Mass Rapid Transit System A Way Forward for Energy Sustainability
Wednesday, 25 May 2011 | Vimal Gahlot, B.L.Swami, M.Parida and P.Kalla |
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Image by Sanjeev KarABSTRACT
Due to unprecedented urban growth and economic development in the country all the metropolitan cities are under demand of sustainable public transport. In last two decades there is tremendous increase in toll of personal vehicles due to absence or poor public transport system and low loan interest rates. Simultaneously the demand of fuel and prices are increasing day by day. To make progress in reducing our dependence on foreign oil and impacting climate change, public transportation must be a part of the energy crisis solution. Public transportation reduces energy consumption and harmful carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that damage the environment.
Traveling by public transportation uses less energy and produces less pollution than comparable travel in private vehicles. Presently, India is going through infrastructure development phase in which different type of mass rapid transit system are being developed. This paper advocates the use of mass rapid transit system for energy sustainability with the related literature reviews and case studies.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Transport sector is the life line, and the economic growth of any country is vitally linked to the health of its transport sector. India is likely to become the most populous country in the world by 2031, overtaking China’s population (U.N report 2006). The urban population is likely to reach 40% from 30% presently. India’s per capita income has risen to Rs 33,283 in 2007-08 (up 60 % in last 5 years) and has reached a tipping point in personal ambitions of western life style, and ownership of personal transport. The explosive growth of two wheelers and cars will lead to a massive demand for road infrastructure, urban planning and availability of fuel. India has also received seventh position in sale of cars and trucks in year 2008, See Figure: 1. As one of some quick and positive steps by the Government in having Mass Rapid Transit Systems and High Speed Trains may help reduce the gap to some extent [1].
Fig: 1 Top Ten Vehicle Markets (2008)
The other following options exist before us to substitute oil are:
- Industrial use of Naptha, Fuel Oil, High Speed Diesel Oil and domestic use of LPG and Kerosene should be replaced by natural gas. Gas should be used for Power Generation only after meeting the above demand (gas availability is expected to be much better than oil).
- Increase use of Bio Fuels.
- Encourage blending of Ethanol with petrol.
- Extend electrification of Railways.
- Improve Railway’s freight service for a larger share in transport.
- Promote urban mass transport.
- Improve fuel efficiency of motorized vehicles.
- Encourage use of hybrid vehicles.
The transport sector is extremely energy-intensive. In 2005, world transport consumed the equivalent of 2,141 million tons oil equivalent (Mtoe). In France, transport is the second-ranked sector for energy consumption, with 31% of the total [2]. The rapid growth in transport activity, based primarily on private motorized vehicles, generates social, environmental and economic costs. Transport accounts for more than half of global liquid fossil fuel consumption and nearly a quarter of the world’s energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (IEA, 2009). Transport is also typically responsible for around 80% of developing cities’ local air pollution and more than 1.3 million fatal traffic accidents worldwide, most of which occur in developing countries (WHO, 2009). If current trends continue, transport related CO2 emissions are expected to increase by 57% worldwide between 2005 and 2030, mainly as a result of rapid motorization in developing countries [3]. These unsustainable patterns of transport are expected to worsen under the continuous and rapid trend of motorization.
There is a growing consensus by experts, policy makers and the general public that these trends cannot continue without seriously affecting the economic viability and environmental quality of their cities and countries. Developing countries can benefit from “leapfrogging” to a new sustainable and low-carbon paradigm that avoids the costly, unsustainable levels of motorization seen in the developed world, in particular North America. By investing in sustainable low carbon mass rapid transit systems today, developing countries would reap various economic, social and environmental benefits during the next half century and beyond. The key characteristics of unsustainable and sustainable transport are contrasted in Table 1.
Table: 1 key characteristics of unsustainable and sustainable transport
2.0 Government’s Step towards Energy Sustainability: Move People, Not the Vehicles
The Government of India is addressing the issue of transportation in light of sustainability with aim to move people, not the vehicles. The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), has recently issued a draft National Urban Transport Policy, 2006, to recognize and answer the increasing urban road congestion and its associated air pollution, the policy strategy puts primary emphasis on the need to increase the efficiency of use of road space by favoring public transport in form of mass rapid transit and by the use of traffic management instruments to improve traffic performance and by restraining the growth of private vehicular traffic.Supporting this, with a strategy to reduce vehicle emissions by technological improvements in vehicles and fuels. The MoUD has taken a step forward by taking transportation a key element in the nation’s ambitious Jawhar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) infrastructure development scheme. Under the JnNURM, 1, 20,536 crore INR (28 billion USD) of investment is being done for urban infrastructure development in 63 cities across the nation [14].
