Abstract

Private motorised vehicles account today for 90% of total surface transport1 CO2 emissions. Car fleets are growing rapidly in many cities in the developing world, where population and income growth will be concentrated in the coming decades. For example, whilst urban agglomerations with more than 500 000 inhabitants in Latin America, India and China currently account for only about 9% of total global CO2 emissions from motorised passenger surface transport, this share is likely to grow to 20% in the next 40 years. This means that 40% of the total global growth in CO2 emissions related to surface passenger transport will be generated in these cities (ITF, 2015).

Abstract

Safe travel for all road users is a prerequisite for ensuring sustainable and inclusive cities. Providing safe transport system is an objective for sustainable transport, because risk of injuries and deaths from traffic crashes has become a major public health concern worldwide (WHO, 2011). At the same time safety of pedestrians, bicyclists and public transport users also has an impact on the choice of these modes. Risk to pedestrians, bicyclists and public transport users can be reduced by appropriate street designs and neighbourhood environment. Safer pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure results in increased use of these environment friendly modes (Tiwari & Jain, 2012). Safe travel options for women in general and specifically low income women are important for addressing livelihood and poverty issues for a significant proportion of urban population in low income countries like India. In this paper we present data from two Indian cities- Vishakhapattanam( a city in south India with a population of 1.7 million persons) and Delhi the capital city of India having 16.4 million residents to compare the travel patterns of women and men. The household survey in Delhi focused on low income settlements since poverty adds another dimension to gender bias. The survey repeated after ten years shows that the travel patterns remain unchanged. Women travel shorter distances, are dependent on lower cost modes-walking and public transport and perform multi-purpose linked trips. In view of the sustainability requirements, lower mobility of women must be addressed by ensuring safe accessibility to employment opportunities by walking, bicycles and public transport. The paper concludes with possible interventions required to ensure safe and secure travel of women at land use planning level and street design level.

Abstract

India's road network of over 4.1 million km is second largest in the world consisting of expressways, national highways, state highways, major district roads and other roads. These roads carry about 65 per cent of freight and 80 per cent of passenger traffic. National highways constitute only 1.7 per cent of the road network, but carry about 40 per cent of the total road traffic. Road Transport has emerged as the dominant segment in India's transportation sector with a share of 4.7% in India's GDP in 2009-10. The number of vehicles on Indian roads has been growing at an average pace of 10.16% per annum over the last five years. Hence, development of road network assumes paramount importance in the context of a rapidly growing economy.