during peak hours, these movements slow down the traffic flow and raise pollutant emissions from motor vehicles. Traffic flows can be improved in congested streets by imposing on — street parking restrictions, which can be implemented either during peak hours or throughout the day.
Although on-street parking restrictions are simple and inexpensive to implement, they can generate public opposition in most of the Indian cities. For this reason, in devising a strategy for parking restrictions, priority should be given to business and shopping traffic instead of commuters who can use public transport.
Street trading in crowded streets can adversely affect traffic flows because it attracts pedestrians. This problem can be avoided by introducing control on street trading. Creation of pedestrian streets attracted both pedestrians and street traders. As a result the traffic flow in the central areas in many cities improved.
Ride Sharing:
An important option for reducing congestion and curtailing vehicular pollution involves setting a requirement for the minimum number of people traveling in cars and vans in specified areas. Ride sharing (also called car or van pooling) is especially effective in locations where the traffic congestion spreads to the suburbs of a metropolitan area. Such a measure necessitates building special infrastructure that include special route or extra lanes.
Successful car-pooling programmes establish traffic priorities for high occupancy vehicles, parking privileges etc., Assistance is provided by employers in matching commuters and provide incentives. Employer incentives include company provided or arranged transportation, free parking space for high occupancy vehicles and encouraging employees to share rides. The minimum occupancy requirement in vehicles is set at two or three depending on the corridor and special parking lots are also provided at suburban areas near the high occupancy vehicles route.
In major traffic corridors leading into Washington D.C, high occupancy vehicle lanes and routes are maintained in the direction towards the city during the morning rush hours and in the opposite direction during the evening rush hours.
The minimum occupancy requirement in using these routes is set at two or three people depending on the corridor. Indian cities have not started this scheme so far and it will be very useful in cities like Mumbai where the traffic is concentrated in one route and is unidirectional.
Staggered Work Hours:
Traffic congestion in urban areas generally occur before and after work, school and shopping hours. One measure to reduce congestion and vehicular pollution is to stagger these hours. In addition, staggered work hours reduce the peak load on public transport systems. Staggered work hours have been made compulsory by some governments and private businesses.
In Singapore, there are different peak hours for two-shift schools and businesses. In many European cities, the shop closings are delayed on the busiest days of the year to smooth out shopping and other peak hours.
In cases where the nature of employment does not require all employees to start and finish work together, staggered work hours have been used on a voluntary basis under “flex time” arrangements. However widely staggered work hours are not acceptable for many businesses because they reduce the interaction among workers or with clients. Another major impediment to staggered hours arises in situations that require multipurpose trips such as taking a child to school on the way to work.
Vendors, Hawkers:
Thelawalas going house to house selling things reduce trips and vegetable shops, dhobis, mochis, pan shops, tandoor stands, etc. in neighbourhoods eliminate thousands of two wheeler, car or bus trips.
The existence of poor neighbourhoods (jopad patties) in rich areas reduce motorized transport trips and increase employment. When you shift low – income people to the periphery of a city you have to provide bus transport to the formally employed.
Bicycles, pedestrians and bus traffic attracts street vendors. Often the side roads and pedestrian paths are occupied by people selling food, drinks and other articles, which are demanded by these road users.
Vendors often locate themselves at places which are natural markets for them. Since they operate under competitive conditions, they are patronized by the customers in the vicinity. If the services they provide were not required at those locations, then they would have no incentives to continue staying there.
Road authorities and many city authorities view their existence as illegal. High way design manuals recommend the design of service areas (such as restaurants, fuel filling stations, shops, etc.) for motorized vehicles. Street vendors and hawkers serve the same function for pedestrians, cyclists and bus users. They reduce the travel demand. Hence it may be necessary to provide spaces for them in the urban road design.