In India, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Metro and Monorail, has been identified by the Ministry of Urban Development as having a major role to play in addressing India’s transportation infrastructure needs. The Ministry wants to build mass rapid transit networks in all of India’s major cities, and has identified BRT as the core rapid transit mode for cities with populations under five million, with rail-based technologies Metro earmarked for cities with populations over five million. In the cities where rail-based rapid transit Metro is already planned, BRT will play a supporting role, enhancing the coverage of the Metro rail network. Table no.2 below provides a summary of the different Indian cities that have had their BRT proposals successfully sanctioned by the Ministry of Urban Development under Jawhar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM).
Table 2: BRT System Sanctioned Under JnNURM
(Source: http://www.jnnurm.nic.in)
3.0 Transport Demand in India: Motorization and Modal Split
As shown in Figure 2, about 55 million vehicles were plying on Indian roads in 2001. The annual rate of growth of motor vehicle population in India has been about 10% during the decade (1991-2001), it is seen that two wheelers are growing faster than cars.
Fig: 2 Growth of Vehicles in India
The basic problem is not the number of vehicles in the country but their concentration in a few selected cities, particularly in metropolitan cities. It is alarming to note that 32 percent of all vehicles are plying in metropolitan cities alone; these cities constitute about 11 percent of country’s total urban population. During the year 2000, more than 6.3 million vehicles were plying in mega cities, which constitute more than 13 percent of all motor vehicles in the country. Mumbai is carrying the highest vehicles compared with other mega cities. The average growth rate of vehicles in the mega cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Pune is more 10 percent [15].All the mega cities are facing bottlenecks on all the major roads and average running speed has comedown to less than 25 kmph.
Fig: 3 Mode Share in India
On evaluating the modal share of different vehicles used in India it is found that after walk, two wheelers have major share followed by the cars and public transport is the least preferred mode having minimum share in all the major cities Figure: 3. The world scenario of transport share has the same trend having maximum passenger travel by cars then followed by buses Fig: The motorized two wheelers and cars are highest consumer of the fossil fuels but unfortunately the higher guzzler of the same. The usage of the two wheelers and cars are high due to the alarming increase in travel demand and easy availability of vehicles, see Figure 4.
Fig: 4 Share of Total Passenger Travel by Mode
4.0 ENERGY AND TRANSPORT SECTOR
Energy consumption in the transport sector currently represents a small share of the total energy consumption in India (15%), Figure 5. However, motorized vehicle ownership is increasing very rapidly as well as the need to transport goods across the country. Car ownership in India remains very low compared to developed countries indicating that the rate of growth will continue to accelerate. Nearly all motorized vehicles necessitate the combustion of petroleum-based fuels. Indian transport accounted for nearly half of petroleum products considered in 2005 [17]. The growth in transport demands directly weigh on the country needs for oil imports. Growth in vehicle ownership has contributed to energy and environmental issues, and an energy strategy incorporating efficiency improvement and other measures needs to be designed.
Lots of energy is wasted during the congestion and idling at signal. Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi conducted studies to estimate the fuel loss on a corridor and at the total signalized intersections of Delhi, the capital of India. The study results indicated that on a stretch of 1 kilometer at Chelmsford road (connecting New Delhi Railway Station and outer circle of Cannaught Place, (a Central Business District)), 66,000 vehicles ply in a day. , on an average running speed of 18.60 Km. /hr. Stopped delays were observed to be as high as 158.82 sec. /vehicle. The low running speeds and delay accrue a fuel loss of Rs.2, 38, 43,231/-and Rs. 71, 80,694/- annually. At 600 signalized intersections of varying traffic volumes, 135 million Kilograms of CNG, 47 million Liters of Diesel, and 147 million Liters of Petrol worth Rs. 9945 million is being wasted during idling of vehicles waiting for green signal.
