Sustainable Mobility in Kolkata
A Multi- Stakeholder workshop was organised by SwitchON Foundation keeping in mind the growing concern over the alarming rise in pollution levels within the city with 45% of NOx and 32% of particulate emissions being contributed just from the use of diesel in city buses and vehicles
The COVID 19 pandemic that began in 2020 saw a subsequent and slow resumption of transport and other services worldwide. The year itself and thereafter in the subsequent days that followed suit in the world witnessed a need for re-examination and an urgent intervention of our transportation systems. Globally we saw development of a ‘new normal’ within means of transport, focused on including more pedestrian and Non-Motorized- Transportation (NMT) facilities overall. Further, within India an inclination to shift towards a NMT system was slightly visible as well, especially within a metropolitan city like Kolkata where vehicular pollution accounts for 50 per cent of the problem when estimated roughly. The Centre for Urban Economic Studies, University of Calcutta, has also estimated that an amount to the tune of INR 74,077.66 is lost in only two peak hours of congestion on a few selected roads in Kolkata on a daily basis.
Multi Stakeholder Meeting for Sustainable Mode of Transport at SwitchON
On 7 January 2022 a Multi- Stakeholder workshop was organised by SwitchON Foundation keeping in mind the growing concern over the alarming rise in pollution levels within the city with 45% of NOx and 32% of particulate emissions being contributed just from the use of diesel in city buses and vehicles and further pedestrians, cyclists and street users being the most vulnerable groups facing challenging road conditions despite having a high modal share.
A total of 13 speakers spoke at the event that included Shri Rajanvir Singh Kapur, IAS, Managing Director, WBTC who was one of the Keynote Speaker, alongside Shri Sanjay Sridhar, Strategic Advisor, Urban Research Lab and Sanjiv Gopal, Strategy and Planning, ASAR who acted as the Moderator.
Other dignitaries at the event included Dr. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, ED, CSE, Smt. Archna Menon, Sustainable Mobility Communication Expert, Smt. Aswathy Dillip, South Asia Director, ITDP, Shri Ranjit Gadgil, Head of Parisar, Dr. Sandeep Gandhi, Principal Researcher and Sustainable Mobility Professional, SG Architect, Smt. Suganya Law, Assistant Professor, Amity University, Smt. Geetam Tiwari, MoUD Chair Professor for Transport Planning and Coordinator (TRIPP), Shri Vikas Kanojia, Practising Architect, Founder, Studio CoDe, Prof. P.K. Sarkar, Director, Asian Institute of Transport Development and Prof. Arunabha Dasgupta, Chairman, Institute of Urban Designers India.
Excerpts from Speakers and Dignitaries at the Event
Unlike the other metropolitan cities in the country Kolkata has quite a few up and coming places when it comes to urban spaces available for people to walk around in order to pursue a healthier lifestyle. This was highlighted by Shri Rajanvir Singh Kapur, IAS, Managing Director, West Bengal Transport Corporation. (WBTC). Speaking at the event he said that “Parts of Kolkata like Joka, Patuli Salt Lake etc have ample walking and cycling space. However, passion for cycling and walking are missing among the city dwellers, this needs to change if we are to make the shift towards sustainable mobility at the earliest”. He also stressed on shifting the focus of common citizens to ‘Trams’ as a desirable mode of transport. Revealing WBTC’s future plans on having a strong fleet of e-busses and changing the older buses to CNG alongside bringing in clean and green trolley buses in the near future one can expect streets to be dedicated strictly to walking, cycling and other NMTs.
“Kolkata has about 6 modes of transport which serves as an opportunity to look at intermodal connectivity. At the moment there is a need to push for cycling and walking as safe and fast inter-modes. The Government of West Bengal (GovWB) is changing its transportation fleet into greener and electric alternatives and there is a need to bring private buses on board with this initiative as well via lucrative incentives” spoke Shri Sanjay Sridhar, The Strategic Advisor, Urban Research Lab another key member present at the event.
