TRANSPORT POLICIES

POSITIVE ASPECTS OF THE TRANSPORT POLICIES OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES

SINGAPORE :

The  country  Singapore has been successful in compelling  its people to  use public transport  by making cars expensive . It is not only buying a car is expensive in Singapore because of a series of taxes  and certificate of entitlement but also maintaining one is very expensive because of  higher insurance rate, parking charges , electronic road pricing.

Singapore has a very well developed bus  system and MRTS .

The people of Singapore are using the smart technology effectively in the  form  of carpooling app for office goers and school children.

There are many car sharing companies in Singapore which enables people to use cars  on occasions. The less frequent users need not  buy a car as they do in many   other countries .

The automated check in , bag drop , security check at Changi is a great idea and it will be followed by many countries in the coming year.

Singapore’s mission of greening the city started with a garden in a city but now it is a city in a garden.

A country with a clear and farsighted policy not only incentivizes good behavior but punishes or taxes bad behavior.

SAUDI ARABIA:

It is said that tough times compel people to take tough decisions . The falling oil prices has compelled  Saudi Arabia to  take tough measures. Saudi Arabia is transforming from an economy which depends exclusively on oil to the one which depends on other sector like tourism , shipping,  agriculture  and industries . Saudi Arabia is going to introduce tolls on new roads . This would discourage people from using cars .Saudi Arabia has procured more number of buses in recent years. People would be compelled to use public transport on the long run  which would be eco friendly .Light rail projects are going on  in several cities of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has allowed women to drive cars thus fulfilling the long standing aspirations of women.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA(USA)

 In USA the pollution control norms are very strict .  Vehicles which pollute are penalized .The low density of population is not favourable for public transport.

Popularity of ideas like hundred mile diet is reducing the carbon foot prints of the people of USA. The safe route to school programme  is encouraging students to walk , skate , cycle to school.

Innovative portable scooters like ECORECO is a great inspiration for the world. .How can one forget Tesla a US based company which is leading player in the new technology i.e plug in electric vehicle.

NETHERLANDS:

  It is a great surprise that Dutch have turned a disadvantage ( high density of population ) as an advantage. To switchover from cycles to car is normal but to switch back to cycles  needs great effort . The average distance cycled by Dutch  is the highest in the world.

The sensitiveness towards kids resulted in the great bicycle revolution .

The Dutch have redesigned their cities to encourage the use of Bicycles.

JAPAN :

The people of the country which makes  the second highest number of cars in the world prefer trains( a few years back they were the largest car manufacturers now overtaken by China ). A series of taxes makes the car expensive for the Japanese. Many of the Japanese automobile companies are not only involved in Research on  plug in electric vehicles but also working on automatic vehicles which would  do away with the need for drivers in the years to come.The Japanese travel very smart use digital channels to buy tickets .the bullet trains symbolize the perfection the Japanese strive for .

UAE:

A country adapting to changing times which is throwing more challenges than opportunity.  No longer generous to its car users . Making a strong effort to promote public transport.  Need to pay tolls for the new roads . The city of Dubai  has been an example for the Gulf region to transform from an oil dependant economy to one which depends on other sectors like  tourism , industries , trading , sports etc.

INDIA:

A  mixed bag as far as transport policies are concerned. The sub urban train service of some cities are world class but many cities lack a sound public transport system.

Needs huge input in the transport infrastructure like roads, bypasses , bus stations, light rails, bus corridors  to catch up with the world. Needs stringent policies to discourage personal means of transport like cars and bike to public transport. Traffic bottlenecks all across the country is resulting in  loss of productive time and fuel the loss is in  hundreds of billion dollars

Lack of clear policy has been the biggest problem plaguing the transport sector.

Need of the hour is viable projects not show piece projects.

TRANSPORT POLICY OF INDIA:

If we analyse the transport policy of India one striking feature has been a lack of clear policy on transportation. Being a developing country where a significant proportion of the population are poor we should have laid emphasis on public transport. Moreover the high density of population in India makes public transport economically feasible. The poor quality of service provided by state transport corporations has prompted several people to think of

personal modes of transport like cars and two wheelers. India’s railways network is overburdened and the speed of the trains in most of the routes have not changed significantly for many  decades.

Indian Railways is kind of schizophrenic in that the machinery cannot decide whether it is working for profit or to please the public," Anonymous Railway Bureaucrat.

