Pune Vs Public Transportation

Today I am writing about a day to day hassle faced by all in Pune – A reliable means to Commute.

This is a big issue in Pune due to callous attitude towards Public transportation. It is surprising to know a fast growing city like Pune is not giving Public transportation its due importance. This is exactly why Pune has the highest number of 2 wheelers in the country and the city has turned from a cycle city to a 2 wheeler city.  Everyone who comes to Pune is forced to buy a 2 wheeler or a car because there is no other viable alternative available for day to day commutation. Pune’s 31 lakh population has 21 lakh registered vehicles. 

I also faced the exact same problem when I came to Pune. Not having a personal vehicle, I started relying on buses. It’s a huge waste of time and money waiting for buses which are low in frequency, with irregular timings and gets cancelled without prior notice. Here I would like to narrate my recent experience.  I usually travel to office via bus 276 which according to the bus conductors comes in an interval of  10-20 min. On Jan 27, I had to wait for more than 1hr 20 min for a bus. After about 1hr 05 min , a bus came which was so full (obviously)  that no one from my stop could enter in that bus. Again I waited for 20 more minutes hoping for a 2^nd one, but in vain, finally had to drop my trip. This happened at 10 in the morning which is a rush hour.  Just yesterday I waited for 40 minutes for the same bus – very clearly no schedule/timetable followed. While waiting during both days, I saw minimum 20 buses to MaNaPa, coming at an interval of 2-3 minutes, at times together,  most of them vacant or carrying less people. Large number of empty MaNaPa buses shows the inefficient route planning and  bad scheduling of PMPML.

Parisar did a comparison of bus services in Indian cities in 2012 and  PMPML received an overall ‘C’ grade and a poor score on all parameters. As expected, PMPML’s performance is below average on parameters like regularity, network reach, frequency, breakdown rate and average fare. Its services are unreliable as it has  low regularity and high breakdown rates - more than twice the average break down rate for other cities. It has fewer buses, poorer frequency and fewer bus stops. Moreover, it also charges more than other cities.

The latest Development plan for Pune has a Standard of living Index survey which shows 39.5% population have low standard of living index, 46.9% medium and 13.6% high. So how do these low and medium people commute without corporation providing a reliant, easy public transport? 

This is a simple calculation that shows economics of using public and private modes for my trip:

Option 1-Bus
From - To	Mode	Distance (km)	Fare (Rs)	Time (min)	Comments
Home (Medi point hosp, Aundh) - Bremen Chowk Bus stop	Auto	2.1	30	10	There is a bus stop right outside my society - but have rarely seen a bus there.
Avg bus wait time				45
Bremen Chowk - Law college Rd	Bus	7.4	15	20	Wait time for Bus - 45 minutes
Total		9.5 km	Rs 45	70 min	2 modes
Option 2 - Taxi
From - To	Mode		Fare (Rs)	Time (min)	Comments
Home - Law college Road	Car	8.5	140	30
Wait time for taxi to reach				10
Total		8.5 km	Rs 140	40 min	1 mode
Option 3 - 2 wheeler
From - To	Mode	Distance (km)	Fare (Rs)	Time (min)	Comments
Home - Law college Road	Bike	8.5	40	25
Total		8.5 km	Rs 40	25 min	1 mode

From this, its very clear that I should choose a 2 wheeler with respect to saving time, money and ease of commute if the present public transport system continues. Then why should people use buses?  In pune, 2 wheelers take up almost 60-70% of road space. This  trend is highly unsustainable causing high pollution, congestion, increased accidents, increased carbon footprint making city chaotic.  Only solution to this is efficient PUBLIC transportation. If you increase the frequency of buses, increase the number of bus stops (so that less of para transit - autos- has to be dependent) and provide better routing, then Option 1 becomes the best available option out of the 3.

During the  Smart citie's citizen engagement,  public transportation received maximum voting and was ranked no 1 issue to be solved. When one checks the smart city proposals, its highly disappointing to find the components included. The following components are included for Smart Public transportation: GPS and real-time monitoring of buses, Smart bus stops with public information systems, Real-time tracking of buses through mobile apps, Vehicle health monitoring and intelligent road asset management.

