This research paper on sustainable transport aims to reduce Bengaluru’s traffic woes

Anyone who has lived in Bengaluru knows that they need to leave home hours in advance to reach any destination on time. Reasons being the inadequate transport infrastructure, increased use of private vehicles, lack of integration between land use and transport planning, pollution, population… the list is endless.

All these problems have led to the severe traffic congestion that Bengaluru faces on a daily basis. These issues also hinder mobility and reduce the city’s efforts to reach global standards of living.

In this scenario, a research paper released on Tuesday proposes various mitigation ideas which Bengaluru can adapt to deal with these problems. The paper is the result of four years of research work by Professor Ashish Verma of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, under an Indo-Norway project called CLIMATRANS.

The scientific and evidence-based suggestions proposed by the report aims at developing sustainable transport planning, which includes reduction in traffic congestion, vehicular emissions, carbon emission intensity and increases the liveability of the Garden City.

The suggestions for mitigation proposal are:

• Increasing public transportation to increase ridership and accessibility, especially in areas like Doddabelavangla Road, Trunk Road, near Dabaspete-Hosur highway, near Chikkondanahalli Road, near Magadi Road, near Naganna Road and beside Bengaluru-Mysore highway.
• Defining restricted roads for cars to help reduce the number of vehicles heading to the same destination. This can be implemented in areas like Brigade Road, SP Road, Tulsi Theatre Road, Malleswaram 8th Cross and BVK Iyengar Road.
• Increasing fuel cost to reduce buying of private cars and two wheelers.
• Strict vehicle inspections for emission of carbon and other harmful gases.
• High density mix building along the main transport corridors like M G Road and Madiwala to lower travel times.
• Park and ride facility to reduce private vehicular emissions and increase the share of buses in future. This can be applied in areas like Shanthinagar, Jayanagar, Kengeri, Banashankari, Koramangla, Yeshawanthapura, Vijayanagar, Domlur, International Tech Park and Bannerghatta.
• Congestion pricing, promoting carpools and constructing High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes to reduce the number of vehicular trips being made from and to the same destination, like K R Market, Shivajinagar, Silk Board Junction, Madiwala, Koramangla, M G Road, Whitefield, Malleswaram, Hebbel and Yeswantpur-Raajinagar.
• Improving cycling and walking infrastructure and additional tax on purchasing vehicles to reduce motorised vehicles.
• Using electric vehicles, but ensuring that electricity is from renewable sources like solar, wind or hydro power.

Other suggestions include proper drainage facilities, use of permeable roads at susceptible locations and proper mix of land use and infrastructure related policies.

Speaking at the paper release, Prof Verma said that if these suggestions were considered and implemented maximum benefit can be achieved.

IISc students Harsha Vajjarupa and Hemanthini Allirani assisted Prof Verma in the research. Other members associated with the research paper were Dr Farideh Ramjerdi (Institute of Transport Economics), Dr Sanjay Gupta (School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi), Dr Munish Chandel (Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay), Neha Pahuja (The Energy & Resource Institute, New Delhi) and Dr Hilde Fagerli (Norwegian Meteorological Institute).