Indian  railways  have not developed and is in a ramshackle state. Successive governments have not dared to increase the passenger fare because of the fear of losing votes of poor. The heavy freight rates of railways have been subsidizing the passenger ticket fares. Railways are very cheap when compared to other modes of public transport. More and more freight is moving towards the roadways because rail  freight has gone up considerably.

The expenditure on Railways as a percentage of total transport expenditure has declined considerably. Railway expenditure as percentage of transport sector expenditure used to be about 56% in 7th Plan (1985-90). It has reduced to 30% in 11th Plan (2007-12). IR in last two decades has remained under-invested whereas the road sector has witnessed a surge in investments. The share of IR in overall GDP has been static at 1% , in fact, gone down to 0.9% in 2012-13.

In the last 64 years while the freight loading has grown by 1344% and passenger kilometers by 1642%, the Route kilometers have grown by only 23% and Doubling & Multiple route length by only 289%.

.     The biggest challenge facing Indian Railways today is its inability to meet the demands of its customers, both freight and passenger. Apart from the quantum of investment, quality of delivery is also an issue. Cleanliness, punctuality of services, safety, quality of terminals, capacity of trains, quality of food, security of passengers and ease of booking tickets are issues that need urgent attention. 


.     Indian Railways has suffered from chronic and significant under-investment as a result of which the network expansion and modernization has not happened at the requisite pace leading to an erosion of the share in national freight and passenger traffic. There is a clear recognition of the fact that for serving as the lifeline of the nation and making a contribution to the country’s growth, the organization needs to become operationally and financially sound. 


(source ; white paper of Indian railways)

We have not developed sub urban train service for many of the cities. Sub urban trains are the most fuel efficient modes of transport and they are very popular in Mumbai. Mumbai’s sub urban rail is very  punctual and cheap.

BETTER TIE UP WITH NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES FOR BETTER CONNECTIVITY:

  India would be served better if its rail network has a tie up with our neighboring countries especially Bangladesh and Nepal since it would help reduce distances for both the countries and would ease the fast movement of goods  and people . The  bilateral trade between the countries of the South Asia region is nowhere that of the European countries.

COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS (CNG) :  A GOOD IDEA WHICH NEEDS WIDER IMPLEMENTATION

In order to curb pollution India has  introduced CNG only in a few cities in our country. The price of Diesel has been kept artificially low in India to ensure that commercial vehicle do not increase the charges for the transport of goods and passengers. Low cost of operation of trucks would mean that there will be control over the price of several essential commodities. This situation has been taken advantage by people who own diesel cars  and the sale of diesel cars have increased and so has the pollution.

The liberalization which was followed by globalisation resulted in competition between car manufactures has resulted in greater competition between car makers . The lobbying by auto industry has resulted in the reduction of excise duties in the first decade of the new century this has resulted in car boom.

The odd even formula launched with great fanfare in Delhi has proved to be a failure.

PLUG IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES : HOW PREPARED IS INDIA FOR THIS TECHNOLOGY

Minister of State for Power and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal said the centre is preparing a road map to ensure that only electric vehicles will be produced and sold in the country by 2030.

 As a significant step in this direction, the centre plans to procure at least 10,000 electric cars to phase out the government vehicles in New Delhi. He, however, did not specify any time frame for the same.

India moving away from diesel and petrol cars will reduced its import bills. Besides, it will strengthen the rupee and the current account deficit would disappear. Above all the greatest benefit will be ,we will be able to breath fresh air.

India will have to set up large number of charging stations across the country. This is going to be an employment generator since many entreprenuers are going to join the fray.During CII’s Annual Session 2017, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said, “We are going to introduce electric vehicles in a very big way. We are going to make electric vehicles self- sufficient like UJALA. The idea is that by 2030, not a single petrol or diesel car should be sold in the country,”

UJALA or (Unnat Jivan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for All )is a Govt. scheme in which LED light bulbs have been heavily discounted and provided at subsidised rates for all Indians, and have already proven to be a massive hit.

As per the Minister, Govt. is right now talking with agencies such NTPC and others, to work out a feasible solution for mass-scale investment in electric vehicles sector, and bring down the costs involved. He admitted that once people realise that using electric cars is cheaper, then more and more usage would follow.

Tata Motors bags Rs 1,120 crore order for 10,000 electric cars.

The biggest challenge of India for India by 2030 will be as follows.

India needs to produce more than 10 million cars a year by 2030.

At present our production is only a few thousands per year.