What really Pune's Public transportation requires is:

• ·         Increased fleet size
• ·         Better Routing
•           Expanding the service area
• ·         Reduction in Off road buses
• ·         Better Scheduling and  Management

Once this is provided,  rest will make any sense.  Unless otherwise you reduce the 1 hr interval between the buses, what is the point of monitoring it?  Major shock is the money allocation - Out of the total Rs 2932 Crores smart city proposal, only Rs 393 crore (13% ) is for Pan city Transportation. Aundh Baner Balewadi, which was chosen for area development gets 1086 crore for its transportation improvement. Logic ????

  

A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars, it is where the rich use public transportation – Mayor of Bogota

 Kindly share your views here. 

Anu Kuncheria

anukuncheria@gmail.com

MUSINGS FROM PRIYADARSHINI KARVE: Let's become Carbon Auditors!

In my previous post at the start of the year I mentioned about a few new ventures of Samuchit Enviro Tech which will evolve over 2016. Today I am happy to unveil the details of the newest of these three ventures: A Basic Course on Carbon Audit.

Of course as the name suggests, if there is good response, we might launch an Advanced Course too in future!



The Basic Course will be spread over four Saturdays, 2 pm to about 5 pm. I am planning to start the course from Saturday, February 20. The course contents will be: 

Session 1: Climate Change - Science, Politics, Economics

Session 2: Carbon accounting for homes, events, one off activities.

Session 3: Carbon accounting for institutions and service industry

Session 4: Completion of assignments and wrap up.

There will be a short assignment given after each of the first three sessions. Completion of the assignments is the last session.

The fee for the course is INR 3500 (inclusive of Service Tax).

All the participants will get the Samuchit Carbon Footprint Calculator - Premium Version 4 (which is the latest recently updated version). Those who will complete the full course, will also get a certificate from us.

You may enroll for just the first two sessions - which is a more detailed version of the Samuchit Lifestyle Workshop. The fee for the truncated course will be INR 2500 (inclusive of Service Tax).

It is necessary for everyone to bring a laptop computer for each session.

Why should anyone enroll for such a course?

As per the latest global agreement on climate change, signed in Paris in December 2015, India too needs to start counting its carbon emissions. Over the next few years, new mechanisms will also emerge under a newly structured carbon market, both internationally and nationally. I envisage that a basic understanding of carbon accounting will become as useful as is a basic understanding of financial accounting principles, for professionals and entrepreneurs in various sectors. I see the need for this evolving and expanding over the next 5-10 years. The course has been designed to address this need.

Who will benefit the most from this course?

First and foremost, this course will benefit professionals and entrepreneurs who are in the 'green' businesses (renewable energy, waste management, upcycling and recycling, water conservation, water management, ecosystem restoration, organic foods, green products, green construction, sustainable architecture, sustainable designing, etc.). The course will help these people in understanding the direct and indirect impact of their activities on climate change. This in turn will enable them to more effectively 'market' their activities in the climate finance/investment sector. 

Professionals or consultants that are involved in CSR activities of conventional businesses will also benefit in their decision making as well as impact assessments of their projects/activities. Similarly office bearers in large corporations and organisations, responsible for sustainability reporting will also gain useful insights through this course.

Last but not the least, teachers, students and researchers of economics, environment, business studies, politics, international relations, environmental law, etc., will find the course complimentary to their own subjects of interest.

How to enroll?

Please write to us at samuchit@samuchit.com, giving a brief introduction of yourself BEFORE 10 February.

Enrollment will be on first come, first served basis, provided 100% fee is paid in advance before the course starts.

Please note that the maximum number of seats available is 10.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Priyadarshini Karve

Director

Samuchit Enviro Tech

#BeModernBeResponsibleBeRespectful
    Samuchit Enviro Tech.     samuchit@samuchit.com     www.samuchit.com 

SustainAble Food: Make your kitchen "Grandmother-Friendly"

Most of us make resolutions for a new year, the most common one being about giving health an upper priority and to inculcate healthy eating habits. Most of us fail to oblige ourselves. Gyms demand a huge commitment which many of us cannot keep up with, and ‘healthy eating habits’ become a pass very soon! The deeper you try to understand the phrase, the more you hate to think..

