Planning for micromobility in urban areas

Abstract

Transportation being a fast-paced industry, is a large contributor towards carbon emission and global climate change. Considering more than half of the population residing in cities, mobility plays a crucial role when it comes to the overall functioning of urban areas and the quality of life of citizens. Increased demand and usage of personal motorized vehicles in urban areas is responsible for excessive emission levels, air & noise pollution that have had a significant impact on the social and environmental aspects our society. Poor public transit infrastructure, continuous progressive development of the cities, or increasing traffic congestion due to rapid urbanization are some of the pertaining issues of transport in urban areas and to address these problems, the need for environmentally feasible solutions is identified. Micromobility is an up-and-coming sustainable alternative which aims at providing various options for short distance trips that include first and last mile connectivity. With multifarious benefits such as cost efficiency, sustainable and a flexible mode of on-demand transport, it is a promising approach towards bridging the gap between sustainability and transport due to its potential for reducing our reliance on motorized vehicles especially for short distances. The study area taken for the dissertation is the sub-city of Dwarka located in the South-West district of National Capital Territory of Delhi and is one of the most sought-after residential sub-city. The main study area consisted of 8 sectors within the core of Dwarka sub-city which has a robust road network and being wellconnected by Delhi Metro (MRTS) but experiences inefficiency w.r.t connectivity through buses i.e., insufficient availability and inadequate frequency of buses. The inefficient public transport and growing population in the area is accompanied by increased usage of personal vehicles. To further enhance the research, an extensive household survey was conducted through cluster sampling method to understand the need for the modal shift to sustainable alternatives and perception of people towards various modes of micromobility. Following a disaggregate model to understand the trends and patterns, the household survey included open-ended questions to understand the perception of people & their willingness to use different modes of micromobility which were considered for the study. The results from the site visit and household survey depicted the high dependence of people on private motorized vehicles like 2 & 4 wheelers even for short trips less than 5 Km for purposes like grocery shopping, trip to nearest metro stations/bus stops, recreational trips etc. These observations validated the need for a sustainable alternative for short trips. From the 3 modes of micromobility selected for the study (bicycles, e-bicycles and e-scooters), the survey also included questions for understanding the perception of the potential user group towards usage of micromobility which showed that preference for using e-bicycles over the other 2 modes as a shared service for the study area was higher. The analysis facilitated the proposal stage by providing essential information required for implementing a sustainable transport solution. The aim of the thesis is to assess the potential for recommending a strategy for implementing a micromobility (e-bicycle) sharing system which also covers identification of potential docking stations (infrastructure) and operational requirements for operating the shared service within the study area as a pilot project.