We still don’t have one hundred thousand cars on the road ( more than a dozen countries have reached that mark and we are still a few years away from that mark).

The question that remains is have we started investing in R& D  of electric vehicles.

Lack of clear and consistent policy has been the problem with india in the case of transportation.

This has been evident in the case of electric vehicles.

When the goods and service tax was introduced  in india in july 2017  the premium cars got the benefit of tax banefits .  This policy would confusing signals to the industry when we are acting tough on diesel suvs.

There is a need to have a very consistent policy on   tax benefits for electic cars  because not just thousands of crores are at stake but also thousands of jobs .

Even when electric cars were made in india more than a decade back the first public plug in station came up only in 2017

The cars have been charged by the users using 15 amp chargers and it requires 8 to 9 hours of charging . Many of the cities in india face severe power cuts and load shedding which makes electric cars an unattractive option. Nowadays efficient public charging devices can charge cars in less than half and hour.

How we can save fuel and time

 

BICYCLE : A RELIABLE MODE NEGLECTED:

India has 90 bicycles for every 1,000 people, compared with 149 in China.

The bicycles industry has clocked a negative growth of 8 per cent in the financial year(2015-16). The industry is overtaxed. It is worth $1.2 billion and annual production stands at 15 million units. Hero Cycles, TI Cycles, Avon Cycles and Atlas Cycles are four key players and account for 90 per cent of the country’s total bicycle sales. Around two million units are exported; West Asia, Africa, US and Latin America are the main export destinations.

Can we put up a better show?

CHINA WAY AHEAD

Perhaps, a comparative analysis with China will make the picture clear. With 1.34 billion people, China just has 8.06 per cent more population than India. But if we look at bicycle penetration, India’s figure stands at 90 units every 1,000 people, compared with 149 units for every 1,000 people in China. China is clearly far ahead.

The export picture is more grim. China’s bicycles industry is worth $8 billion and produces 84.5 million units annually. Of the total production, China exports 50.7 million units, compared with India’s 1.8 million units.

This makes China’s export business a whopping 25 times higher than India. We can rake up better numbers. But certain problems need to be addressed.

UNFAIR TAX

Bicycles remain the most important mode of transport in rural India. The 2 per cent excise duty that was levied in last year’s Budget pushed this most eco-friendly mode of transport slightly out of reach for the common man.

For a person with an income less than of Rs 100 a day, an increase of Rs 70-80 for a cycle can make a difference. Loans are not available to buy bicycles in our country. One can purchase a bike making a down payment Rs 2,000, but to purchase a cycle one has to make the payment upfront.

The industry honestly hopes that in the coming Budget, the additional burden will be removed. The Government also has an incentive in doing so. Lower prices will stimulate affordability and thus demand. Lower excise duty collection will be compensated by higher sales volumes.

EXPORT INCENTIVES

The other challenge is to compete in the global market. The global bicycles market is worth $61 billion. As many as 130 million bicycles are sold every year globally and 66 per cent of them are made in China. However, the bicycles industry in India continues to decline vis-à-vis GDP growth. This, for obvious reasons, has adverse effects on employment.

The Indian bicycle industry faces a cost disadvantage. The areas of disadvantage vis-à-vis China are cost of capital, cost of power, duty drawback and freight subsidy. Chinese cycle prices, as a result, are at least 15 per cent lower than those of Indian cycles. China rules in the global stage primarily because it has a favourable export policy and better infrastructure. To boost the industry further, the Government can negotiate with EU for Most Preferred Nation status for export of bicycles to Europe. There is an urgent need to focus on infrastructure development in cities to promote cycling.

Under a green initiative, the Government should promote cycling as an environment-friendly means of transport, thereby reducing congestion and pollution, especially in big cities. Also, the Government can run campaigns which could show our nation in a positive light, stating that we have a low carbon footprint, as compared with other nations.

In the Netherlands and the UK, there are designated cycling lanes; the Government should apply a similar concept, at least in metro and Tier-1 cities.

To be at par with China, the Government needs to consider higher duty drawback from 12.3 per cent to 15 per cent of FOB price. Alternatively, a bonus incentive of 2 per cent of FOB price, as is applicable to select industries, can be considered.

(The author is President, AICMA, and Co-chairman-MD, Hero Cycles.)

CARPOOLING : A NEW WAY OF LIFE:

Carpooling, as a concept, comes under the large umbrella of shared economy, which a recent Price Waterhouse Coopers report on the global market, estimated at $15 billion today, a figure that is projected to hit $335 billion by 2025.