This workshop was organised to enhance cooperation between mobility experts, urban planners and designers, policymakers, practitioners, civil society organisations, academic institutions, private researchers, as well as Industry experts to achieve mutually beneficial long term targets. All the speakers at the event moreover seemed to agree that NMT connectivity should be established across residential networks since promotion of NMT has huge environmental and economic gains.
In the peak pandemic days people chose contact free travel and cycled and walked which proved beneficial to the environment. The NO2 curve was seen to be flattened as well during the hard lockdown days, Dr. Anumita Roy Chowdhury mentioned at the event, which could not be proved any more true. At present she also stressed on how the road designs are faulty and against cycling and walking on a day to day basis. Thus it was brought to the listener’s attention that although urban spaces are available the beautification projects that include proper planning to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists are at the moment less functional than desired. Street activities like parking, space for hawkers etc. along with cycling and walking were a part and parcel of life even before the pandemic touched our lives and we therefore, need to be mindful of it in our efforts to lift us back to a current normal under the given circumstances. There is thus an immediate requirement for local urban bodies to conduct an audit of walking and cycling in order to establish a dense cycling and pedestrian network. In order to establish this proper and dense network Shri Ranjit Gadgil at the workshop gave an interesting idea of incorporating urban designers and not only engineers by the corporation, who will definitely have an interesting perspective to add. Building upon the idea given by Mr.Gadgil, Smt. Aswathy Dillip too agreed and gave her perspective for the need to build capacity as well as institutional restructuring when thinking of installing NMT’s in the city.
A story was shared amidst all the discussions of how the Commissioner of Police was faced with a struggle when he took a walk, which kick-started a change in their outlook towards implementing a more sustainable and hassle free means of travelling . The cultural and habit changing initiatives thus proved to go a long way in bringing change and facilitating sustainable mobility which the authorities as the implementing body have all the facilities to do so. Providing the authorities the ways and means to witness the struggle that people in the everyday are made to go through, or rather undergoing the same experience themselves, seems like a suggesting idea to welcome a change for implementing NMTs at the earliest.
At the moment it was also brought to notice that Institutional capacity is bottlenecked towards NMT integration and how consultants with trained technical capacities along with new mandates are needed. Security also stands as an issue for NMT usage by children and women after dark which needs addressing.
The fact that NMTs, unless implemented in coordination with the implementing authorities and collaboration with planning experts, face most accidents and prove to be a challenge, surfaced in the discussions. However as a solution Prof. P.K. Sarkar gave a brilliant idea of investing in intelligent mobility with sensors taking advantage of the growing advancements in technology.
In the end it was mutually agreed upon that communication is the key and how important it is to identify the needs of the key stakeholders and cater to it. A close monitoring of NMT movement was further agreed upon to bring in a positive change. Indian streets therefore are engineered only for vehicles, currently and it’s time to make our progression towards holistic designing and support sustainable mobility. This would be a great way to give back to the environment and pave the way for our future humanity.
Conclusion
Thus organising this workshop was SwitchON Foundation’s aspiration to raise awareness on various aspects related to sustainable mobility, street guidelines and clean transportation deployment in and around the KMDA (Kolkata Municipal Development Area) and NKDA (Newtown Kolkata Development Area). The workshop was aimed at being a platform of cross-learning in order to deepen policy understanding about Sustainable Mobility and NMT, one of the many that Switch ON plans to conduct for the year.
Since there is a growing belief that people ideally should have their right to choose their transport and the right to move freely therefore, planning for NMT not only makes economic sense because of the high prevalent mode shares, but also contributes to social equity by improving accessibility to jobs and houses. In addition, NMT modes are completely non-polluting and help to reduce the environmental burden of a city such as Kolkata. The earlier a shift in the paradigm of public administration in collaboration with environment industry experts is taken into consideration, better are the chances for a clean and green future ahead.
