Urban Mobility India Conference 2022: Challenges and Solutions to India's Urban Public Transport System

The 15th edition of the Urban Mobility India Conference and Expo 2022 is presently underway in Kochi from November 4 - 6, 2022. The conference is held every year to find and implement solutions to the rapidly growing problem of urban mobility in India.

Irrespective of where you are from in India, you must have come across irritating traffic jams, unreliable public transport, costly private transport, lack of last-mile connectivity, and troubling traffic pollution, at least a few times in life. And this is the situation when only 35% of the population is living in cities. With urbanization estimated to cross over 70% by 2050, just imagine what the scenes may be like a few years from now.

Rapid urbanization will automatically lead to rising motorization as more and more people will buy vehicles. This will inevitably lead to mobility challenges such as air pollution, congestion, and increased time and cost of travel.

So what's the solution after all? 'Public Transport' many would say and like to believe. But not in the current form at least. We require a public transport system that is quick, affordable, reliable and one that offers the all-important last-mile connectivity.

It's not like the government doesn't know it or they aren't doing anything in this regard. Building Metro Rail, RRTS, Monorail, Rope-ways, and Bus rapid transit corridors are a few examples. But sadly it hasn't kept pace with the growing need. Challenges are many and the government has to look for ideas and assistance to overcome them. Organizing the Urban Mobility India Conference and Expo is a step towards knowing how best to deal with this problem. Let's know more about this!

What is Urban Mobility India 2022?

The Urban Mobility India 2022 Conference and Expo is a flagship event held under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Its primary objective is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, information, new technologies and solutions which can solve the problem of urban mobility in India.

How Technology Can Help Us

Energy-efficient rolling stock, advanced signalling systems, traffic management systems, automatic fare collection and financial services solutions, world-class station equipment, passenger information & security solutions, and more will make urban mobility affordable, efficient, and sustainable over the long run.

Urban Mobility India Conference: History

India launched its National Urban Transport Policy in 2006 emphasizing building capabilities at the State and city level to address the problems associated with urban transport. UMI got its genesis from that very policy.

It provides a common platform for all stakeholders including experts, policy-makers, industry, and others to brainstorm and come up with solutions to address the mobility issues of the country in both present and future.

India's Achievements so far

As of September 2022, 810 km of metro lines are operational in 20 cities and a network of more than 980 km of the metro network and RRTS is currently under construction in 27 cities. India currently has the fifth-largest metro network in the world, and will soon overtake advanced economies such as Japan and South Korea to become the third-largest network. These developments will lead to a significant reduction in traffic congestion and the associated air quality and emissions concerns.

But not all cities can afford Metro Rail. It's not financially viable as well. The solution is to create other low-cost, and efficient transportation systems such as Metrolite, MetroNeo, and High-capacity buses. As for the problem of last-mile connectivity, feeder buses, battery-operated rickshaws, on-demand electric bicycles, and other such solutions must be utilized.

India urban mobility challenges and solutions: the way ahead

A Smart, Green, and Efficient Transportation system is a mandatory component of the concept of smart cities in India. They promise the citizens affordable, reliable, and diversified modes of transportation with last-mile connectivity. Some of these are rapid mass transit systems like Metro or Monorail, on-demand mobility solutions like ride-sharing or vehicle-sharing, and cheap solutions like electric bikes and bicycles for last-mile connectivity.

These modes of urban transport are highly flexible, convenient, affordable, and sustainable (with clean and green technologies). Other benefits are reduced environmental impact and saved foreign reserves (otherwise lost on buying crude oil and gas).

Once these are operational, we get decreased road congestion, lower carbon emissions, reduced travel time and cost, ease of travel, and more time for friends and family. Overall, they will improve citizens' quality of life by providing them with a seamless, uninterrupted, and highly affordable travel.

Conclusion:

A robust, efficient and clean urban mobility infrastructure, that encourages people to opt for public transport and shared mobility solutions over individual transport, is the solution to India's mobility challenges. And we as a country need to pick up speed towards achieving these solutions to urban public transport challenges.