Vehicular emissions were identified as the major constituent of Delhi’s toxic air in the late 1990s. In 2001, the Supreme Court nudged the city’s public transport to move to CNG. But the gains from the transition to the relatively cleaner fuel were offset in less than a decade by the large increase in private vehicles. Despite near-unanimity on the need to make transport the focal point of Delhi’s anti-pollution drive, policy responses have been half-hearted at best. Now, with the national capital in the grip of another spell of noxious air, a high-level meeting chaired by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister has directed the NCR states to adopt a slew of measures to curb emissions from private cars and two-wheelers. These include penalising owners whose vehicles default on green standards and accelerating the transition to electric vehicles. The crisis should occasion more conversations on syncing the mobility needs of the capital’s residents with the imperative of cleaning up the city’s air.
Apart from being seen as an aspirational good, personal vehicles are almost unavoidable in an expanding city where public transport is unreliable. The average trip length in the NCR has increased by a staggering 81 per cent in the last two decades. In that period, Delhi’s metro network covered close to 400 km. In the past six months, the city has also made impressive additions to its electric bus fleet. However, by all accounts, the expansion of public transport has not kept pace with the urban sprawl. Failure to ensure last-mile connectivity has made the metro a less attractive option for those who can use private vehicles or taxis. And, even today, Delhi’s bus fleet doesn’t fulfil the target set by the Supreme Court in 1998 — 10,000 buses. These deficits have led to vehicles clogging Delhi’s streets — studies show that high congestion can increase emissions up to seven times.
During the ongoing pollution crisis, the Delhi government has reiterated its commitment to improving public transport. Doing so at a scale that would be enough to make a dent in the smog might take time. Governments in the NCR should also consider ways of nudging people to use private transport in a more environment-friendly way — car pools, for instance. Cleaning up Delhi’s air will require the government and people to work together. But people make behavioural changes only when they see a matching commitment from the government. The Delhi government needs to convince the city’s residents of its sincerity by urgently taking measures that are relatively easier to implement — reducing dust pollution, for instance.