Experts say that India will get a good share of this market projection.

Most technology-driven carpooling apps these days work like this: The driver posts a ride on the mobile app, and the algorithm matches riders with car owner automatically.  After the ride is done, money is transferred from rider to car owner's account online without any hassles of cash transfer. This also helps in addressing the embarrassing situation of asking people for money.

A few years ago, the biggest challenges in carpooling used to be social inhibitions and security concerns. Now, with technology, these problems have easy solutions.

NATIONAL CAPITAL – THE MOST POLLUTED CITY IN THE WORLD.

DELHIS  POLLUTION –A PROBLEM APPARENTLY WITHOUT A SOLUTION.

For the last two decades Delhi’s pollution problem has been spiraling out of control. The introduction of CNG buses in the year --- was hailed as a solution for the problem but the number of  private vehicles have gone up considerably due to the prosperity and lack of proper MRTS. Delhi Metro though a successful service is not accessible to all regions of Delhi.

When we analyse the causative factor of pollution in Delhi we need to look at the larger picture .As it is proverbially said that all roads lead to Rome ( the power center) in India all roads leads to  Delhi ( more precisely  unnecessarily passes through Delhi.)  Though many areas of Delhi is out of bound for trucks during day but at night after 10 PM trucks passes through the city of Delhi often leading to traffic jams at night . As many as 80000 trucks pass through

Delhi every  night and a few hundred thousand cars also pass through Delhi every day. The excessive number of vehicles are beyond the carrying capacity of the Delhi roads thus aggravating the pollution . We have been very slow in completing the by pass projects in the eastern periphery of Delhi  and though Western side  of Delhi through the state of Haryana. Supreme court has ordered  for the fast completion of  these project i.e by the end of 2018. This is not the problem faced by Delhi but many cities in India face similar problems . Many of the densely populated towns and cities do not have a bypass. The process of acquiring land for bypass is a vexatious one . It often takes several years in some cases several decades to complete the bypass. When the bypass is ready then the infrastructure would have come up on in sides and the areas besides the bypass would resemble a city . Bypass have to  now deal with the problems of  traffic jams . Often it is found that the bypass do not have sufficient flyovers hence there are many traffic signals on the bypass so this aggravates the problem of pollution.

SEASONAL VARIATION IN POLLUTION OVER NORTHERN INDIA:

 A layman would blame the traffic for all the problems in Delhi. One needs to understand that the pollution follows a seasonal pattern in India. The hot summer months  and the monsoon season pollution levels( due to suspended particulate matter ) are low over northern plains and  over Delhi. The pollution is highest during December and January.

During winter months the cold air  sinks and all the particulate matters remain  at the ground level. Supreme court ordered all the brick kilns out of Delhi in 1996. They shifted to the outskirts of Delhi  in the National capital territory. More than 1000 brick kilns contribute to more than 15 % of the particulate matter. These brick kilns are active during the winter months. The burning of paddy stubbles  at the end of October in the neighboring states adds to Delhi’s woes.  During winter months the poorer sections of the society burn a lot of biomass to keep themselves warm

NEED TO SHIFT THE BUS STATIONS OUT OF THE CITY :

Many of the cities in India still have bus stations which are more than 40 years old which are located in the heart of the city . Buses have to come to these vintage bus stations  to drop and pick passengers. They occupy a greater area of the road and aggravate the problem of traffic jams and pollution . It is time that all the bus stations are shifted to the periphery of the city. Town planners complain that many of the projects like new bus station in India take a lot of time to complete. The delay is due to factors like land acquisition , delay in sanctioning of funds etc. The proposed new bus stand would be in the outskirts of the city when the project was planned but  some of the projects which takes decades to come up find themselves in the urban

 cluster . Owning to the new projects coming up the real estate mafia acquire land in the vicinity of the bus stand , constructions come up and the very purpose of making a bus station to ease congestion and quick movement of passengers is defeated.

PICTURE OF JAISALMER BUS STATION:

PHOTOGRAPH OF THIRUANANATHAPURAM BUS STATION AT THAMPANOOR  NOW IN THE HEART OF THE CITY.

