IT city Bengaluru being one of the fastest growing cities in the world will be introducing zero emission buses soon to reduce air pollution. With a fleet of over 7000 buses Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses will be part of the soot-free urban bus fleet campaign launched in 2015 by The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a non-governmental international research organisation based in San Francisco. The congested Bengaluru has been a victim of growing urbanization and government plans to control the growing air pollution.
The Soot-free campaign is also being implemented by ICCT in Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Lagos, Lima, Manila, Mexico City, Nairobi, Santiago, Sao Paulo, and Sydney.
Ray Minjares of the ICICT said in an international conclave on “Towards Clean and Low Carbon Mobility: Addressing affordability and scaling up of sustainable transport, the new assessment organized by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, Bengaluru is the only city in India recently signed an agreement for the soot free buses on the road.
He said the agreement was signed between BMTC Managing Director V Ponnuraj and ICCT in association with the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) India office in Bengaluru a week ago to reduce the air pollution. As per the agreement for the next three years, ICCT will offer technical guidance to BMTC on fleet modernisation with the induction of electric buses with an objective of achieving zero emission, air pollution and help improve quality of life in city. Besides technical guidance, ICCT also will help BMTC to attract finance for procuring technology, building depots among others.
Opening the Conclave, CSE Director General Sunita Narain said: “Motorisation is assuming explosive proportions in India and locking in enormous caon and pollution. Growing dependence on personal vehicles for urban commute can lead to irreversible trends and damages. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport -- though the third highest currently among all sectors -- has recorded the steepest increase. This is also responsible for health-damaging toxic exposure.”
The CSE assessment points out that initially, it took 60 years (1951-2008) for India to cross the mark of 105 million registered vehicles. But thereafter, the same number was added in a mere six years (2009-15). The share of public transport -- at the same time -- is expected to decrease from 75.5 per cent in 2000-01, to 44.7 per cent in 2030-31, while the share of personal transport will be over 50 per cent.
Anumita Roy chowdhury, Executive Director-Research and Advocacy, CSE said “The only way cities can reverse this trend is by ensuring massive scaling up and modernisation of integrated public transport systems to provide attractive, comfortable and reliable options supported by walking and cycling infrastructure.”