What are these so-called healthy eating habits? Our pseudo-friend - the television box - gave me a deeper insight [sarcasm intended] into this question. A bunch of advertisements on television made me ponder in more than one ways..

Noodles made out of refined flour, high on carb and low on nutritional index is portrayed as 'healthy food', eating processed deep fried croutons is shown as ‘fashion food’, packets selling air along with some chips or fried high carbs are shown as party snackers, fizzy drinks high in carbon dioxide are portrayed as mood enhancers and become more of a must-have; milk becomes healthy to drink only when added with certain chocolate flavoured powders that are usually loaded with a junk of preservatives; ready-to-eat food is most trending in markets; consumption of a certain brand of tea showcases sharpness of brain; eating chocolates help carve an impression at workplace; whereas consuming coffee helps you pour out your mind. 

How does one strike a balance of thoughts when a portion of your brain is tempted to buy those appealing products whereas another portion of the brain is screaming against it, because you know the unwritten truth about such comfort foods. 

Any mango-person (aam aadmi) like me would easily buy and eat what my lifestyle demands. And there we are...the victims of our lifestyles. While it is easy to blame it on our lifestyle, it is more necessary to watch the nutrition quotient of what we put into our mouths.  Not sounding text-bookish at this point, I decided to take a fine look into my own kitchen. I was shocked at the amount of processed foods stacked into my refrigerator and kitchen storage. An impressive collection for any fast-food-junkie! Butter, jams, cheeses, spreads, masala pastes, tetra packs, et al., and biscuits, chips, fried snack items, ready-to-eat popcorn packets, etc stacked into my traditional canisters. (These are the same canisters from my grandmother’s time). 

And since they reminded me of my grandmother who was one of the healthiest persons I have ever known, and who went on to live upto 94 without even a blood pressure issue; another thought struck me too…which out of these foods would my grandmother eat? Shockingly, none…And maybe that was the reason for her fitness!

Nowadays, each time I go grocery shopping or feel tempted to buy packaged food after watching lucrative ads on TV, I ask myself that one question which helps me decide my purchase: Will my grandmother eat this?

#BeModernBeResponsibleBeRespectful

    Samuchit Enviro Tech.     samuchit@samuchit.com     www.samuchit.com 

INDEX it is!

There are different indices to rate countries globally like Human Development Index (HDI), City Prosperity Index(CPI), Happiness Index, Corruption Index etc. Out of these, HDI is most looked up to. India is ranked 130 (medium human development) according to the 2015 edition of Global Human Development report, released by UNDP. City Prosperity Index is a new tool created by UN in 2012 to measure sustainability of cities. It is accompanied by a conceptual matrix, the Wheel of Urban Prosperity and includes parameters like infrastructure, quality of life, equity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and governance and legislation. 

All these indices give a national picture (with exception of CPI ) and not very useful while dealing with city planning. An index is a very strong tool while planning for a city as it gives the areas which needs action and helps in assessing the improvements over the year. In our Sustainably Smart Pune study project, we plan to use socio economic equity index as it helps us to analyse how equitable the city functions. By understanding the inequities, we could identify the critical areas which needs first attention. Currently most of the master plan exercises do socio economic surveys just for namesake and neither infer anything form it nor use it in their proposals which is a main reason why many sectors are overlooked. 

Initially as part of our study, we tried to use gini coefficient to represent inequity but did not find it apt for the study. Hence we have decided to create a new city level index which holistically measures the inequity in a city. This index has horizontal and vertical dimensions which spans across entire section of people and covers various city sectors and could be replicated for any city. Formulation of the index is in progress and we invite researchers, planners, economists, sociologists or anyone interested to collaborate or share any socio economic data, primary surveys, research or study you have related to Pune. Feel free to write to us, if you would like to know more and contribute to this effort.

Anu Kuncheria

anukuncheria@gmail.com

Happy Indeed!

Happy 2016!