Delhi traffic chaos costs Rs 60,000 crore annually

Dipak K Dash| TNN | Updated: Feb 5, 2017, 10:50 IST

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NEW DELHI: Traffic congestion on Delhi roads costs around $10 billion or about Rs 60,000 crore annually. This is on account of fuel waste due to idling of vehicles, productivity loss, air pollution and road crashes, according to a study done by IIT, Madras.
As the vehicular population rapidly grows in the capital, the study projects the congestion cost would increase to the tune of around Rs 98,000 crore by 2030 unless steps are taken to tackle the daily mayhem. It has recommended dedicated lane for buses since "the productivity loss due to congestion delays of commuters who use buses accounts for about 75% of total cost of congestion".

(source : times of India)

BUS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM :

In large cities with high density of population bus rapid transit system was found to  be a success in many of the moderate income countries . In some sector of Delhi a bus lane for high speed bus was started in 2008 and had to be scrapped by the year 2012. Delhi had proved to be a case study for many of the cities for scrapping their BRTS which was in planning stage . What was put up in Delhi cannot be called a BRTS  is was a mere bus corridor. When car owners complained about the traffic jams  and the buses Zipping past in the BRT corridor this was highlighted by the media .

Three things that amritsar learnt from delhi’s failed bus rapid transit system

The city in punjab launched phase one of its bus corridor in december. 2017

Last year was a mixed bag for the public transport ecosystem in india, especially for the bus industry. It started with delhi dismantling its bus rapid transit corridor in january. The “always in news” corridor, which became operational in 2008, was disowned mid-way by the previous congress government and taken apart by the present aam aadmi party regime owing to the perception that it caused huge traffic jams.

On the other hand, the golden temple city of amritsar launched its own bus rapid transit corridor with deputy chief minister sukhbir singh badal inaugurating the first phase of the project in december. It was initially conceived as a metro project but lack of demand, high cost and long construction time forced the state government to rethink the solution and come up with the bus corridor instead.

The brt – a bus-based mass transit system – may still be debated in india and questions may be raised about its applicability, but the technology is not new. According to the website brtdata.org, there are 207 cities around the world transporting over 34 million passengers per day through about 5,500 km of brt. While Latin America carries much of this demand in 69 cities, the second highest demand is in Asia, which has about 42 cities with such transport systems. Therefore, the brt has proven the world to be a system that provides high-quality mass transit at a much lower cost than the metro.

The shutting down of the Delhi corridor has impacted decision-making in other Indian cities as well. Bangalore and Bhubaneswar, which were in advanced stages of planning, held back on their decisions because of various reasons, including the widespread negative media reports in delhi. The launch of the Amritsar BRT is, hence, very significant. While it is too early to analyse its success, the system is different from Delhi in three ways.

Corridor selection

Delhi was more like a bus corridor and not a full-fledged BRT. Therefore, it is unfair to compare all the other projects with the Delhi experiment.

The length of the operational pilot corridor was only 5.6 km, insignificant to make a tangible impact on the 58,000-odd commuters on buses using the corridor. On the other hand, the Amritsar corridor measures 31 km and is expected to transport over 100,000 passengers per day. The stretch from India gate to Amritsar railway station, which would be completed by January-end in the first phase, measures 9.3 km – almost 70% more than the Delhi corridor and that too for a city with a much smaller trip length. The entire corridor is expected to be operational by march.

Operations planning

The Delhi corridor allowed any and every bus to use the system, resulting in a lack of operations planning and control. A world resources institute india-embarq report found that the corridor experienced many setbacks in the initial months of operation. There were frequent breakdowns in the bus lanes, confusion over bus entry and exit points, jaywalking, faulty traffic signals, and severe congestion in the motor vehicle lane that led to a huge media outcry and customer dissatisfaction.

Amritsar, on the other hand, is designed as a closed system with only 93 dedicated buses running at four-minute intervals, with off-board ticketing. It will be operated by a centralised control system.

Branding and marketing

Delhi has one of the highest road densities in india at around 17 km per square km of area. Yet, going by the media coverage then, it appeared all of the city’s traffic problems were confined to the 5.6-km corridor.

Even with all its limitations, the Delhi  BRT provided better mobility to bus users as their average travel time decreased 35% on the dedicated corridor and a majority of them (88%) reported they were happy with the system, according to the wri india-embarq report. The problem with Delhi was that these benefits were never effectively communicated. However, the voices of the minority road users in cars, stuck in traffic while the buses zipped past, reached the media regularly.

Amritsar, on the other hand, started marketing the system by first branding it differently, calling it METRO BUS. Secondly, before going into full-fledged operations, it conducted a trial run that not only addressed teething troubles but also helped market the system to a larger audience.

