The Road Less Talked: Unveiling Untold Narratives in India’s Mobility Discourse
Travel Demand Management (TDM), accessibility, and issues in the intersections — conversations that need to come out of the blind spot
Rapid expansion of India’s urban landscapes have brought mobility discourse to the mainstream. Yet, amid expanding transportation infrastructure, increasing private vehicles, and focus on mass transit projects, some issues slip into the blind spot.
Three such conversations — Travel Demand Management (TDM), accessibility, and intersections between mobility issues — are often sidelined despite their implications. Parin Visariya, deputy manager—Inclusive Compact Cities, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), Nipun Malhotra, founder of Nipman Foundation, and Mallika Arya, campaign manager at Purpose shed light on these, highlighting the urgent need to broaden the scope of mobility discourse in India.
The Case for Travel Demand Management
In a traffic index report published by Dutch technology specialist TomTom, Indian cities, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi were ranked amongst 100 most congested cities in the world. Commuters in these cities spend hours on the road everyday. A study conducted in Bengaluru by WRI India found that car users spend about 1–1.5 hours in one direction as compared to 45 minutes to 1 hour spent by Metro users.
Parin Visariya, deputy manager—Inclusive Compact Cities, insists on Travel Demand Management (TDM) to solve the growing traffic congestion. TDM tackles the root of the problem by promoting modes of transportation that take up less space per person. The core idea is to nudge private vehicle users — through pricing and inconvenience — to adopt public transport, walking or cycling.
“The aim of TDM measures is not to restrict people’s movement but to shift them to space-efficient and clean modes. The revenue generated should be used for public transport, walking, and cycling initiatives.” — Parin Visariya, deputy manager — Inclusive Compact Cities, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP)
Understandably, the fear of public backlash against pricing measures have deterred the authorities from implementing these measures. Lack of advocacy champions and inadequate investment in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure further weaken the cause. Visariya emphasises the need for clear communication and policy adoption at the state level. He suggests reframing TDM as a collective benefit to dispel misconceptions.
“Presently, people pay market price for parking when they go to the mall, or are paying Rs 100 one way to use the Bandra Worli Sea Link. ITDP India had done a willingness to pay survey in Mumbai in 2019 to understand the willingness to pay for congestion pricing and the maximum price people are willing to pay. It was a big surprise that 75% agreed to pay the congestion charge to escape the traffic,” said Visariya.
Successful TDM implementation needs to be complemented with comprehensive city-wide initiatives to improve walking and cycling infrastructure and public transport to provide citizens with affordable and cleaner alternatives They can be developed hand-in-hand.
“Often the feedback is that we need to have completely sorted our public transport network (often referred to as metro) before implementing TDM. The point is that alternatives can be developed in parallel. One can improve the public transport by providing more buses in the short term and can further complement the metros as and when it comes,” said Visariya.
Accessibility in Urban Mobility
Accessibility is often defined as ease in accessing mass transit systems like metros or buses equipped for people with disabilities, but it is a lot more than that. At its core, accessibility is about viewing urban mobility as an ecosystem and ensuring seamless access for all.
In our urban centres, accessibility to and from transit systems is often staggered and inconsistent. A holistic, end-to-end consideration is often missing. The inconvenience extends beyond commuting, affecting access to essential services like schools, workplaces, and hospitals.
Nipun Malhotra, founder of Nipman Foundation, raises important — and often overlooked — issues on accessibility. To mainstream the conversation on accessibility, Malhotra advocates for a comprehensive city planning approach coupled with interdepartmental sensitisation.
“Cities often pride themselves for their metro being accessible without bothering about last mile coverage. Others take pride that 40 or 50% of their buses are accessible. What’s to be proud of about a proportion of buses being accessible? Are we to plan our travel to parts of cities that have accessible buses or according to slots when they’re available? Will schools, workplaces and hospitals work on the convenience of buses.” — Nipun Malhotra, founder of Nipman Foundation.
Addressing challenges around accessibility in urban mobility requires a paradigm shift. It’s about redesigning mobility to serve everyone equitably. As Malhotra emphasised, “A holistic approach to accessibility at the city planning level along with sensitization across departments is a must to ensure mainstreaming of inclusion in urban India.”
Issues at the intersection
As our urban centres are growing, we all understand this more deeply than ever that mobility is layered and complex. Problems and solutions lie at the intersections of government policies, human behaviour, transport infrastructure and management, social fabric, implication on the environment, and many such complicated subjects.
“A lot of issues are talked about when it comes to mobility; there is almost no issue that is not talked about. What we often miss is the intersection between the issues — walking, cycling, parking, air quality, street infrastructure, vendors, green spaces — linked to the urban mobility conundrum today.” —Mallika Arya, campaign manager at Purpose.
As an integral part of the Sustainable Mobility Network, Arya’s efforts are directed towards providing an opportunity for different cities and the ecosystem at large to learn from one another while ensuring that solutions and ideas are contextualised to be implemented at the local level.
By interlinking seemingly isolated issues, such as Travel Demand Management (TDM) and accessibility, cities can become sustainable and inclusive when it comes to mobility. Arya said, “The very foundation of ensuring that a city moves is not a metro project but infrastructure that allows people to walk and cycle safely, that encourages people to use public transport as opposed to sitting in private vehicles.”
Write to us with your thoughts, feedback, and/or ideas for collaboration at sustainablemobilitynetwork@gmail.com.
