The Delhi Government’s the Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) has developed a ‘Urban Mobility Lab’ for the first time in association with a non-profit organisation Rocky Mountain Institute to initiate and turning the flagship policies such as Delhi’s electric vehicle policy, into projects on the ground. The lab will be launched on June 26.

The lab will support the rollout of Delhi’s electric vehicle (EV) policy and its mobility goals by developing a number of pilot projects. The first main priority of this initiative will be to improve women safety in the city, especially in the public transport during night time, first and last mile connectivity, non-motorized transport and making the roads of Delhi safer for pedestrians and cyclists. 

Through this initiative, the non-profit organisation Lab, will offer global best practices to the Delhi Government and a process for identifying, developing, integrating and implementing pilot projects that will support Delhi’s mobility transition.

“Under the initiative, innovative ideas will be invited from stakeholders on four broad categories- electric mobility, non-motorised transport, shared mobility and last mile connectivity- for conceiving and piloting sustainable solutions to overcome local problems in Delhi,” said DDC chairperson Jasmine Shah.

The commission will receive applications from various solution providers and out of the hundreds of application, DDC will shortlist best 10 ideas and will support to turn those ideas into projects on ground, said Shah on Tuesday.

The ideas could be furnished on an application window on the RMI website. The workable ideas will finally be piloted on ground, he added.

After the launch, a three- day solution workshop will be conducted to work collaboratively across public and private sectors to accelerate innovative mobility solutions that can be implemented in Delhi.

Officials added that Delhi will become India’s second largest ‘lighthouse city’- a living lab for conceiving, financing and testing mobility solutions that align with the Indian government’s vision for a shared, electric and connected mobility future.

Further, speaking on Electric Vehicle policy, Shah said he policy is under the final stage of completion and will be presented before the Delhi cabinet for approval.  He said feedback from stakeholders including input from United Nations (UN) have been studied to make the e-vehicle policy a model one.

“We are looking to develop pilot projects that address important opportunity areas in Delhi’s mobility system,” said RMI principal Akshima Ghate.