Bus to the future

Indian cities are large and complex compared to their western counterparts, and are constantly growing. No single transport solution can possibly meet their needs. However, buses will continue to be their main mode of transport as bus-based systems can be designed as both simple as well as complex, depending on the need. In every case, these systems need to be easily integrated into and become a valuable part of the overall mobility system of any city.

While delhi may have scrapped its brt corridor, giving priority to buses is still relevant to it. This was reinforced by the delhi high court in october 2012, when in a landmark ruling it endorsed the bus corridor while dismissing a plea to scrap it, saying almost 70% of bus users were moving faster as a result of it and bus ridership had increased to over 32%. Quoting economist and former bogota mayor gustavo petro, the high court judge had then said, “a developed country is not one where the poor own cars. It is one where the rich use public transport.”

Delhi cannot afford to miss the brt bus and as it plans to bring back a new and improved bus corridor, it needs to take a relook at what went wrong and plan for a system that is more robust. Because the brt may have gone from delhi, but the traffic jams persist.

An article by Amit bhatt is director, integrated transport, with wri india.( source : Scroll.in)

JAPAN : PEOPLE OF THE MAJOR CAR MANUFACTURING COUNTRY PREFER TRAINS

The outstanding feature of Japan’s transport policy has been the high energy efficiency  when compared to other countries.  This is largely due to greater reliance on rail transport. Car transport is very expensive because of the high toll charges on highways .The various taxes which makes cars expensive .see article below (BUYING A CAR IN JAPAN  )

·       People: 127,370,000

·       Bicycles: 72,540,000

·       Cyclists: ~56.9%

In Japan 15 percent of trips to work are made by bicycle. In recent years more than 10 millions bikes are sold every year. In Japan bicycles are widely used as an alternative to motorcars. A lot of people use them to ride to the train stations. In nowadays more and more Japanese are taking up bicycling to work for health reasons and to avoid traffic jams and crowded trains. Many people don’t lock their bicycles even when they leave their bikes outside railroad stations all day or overnight.

JAPANESE RAIL : RECIPE FOR SUCCESS:

• Railways have inherent environmental advantages that can’t be ignored.
• While railways reduce overall CO2 emissions by keeping automobiles off the road, they still emit CO2, and there are a range of strategies the Japanese use to reduce CO2 emissions from their vast railroad system.
• Japanese are focused on sustainability and carbon reduction
• Run a PROFITABLE train system through smart planning in creating retail, restaurants, shopping centers, fitness clubs, hotels and office buildings as part of their footprint so as to put the system on solid footing. And with all those eyeballs, Japanese rails make a lot of money on advertising.
• Run the fastest train in the world.
• Emit just 3.4% of total transport sector CO2 emissions while providing 29% of the travel.
• Railways have a lower carbon footprint than automobiles, airplanes, and buses.
• With all the territory covered by Japan’s railways, they are starting to install solar panels to power operations, and even sell energy back to the grid.
• Because Japan’s railways are run so well and have plenty of passengers, they have enough money to keep their infrastructure up-to-date and to seismically reinforce facilities like bridges.
•  

WHY IS BULLET TRAIN SO SUCCESSFUL IN JAPAN :

Japan started bullet train service in the year 1964 . Not a single passenger has been killed in Japan due to bullet trains meeting with an accident.

The average delay of Bullet train in a year is just one minute . If a bullet train driver is more than one minute late then he would have to give a written explanation .

Japanese bullet trains face competition from the French and Chinese bullet trains but the Japanese trains are reliable for their punctuality , safety and cleanliness. It is no surprise that the developing countries seeking to have High speed rail lines have severe budget constraint. Japanese bullet trains have incorporated safety features for curves and earthquake safety..

The average speed of bullet trains in Japan may be lesser than that of China and France but one must understand that Japan is a mountainous country with lots of curves .

AUTOMATED TICKETING SYSTEM- NOT ONLY CONVENIENT FOR PASSENGERS BUT ALSO REDUCING JOBS  FOR RAILWAY COMPANY

Over the past several decades, Japan has led research on the logic architecture for high-speed validation of computer passes and the deployment of automated ticket gates, accepting both magnetic tickets and commuter passes. Researchers in Japan developed a calculation method for verifying routes and sections of a passenger’s pass to handle situations in which fares differed depending on entry and exit stations. Japan also developed standards for processing of magnetic commuter passes that led to storing value on cards that could be inserted directly into the gate. In typical Japanese fashion, tickets were light and durable and beautifully designed with photos and artwork making them a collector’s item.