I wondered for a while what to post for the new year and then finally decided on Happiness. While walking backing home after a Sunday mass, I came across a Happy street in Aundh. True to its name, everyone from kids to adults found on the streets were full of smile and joy. Happy indeed! Streets gave a festive mood with variety of activities like walking, playing football, badminton, cycling, zumba classes, Yoga taking place on streets.

It is a concept that promotes  people friendly streets with vehicle free roads and promotes usage of non motorized transport. It also helps people connect with others in the neighborhood. It is a good way to spend their Sundays on outdoor activities and not wasting time infront of TV or videogames, thus promoting a healthy lifestyle.  It is like an every Sunday fest on the streets!

Happy streets is an initiative by TOI with support from Pune Municipal Corporation, Pune Police and Embarq. It was initially held in Aundh and later extended to Kalyaninagar as well. It is a simple concept of demarcating  certain roads as happy streets and gets closed for automobiles. Only pedestrians and cyclists are allowed. This event is successfully held in other cities like Coimbatore, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai , Kolkatta etc. It has managed to draw thousands of citizens from across the city with unique concept of combining fitness with fun. It offers a Sunday outing for the family on vehicle free roads. People  meet, talk, share, do yoga,zumba gets rejuvenated before starting their next week. Makes people healthy, happy and fit.

Happy streets is modeled on Ciclovia festival of Colombia, South America. Ciclovia is a Spanish term that means cycleway- either a permanent bike path or the closing of certain streets to automobiles for cyclists and pedestrians.  Each Sunday and public holiday from 7 am to 2 pm, certain main streets of Bogota, Cali and Medellin and other municipalities are blocked off to cars for runners, skaters, and bicyclists. At the same time, stages are set up in city parks, aerobics instructors , yoga teachers and musicians lead people through various performances. Bogota’ s weekly ciclovias are used by approximately 2 million people (about 30% of the population) on over 120 km of car free streets. The inspiration for Ciclovias is credited to Bogota with events having taken place since December 1974 . The Ciclovia was awarded under the II International Competition 2005 Active Cities Healthy Cities for its contribution to the development of an alternative and efficient physical activity in the city.  Like India, many other countries have taken up this initiative to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Happy streets is held every Sunday 7-11 am on ITI and DP road, Aundh. All activities are free of cost. Do drop by!

Anu Kuncheria

anukuncheria@gmail.com

MUSINGS FROM PRIYADARSHINI KARVE: Sustainable Sixteen with Samuchit!

2016 is here. Samuchit Enviro Tech is entering the Sixteenth year of the century with a number of new initiatives. 

As a part of our Sustainably SMART Pune 2030 study project, we have started video documenting some of the good practices of sustainable living already present in Pune. Last week we uploaded the first of these videos on our YouTube channel. You can see the video here. Waste management has become one of the major challenges for urban India. The municipalities are failing to cope with the increasing amount of waste. The first video showcases the Kanhere family's successful adaptation of our biogas technology to deal with not just their own household food waste, but also the waste generated by a local flour mill. They have been using the biogas plant for more than 9 years. Please do check out the video. Also, do let us know of any good practices in sustainable urban living from Pune city that you know of! 

We are happy to launch a new product with the new year, named Samuchit Steam Cooker! 

It is a steamer fueled by charcoal, operating on a principle similar to that of our Sarai System, but its price is lower than the equivalent Sarai - Medium model, and it also allows the flexibility of using the 'cooker' part with other heat sources such as a wood stove or an LPG stove. Thus, this is the next generation of Sarai Cooking System, that has the added feature of multi-fuel operation, at a lower cost! 

And this is not all! 

We are also planning to venture into providing more sustainability focused educational services this year. I am in the process of designing a 10-12 hr Course on Carbon Footprinting, which will help academics as well as professionals in tracking the carbon emissions of their projects and ventures. This can be an important skill in view of the fact that India too will have carbon emission mitigation targets to meet now in view of the Paris agreement. Do let us know if you are interested in such a course. The details are still being worked out, so stay tuned for more information! 

Priyadarshini Karve

Director

Samuchit Enviro Tech

#BeModernBeResponsibleBeRespectful
    Samuchit Enviro Tech.     samuchit@samuchit.com     www.samuchit.com