Reddy to open Meet on Alternative Technology for Public Transport

New Delhi, Mar 20 (UNI) Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy will inaugurate a conference on Alternative Technology for Public Transport here tomorrow, aimed at enabling planners to choose city specific public transport system.

The three-day conference is expected to create awareness, among key state and city level decision makers in the country about the different kinds of public transport systems that are working around the world and the situations in which each of them is most useful.

India has 35 cities that have crossed the one million-population mark and several others that would be doing so soon. All these cities were facing problems of congestion and air pollution. In addition these being the heavy consumer of the petroleum fuels were responsible for huge foreign exchange outgo.

On the other hand, public transport occupies less road space, emits fewer pollutants and consumes less energy compared to personal motor vehicles. Therefore, each city needs to start planning for some kind of mass transport system so that delays in doing so do not result in irreversible personal motor vehicle centric travel patterns.

There are several public transport technologies functioning around the world. While the normal buses that we see are the most common, we also have high cost and high capacity metro rail systems.

There are monorail systems, Bus Rapid Transit Systems, water based systems and even systems like cable cars and lifts that work well in hilly areas.

The conference would have separate sessions devoted to different kinds of public transport systems. These include rail based systems, road based systems and also systems that meet the requirements of special terrains like hilly areas.

There would be sessions on integrating land use and transport planning, which is a very important requirement in good urban transport planning as it aims at reducing the distances that people have to travel.

There are also sessions on mainstreaming non-motorised modes of travel like cycling and walking, which is crucial to meet the travel needs of the poor. There would be presentations on integrating technology, management, economics and people in the urban transport planning process so that sustainable mobility plans get developed.

Presentations would highlight the importance of public transport in any urban transport system.

UNI KAS SC DB2002