Expert bats for ban on free parking

In order to tune into a sustainable transport in the City, the State government should take some bold steps like banning free parking, said Prof T G Sitharam, Chairman, Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), IISc.

Speaking at a seminar on “Green Economy: The way forward for sustainable public transport,” organised by the KSRTC, Sitharam said the first step needed was to ban free parking in the City. Also, congestion tax needs to be introduced in the Central Business District (CBD) areas, which would force commuters to use public transport, he said.

Sitharam said public transport should aim at providing better access to citizens than easing out mobility issues. The focus of public transport should be on the movement of people and not just movement of vehicles.

To achieve this, a proper transport master plan was the need of the hour, the professor said and added that at least now, the State government should pursue commuter rail very seriously. A public transport can be considered good only when it is accessible, safe, environment-friendly and affordable, he said.

The professor said factors like proper planning, analyses, designing integrated transport systems, implementation and monitoring are key to sustainable transport.

Principal Secretary of the Transport Department and Vice-Chairman of the KSRTC P B Ramamurthy said it is high time we as a society move towards green economy from greed economy. A clean transport system is the need of the hour, he said.

CEO and MD of Diesel Gas Technologies, Robert Enc Thompson, said use of catalyst equipment in the engines of the public transport vehicles will go a long way in reducing emission of gases like carbon monoxide, hydro carbons, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter.

Karthik Sharma of Volvo company said hybrid buses proposed to be introduced in Bangalore can reduce the carbon footprint up to 30 per cent. The vehicle has an increased passenger capacity and silent start-3dB less noise.

On the first 15 km / hour-run, the vehicle runs on electrical energy and beyond that, diesel will assist. The emission of estimated 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide will be reduced during the entire lifetime of the bus that is 12 years.