Today, Japanese commuters can go through a gate using “contactless” IC cards and use the same card for rail, subway, bus, and other services. The system sends automated emails to parents when their kids pass through a gate. Finally, since 2006, Japanese commuters have been using cell phones as de facto train “passes” on which they hold and purchase value and payment is made wirelessly. Because of these features, Japan Railways’ automated ticket gate technology has been recognized as an IEEE milestone

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BUYING A CAR IN JAPAN  (http://uktoyotaestimasite.tripod.com/)

Imagine you are Mr. or Ms. Average living in Japan, like everything in Japan, getting a car is never as simple as picking one out, putting your money down, and driving your new motor home. Many people go past some used car dealers, see some good looking cars, (some for just £500) and wonder if they're really that cheap! Well, they are, but there's more to what you see. The real costs come afterwards, before you can call that car yours, you'll have to get a parking space for it, pay the taxes on it, get insurance, and then there's the mandatory periodic maintenance check.

First ask yourself why you want a car, and if you really need it. Where you live in Japan is a big factor, if you live in the mountains or a small town, it might not be a bad idea or you'll constantly need public transport. Plus, you won't be a slave to trains and schedules, which stop before midnight, and the fact that Japan has some of the most beautiful mountains in the world to view! On the other hand, if you live in a big city, the costs can be very discouraging, in fact, they're meant to be. Traffic jams 30 miles long aren't unusual, fuel prices are high, cities are clogged with cars, and the motorways are congested.

If you still want one let's look at what's involved in that car purchase:

The Parking Space

You must have a registered parking space and submit certification of such (Shakoshomeishou) to the police. The rental of the space varies, from a couple of thousand yen/month in the sticks, up to maybe over 100,000 yen/month in the plush areas of Tokyo. To get a parking space, some are found through estate agents (fudosan), others are rented directly from the owners. If it's from the fudosan, except for the guarantor, most of the other terms for flat hunting apply.

Paying Taxes

When you buy a car, you'll have three main taxes to pay. One is an Acquisition Tax, another is a Weight Tax, and the third is an Annual Tax every May. The first two you pay when you buy the car. Basically, the bigger the engine, the more you pay. The Acquisition Tax is around 5% of the price of the car. The weight tax for cars with engine sizes up to 2 litres are about 56,700 yen, greater than that is 75,600. Passenger cars with a 300 something or 33 in the upper right corner of the license plate (including nearly all US cars) are the highest. A 50-something on the license plate indicates a medium-size car, and the "Kei" cars with an engine of 660cc have a yellow plate and are lowest. The May annual tax for Kei cars is the lowest as well at about 5000-yen, but for larger cars the tax quickly escalates to 34,500-39,500 yen for medium cars to 45,000 yen for 2.5 litre cars and 56,000 yen for 3 litre cars. You also need to pay consumption tax when you buy fuel, and many petrol stations don't display their prices. Prices can vary and may be up to 15 yen/ltr. cheaper at some stations, a big difference.

Car Insurance

There are two insurance programs, one is the mandatory insurance (kyosei hoken) which just covers the car, and the optional insurance (jibaiseki hoken) covers injuries/damages you may get/cause. You can decide the extras, theft, vandalism, disaster damage, lost wages, etc. Getting it would be a good idea, if the person driving that Mercedes you just knocked decides to have a heart attack, you'd be in trouble. The costs vary according to your age, if your family also drives it, how many offences you may have had, if the car has an airbag, etc.

Shaken

Many people come to Japan and are very surprised that all the cars are clean, well maintained, and always running efficiently. The sensitive Japan "experts" will tell you that it's because Japanese take such pride in their work, have such dignity to drive cars that only look like new, etc. All of which are true. But the real reason is different, and you'll pay dearly for it. Cars that are 3 years old have to have a mandatory maintenance check (Shaken), which is repeated every other year. The costs again vary according to the size of the car, but basically you'll be paying 120,000-160,000 yen or so for a smaller car, and more for a larger. Also, when the car is very old, it has an official value of zero and you may actually have to pay someone to take it off your hands! After that it'll be either scrapped or sold to dealers in Asia.

Buying the Car

To buy a car, you can always check the local dealers, or buy it from another individual, which is a little more complicated. Either you or the other person will have to go to the Kensa Toroku Jimusho, or Inspection Registration Office to submit the Re-registration (meigi henkou) and Massho toroku (owner's cancellation registration) papers. You can also find several magazines on people selling cars in your area.

