Urban Mobility India Conference: Centre Asks States to Ensure Balanced Availability Metro-Bus Transport Across Cities

What’s in today’s news:

• About the Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference
• News Summary

Why in news?

• Recently, the 15th Urban Mobility India Conference was inaugurated under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in Kochi, Kerala.
• With the continued expansion of India’s metro rail network, the MoHUA has asked State Transport Corporations across the nation to ensure balanced availability metro-bus transport across cities.

About the Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference:

• The annual Conference is a flagship event held under the aegis of the MoHUA and is inaugurated by the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• The genesis of UMI is from the National Urban Transport Policy of the Government of India, 2006 (NUTP).
  • The policy places a high emphasis on strengthening capacities at the state and city levels to address urban transportation issues and establish sustainable urban transportation networks.
• The primary objective of the conference is to disseminate information to the cities, whose officials attend the conference, to help them keep up-to-date with best urban transport practices.
• The conference provides an opportunity for key decision makers and delegates to interact with stakeholders in Urban Transport both domestic and international.
• It is also a forum to discuss key issues relevant to the sector and suggest measures to address them.

News Summary – Highlights of the Conference:

• Both public buses and metro rail systems are important components of urban mobility. However, there is a need to ensure that these systems complement each other rather than overlap.
• Balancing both metro rail and bus systems is essential.
  • Metro coaches can transport about twice as many passengers than buses, often carrying over 200 passengers each metro coach compared to 100 to 125 passengers aboard a bus.
  • Thus, the availability of a single metro train with five coaches will be enough to cater to the demand met by 10 buses.
  • However, that does not mean that buses should stop being deployed on the route entirely, because some commuters may prefer using buses due to choose, operational timings, etc.
• According to the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, India is poised to overtake Japan and South Korea to become the third largest metro rail network in the world.
  • India currently has the fifth largest metro network in the world with 810 km of metro lines operational in 20 Indian cities.
  • India also has over 980 km of metro networks and Regional Rapid Transit Systems (RRTS) currently under construction in 27 cities.
• He emphasised the need to fully utilise the potential of urban transport systems, including buses and metro rail networks, by 2047, in line with the Central government’s objective of ‘moving people rather than vehicles.’
• The MoHUA has directed all States – with both existing as well as upcoming metro rail networks, to conduct route rationalisation of buses in the interest of commuter convenience and multimodal mobility.
  • With road space shrinking due to the country’s annual rise in vehicle population, this step essentially tries to strike a balance between the number of buses needed along the new or existing metro rail routes.
  • This step is one of the most important components of a plan for urban mobility by 2047, and it is also expected to accelerate the shift of commuters to public transportation.
• A developed India by 2047 necessitates that urban mobility be a key driver, especially given that roughly half of the population would live in urban areas.