(Source: IEA, 2009)
Fig: 5 Transport Energy Use by Mode
5.0 ENERGY SUSTAINABLE STRATEGY
Moving people and freight in an environmentally and energy sustainable manner will be one of the biggest challenges for the 21st century. The first ever national urban transport policy of India (NUTP) envisages the path for environmentally and energy sustainably movement of people with mass rapid transit system. Under the JnNURM scheme Govt. is planning to develop and promote different kinds of MRTS including Metro rail, Mono Rail and BRT in metropolitan cities. This section covers the case study of Jaipur, Ahemdabad and Delhi where mass rapid transit systems are being implemented and showing promising results in reducing the numbers of two wheeler users on roads.
5.1 Jaipur
Under the JnNURM scheme for alleviating the congestion, Govt. of Rajasthan has planned Metro and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor in Jaipur as follows, figure 6:
- 138 km of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) (Green Line)
- 28 km of Metro (Blue & Orange line)
Fig: 6 BRT & Metro Corridor in Jaipur
In the process of the travel demand modeling it has been projected that there will be a major shift of 18 percent in year 2021 of personal vehicle user, after the introduction of BRT as follows and simultaneously vehicle mile traveled (VMT) will also decrease in coming years, resulting in reduction in demand of fuel and pollution.
Table 5 Summary of Forecasted Peak Hour Passenger Demand for the horizon years 2011 & 2021 in Different Scenario
5.2 Ahemdabad
Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority jointly drafted a comprehensive urban mobility plan keeping in mind the needs of Ahmedabad as a mega city, and included in this, the implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and the planning of the regional rail and metro in future years. The first phase of 65kms of the project, named ‘Janmarg’ – the path of the people –, was developed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and built under JnNURM of the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India. With a 25Kms route in operation and deploying of 39 buses by now, higher ridership is observed due to extension of the corridors. The total ridership has increased from 17,000 to 70,000 on an average since the start of operation and will rise further. More than half of total passengers travel on BRTS for the purpose of travelling to the workplace. About 50% of total commuters have shifted from city bus service (AMTS), around 28% from auto rickshaws and about 21% of passengers have moved from two-wheelers and cars to BRTS.
Fig 7: Modal Shift to BRTS
5.3 Delhi
After the introduction of Delhi Metro, considerable amount of modal shift has been taken place from other modes to metro. The Metro has been constructed in four phases. The phase I consists of 3 corridors divided into eight sections with a total route of 65.1 km out of which 13.17 km has been planned as an underground corridor, 47.43 km as elevated corridor and 4.5 km as at-grade rail corridor. The phase II covers 53.02 km of which underground portion 8.93 km, grade 1.85 km and elevated 42.24 km. Phase III and IV will cover most of the remaining parts of Delhi and extend in some area like Noida and Gurgaon. Study conducted by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) draw attention towards the dependency of people more on personal vehicles as compare to public transport. Table 6 enlists the benefits of the Metro in past years[18].
Table 6: Benefits of Metro Operation in New Delhi
6.0 CONCLUSIONS
From the study it is concluded that mass rapid transit has enormous benefits as it reduces CO2 emissions, saves fuel, reduces an individual’s carbon footprint, and reduces congestion. It also provides an immediate option that individuals can take to reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. It provides an affordable alternative to driving. Present study reveals that Delhi Metroa and BRT in Jaipur & Ahemdabad has resulted in shift of personal vehicle users ,time saving, fuel saving, saving in vehicle operation cost and reduction in environmental damage and accidents .The travel demand modeling projected that introduction of BRTS in Jaipur, will increase the patronage of mass rapid transit in terms of ridership and Ahemdabad BRT ridership has increased significantly ,BRT has become first choice of 21 percent of personal vehicle user . The shift of users to mass rapid transit is very promising in reducing fuel demand and in curbing pollution ,further studies should be taken up to precisely quantify the benefits of commuter shifting. Lessons learned from the above case studies build the path for mass rapid transit System to be given priority in urban transport planning for upcoming cities for energy and environmental sustainability.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank AICTE for Nationally co-ordinated project on “Integrated Development of Public Transport System being executed at IIT Roorkee and MNIT Jaipur”.
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