Not easy is it? Yet Japan has the second largest motor industry in the world!

JAPANS RESEARCH ON ELECTRIC CARS

Automobile companies like Nissan and Toyota are carrying out a lot of research on developing an electric car . The Nissan leaf and Toyota .

Toyota to collaborate with Panasonic to develop batteries for their electric cars.

Indian cycles need policy push

PANKAJ MUNJAL

KEY POINTS OF THE TRANSPORT POLICY OF USA:

THE UNIQUE FEATURE OF THE TRANSPORT POLICY OF USA IS THAT IT LAYS MORE IMPORTANCE TO PRIVATE TRANSPORT OVER PUBLIC TRANSPORT.

IF WE  COMPARE EUROPE AND USA WHICH ARE BOTH RICH AT FIRST WE MAY BE INCLINED TO BLAME USA FOR NOT PROMOTING PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND TRYING TO REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT THE WAY EUROPE TRIES TO DO .

THERE IS A FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EUROPE AND USA AND THIS IS DENSITY OF POPULATION WHICH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS POLICY SHIFT.

THE CITIES OF EUROPE ARE MORE DENSELY POPULATED THAN THAT OF USA . ONLY A FEW CITIES IN THE EAST COAST LIKE  BOSTON AND NEW YORK WHICH HAVE BEEN POPULATED BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ARE  densely populated and have a better public transport system.

If you compare the density of population of the cities of USA with that of Europe of India they are very less densely populated.

To encourage people to use cars they have kept the taxes on fuels much lower than Europe.

Even though the OPEC countries have tried to raise the crude oil price citing it was not profitable to them USA has ensured that it does not go up.
Cars in USA have the lowest fuel efficiency but they make the most sturdy cars in the world.  An US household planning to spend the holiday does not prefer public transport but they prefer their car .if they wish to spend holidays in a place where there are no hotels they would take the caravan along with them.

An average person in USA needs to spend just 1.75 % of his daily income to buy a  gallon of gasoline while it is between 5 to 10 % in most European countries. In countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait a person has to spend a proportion similar to that of USA to buy fuel. In India a person with average income will have to spend more that  80 %  of his income to buy one gallon of fuel. The thought of saving fuel and money , using public transport would come only if fuel consumes a greater proportion of ones income .

The low density of population in cities in USA would make public transport non remunerative for the operators since there would be less number of people at the stops this problem is compounded by the fact that every person has his own car and he can easily afford to fuel the car.

Why petrol cars are popular in USA when compared to Europe?

Diesel is subjected to greater taxation when compared to gasoline in USA. Diesel is taxed 24 cents per gallon in USA and gasoline 18 cents per gallon.

After signing the climate accord the European countries have been  taxing gasoline more and promoting diesel vehicles. Diesel vehicles emit less carbon  but more NOx. Only 3% of the cars sold in USA uses diesel. The defeat device a software introduced by Volkswagon in diesel vehicles would not promote the cause of diesel cars in USA. Diesel cars provide more mileage per liter and more tractional power.

The sales of hybrid cars are very low in USA only 2 % vehicles are hybrids. This is because gas is very cheap in USA.

The plug in electric vehicles do not have great scope in USA since the American cities are not at densely populated like European and Asian cities. The range of these vehicles are not so great hence it will not be an attraction to daily commuters.  Owing to low density of population and low percentages of  PEV ownership it would be difficult to provide charging points. But in the years to come when the range of the plug in electric vehicles increases then the chances of people acquiring electric vehicle increases in USA.

USA with less than 4 % of the world’s population consumes consumes 18 % of the world’s power. The vast expanse of the country and higher standard of living of the people are factors responsible for this.

In 2005, Congress created the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program to improve safety and increase the number of children walking and biking to and from school through educational efforts, encouragement programs, and road improvements at or near schools. Research studies indicate that SRTS has increased rates of walking and biking and improved safety. Studies also show the program is an economically sound investment that can decrease health costs and school transport costs.

Between 2005 and 2012, Congress appropriated $1.2 billion for SRTS to provide education, encouragement, and enforcement programs, as well as engineering improvements, at schools nationwide. By the end of 2012, nearly 14,000 elementary and middle schools received SRTS funding.5 Several studies found that schools with SRTS programs are generally similar to average schools and neighborhoods in the United States, or that they serve higher proportions of low-income and minority students who are more likely to walk to school.