Yashwin Iddya, Srinidhi Santosh, Suruchi Soren, Bharath M. Palavalli
2020
Scenario based analysis of change in fares for public transport, ridership, congestion and emissions in Bangalore
Description
Transportation is seen as an economic enabler in a city, but there is another critical role played by transportation in social mobility that is mostly ignored. Transportation connects communities to employment, education, and vital services which promote social mobility. As linkages between transportation and economic growth was given more prominence historically, traditional transport planning and evaluation are concerned with efficiency and speed improvement, thus social mobility remains neglected. Moreover, focus on speed improvement led to greater promotion of car-based transport leading to adverse environmental impact, and greater speeds has resulted in greater fatality rates. Thus, new paradigms of sustainable transport planning focus on bringing social mobility and environmental impact to the forefront, alongside economic factors.
In this report, we focus on the city of Bangalore. In order for transportation to be more sustainable in Bangalore, promoting a greater modal share for Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) becomes a critical strategy. Demands for reduction of fare from various quarters has been proposed as a way to increase ridership, but on the other hand, the other the annual losses of BMTC are a cause of concern. Given the various complexities involved, what are the trade-offs and consequences of reduction in fares in building towards sustainable transportation for Bangalore? Scenario-based analysis allows us to examine different what-if questions or future scenarios, and explore consequences and trade-offs of these options. In this report, we present a scenario-based analysis of change in BMTC’s fare to understand possible strategies towards a sustainable transportation for Bangalore. The scenario-based analysis is presented in light of the financial implication for BMTC, environmental effects and ease of movement in the city of Bangalore.
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