Smart India | Mobility Bala Mahadevan [email protected]

Driving Smart Mobility Congestion is a long-term issue in India, and throughout APAC, cities are seeing car ownership on the rise, meaning still more congestion. A view on smart mobility to solve the traffic problems

n India, according to a 2018 report, commuters in centers. In congested cities, such as , and Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and spend 1.5 the like, there is a direct correlation between the number times longer to travel a given distance during peak of vehicles and air and high levels of noise pollution. Itraffic compared to off-peak hours. This level of traffic congestion is estimated to cost India’s economy over The public safety factor $22bn per year. WHO research finds that around 1.3 million people die There are environmental pressures at play too, with in road accidents globally each year, with a further 20 to cars being one of the main causes of pollution in urban 50 million injuries and disabilities occurring as a result

| A CyberMedia Publication www.dqindia.com July, 2019 | 47 Smart India | Mobility

According to the UN, India’s citizens will increase in age on average in the coming years, with the UN forecasting that Indians aged 60 or older will double between 2015 and 2015 and 2050, from 9 percent to 19 percent of the population — Bala Mahadevan, CEO, Orange Business Services

too. In India, the figure is staggeringly high: in the past Customer-centric development decade, over one million Indians have lost their lives on According to the UN, India’s citizens will increase in age the country’s roads, which are among the deadliest in on average in the coming years, with the UN forecasting the world.There is not just a human imperative to work that Indians aged 60 or older will double between 2015 to here, but also a commercial impact: according to the and 2015 and 2050, from 9 percent to 19 percent of the Ministry of road transport and highways, India’s economic population. loss from accidents amounts to around 3 percent of the This will place an added strain on India’s public country’s GDP, or around $8.2 billion every year. transport and mobility in general, something that has In India, over 50 percent of road deaths are estimated to long been in need of transformation. Smart mobility take place at traffic junctions, making them a major target schemes can be designed specifically to help these for smart mobility transformation projects and digital older citizens. Lots of older Indian citizens are not able solutions like smart junction management, autonomous to drive cars and are reliant on public transport, but at vehicles and intelligent public transport systems. the same time, even using public transport in India can Improving the safety of junctions and crossingsand public be a complicated thing. transport systems in general can help India negate the Developing solutions that are affordable, convenient, economic and social costs that come with road fatalities safe and secure for India’s citizens is critical to driving and casualties. acceptance and engagement from customers. This can Video monitoring and analytics are another next be best achieved by revamping current transportation generation digital tool that can dramatically impact systems and using intelligent technologies to create smart public safety on the roads. Historically, manual analysis and sustainable mobility solutions. of video data was too time and resource prohibitive and generally subject to too much human error. Intelligent What is India doing about it? video analytics can detect anomalies and send alerts India’s local governments are collaborating and coming about offences or incidents in real time, ensure transport up with new schemes to enhance smart mobility, under network uptime is improved and prevent accidents. the umbrella ofIndia’s Smart City Mission. Pune will be Orange is currently working with the government of home to India’s first Urban Mobility Lab, established to Gujarat to do just this, on its “Safe and Secure Gujarat” identify areas for development in Pune’s mobility system, initiative. It is one of India’s biggest smart city projects including traffic and parking management, non-motorized and will eventually deliver next generation traffic transport, public transport, booking and payment and management to the state’s 120 cities. electric mobility.

48 | July, 2019 www.dqindia.com A CyberMedia Publication | Smart India | Mobility

Smart mobility schemes can be designed specifically to help these older citizens. Lots of older Indian citizens are not able to drive cars and are reliant on public transport, but at the same time, even using public transport in India can be a complicated thing

These types of solutions could set benchmarks for Trains and buses also in the mix public sector smart mobility across India, and pave the Millions of Indians rely on trains and buses to get them way for other innovative mobility solutions in Indian around, particularly in densely-populated urban areas cities. There are already a number of Public/Private and cities. In Delhi, where close to 4 million people ride Partnerships (PPPs) underway, such as SUN Mobility’s the Metro daily, the government has been committing to Quick Interchange Charging Stations for two-wheeler transformation. The city has been investing in driverless and three-wheeler electric vehicles (EVs), Lithium Urban trains, and moves to link the to all other public Technologies’ 300 electric taxis plus 50 electric buses, transport systems in the city are underway. and Ridlr’s multi-modal Commute Ticketing app, that A couple of years ago Delhi introduced cashless lets commuters access an end-to-end journey planner, payment terminals on the Metro, all part of a plan to advance ticket booking and cashless payments. make public transport in Delhi easier to use in general. Another example is Mumbai’s single ticketing-system Delhi’s trains and metro network could also benefit from for integrating payments with a smart card, which will video analytics, helping municipalities gather data from work across all four mass transport services, subway, peak times and analyze crowds, and seek to find ways of buses, monorail and metro network, with the end goal making the customer experience more enjoyable. being faster, more convenient commutes for over 1.5 million daily travelers. A digital future, but still work required Prime Minister Modi recently outlined his 7C Vision for the Future of Mobility in India, with the focus to be on common, connected, convenient, congestion-free, charged, clean and cutting edge public sector smart mobility. Digital solutions will be fundamental to enabling that smart mobility future for India, but they are not a silver bullet and require other advancements to help them do their job. India’s fundamental network infrastructure remains in need of overhaul, the roads and general facilities themselves, must be brought up to standard: we need a solid foundation on which to build tomorrow’s digitally- connected transport future. With the right political will and the right infrastructure in place, India can move forward with its smart mobility transformation.

(The author is CEO, Orange Business Services)

| A CyberMedia Publication www.dqindia.com July, 2019 | 49