Evolution of Urban Transportation Policies in India: A Review and Analysis

Abstract

India’s rising population and vehicular ownership have led to problems such as traffic congestion, pollution, and road accidents. The transportation sector is a crucial player in the country’s economy, but at the same time, it is also a significant contributor to climate change. Since climate change is a global threat, most transportation policies eventually lead to solving the climate change problem to achieve sustainable transportation. Despite commitments from various countries, the carbon emissions are still to come down and require the implementation of ambitious policies. Globally, countries are increasingly putting more effort towards sustainable transportation through various policy initiatives, and so does India. Given the growing transport-related externalities, the policy stance of India towards urban transportation is also gradually shifting to a systems approach from supply-oriented to demand-oriented policies. This paper highlights the significant transportation problems faced in India and how the Government of India’s transportation sector policy interventions for cities have evolved since its independence. The challenges and gaps in the existing policies are discussed, and possible ways to frame the policies are presented. This study finds that most government policy initiatives are still to see the intended level of success. This is majorly due to lack of monitoring, complex institutional capacities and urban governance, irregular zoning of land and inefficient comprehensive development and mobility plans.

Shaping Smart City transportation with Traffic Congestion Solutions: Bhubaneswar, Odisha

“…implementation to reduce traffic congestion in Indian city roads are common. The growth of city infrastructures in transportation and drainage sectors making the flow to be hindered for months together is the main concern for normal movement within the cosmopolis Verma et al, 2021 [15], Bokaba et al, 2022 [16]. In Indian context , road congestion arises from reasons, like traffic signals, weather, drainage congestion, defective/inefficient traffic management, climate driven, excess demands, working zones, special occasions like social and recreational events needs to be planned efficiently, Falcocchio, 2015 [17], Arfin et al, 2020 [18] .…”

Fatality risk analysis of vulnerable road users from an Indian city

“…In developing economies like India, the available road space is shared by all the road users i.e., heterogenous traffic. Over the past decade, increase in infrastructure-based solutions (Verma et al, 2021) to adhere to rising travel demand has resulted in tremendous growth in vehicular population (Transport Department, 2017). Increased motorized vehicles pose a great threat to VRUs and the impact of motorization on the risk of fatality is sparsely explored for developing economies.…”

The accident-adjusted dynamic efficiency of public bus operators in metropolitan cities of India

“…By virtue of the growing private-vehicle ownership in metropolitan cities of India that causes a severe crisis in terms of traffic congestion, longer travel times, environmental pollution and road accidents, the revamping of existing public transit systems has gotten recharged consideration in recent years (Singh, 2005; Pucher et al. , 2007; Abhishek, 2020; Verma et al. , 2021).…”

“…By virtue of the growing private-vehicle ownership in metropolitan cities of India that causes a severe crisis in terms of traffic congestion, longer travel times, environmental pollution and road accidents, the revamping of existing public transit systems has gotten recharged consideration in recent years (Singh, 2005;Pucher et al, 2007;Abhishek, 2020;Verma et al, 2021). Among the existing public transit systems in the metropolitan cities of India, the bus transit system has been prioritised in order to provide rapid, efficient and cost-effective transportation services to the residents.…”