Whenever I hear this word ‘Climate Change’, I remember a very famous sentence:-
Nature has everything available to Satisfy our Needs but Not Our Greeds.
The whole process of global warming and climate change is just a manifestation of human greed. It’s the human greed of wealth and money which has turned Earth into a place whose existence itself is in question. The ongoing Pandemic itself is a process which has been caused by many problems created by the world of human beings.
Before discussing the various aspects of climate change on Urban Transport System, let’s discuss here something about Climate Change, which is becoming a matter of urgent attention today. This is not the first instance of Climate Change today, but the process occurred before as well. Our past few generations have over Exhausted the resources of Mother Earth, which may drive our future generations into trouble.
When we come to its famous definition, then we see that Climate Change includes a lot of factors. This isn’t only a process influenced by human interference, but there are a lot of other factors. This is, however, inevitable today that humans are the one who has critically affected the climate of Earth and henceforth, the process of Climate Change.
Climate change includes both the global warming driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century, the rate of human impact on Earth’s climate system and the global scale of that impact has been unprecedented.
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, which further increased the pollution level of the cities rapidly made the Introduction of a better Public Transport System inevitable and necessary. As the size of London increased rapidly with huge masses of migrants coming to the city, the first underground Metro System was introduced.
Today, as we proceed forward, we see a lot of changes taking place in and around us. The pollution of the Capital City of Delhi itself touches alarming levels every year during the winters. Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and all other major Indian Cities have a characteristic feature in common, and that is “The Rising Pollution”.We have in all major cities developing Metro Projects, but the rush on the roads is not over. Indeed, it is increasing day by day as time passes and we have no other way than to regret on our conditions. The governments have been doing their work as usual with the public using the same old ways of travelling.
As the purchasing power of people has increased after with the introduction of Globalisation, the lifestyle of people in the developing countries have also started maintaining cars. This new crowd of car owners have not only created traffic problems, but they are contributing a lot towards the increased carbon emissions. This further enhances the problems with increased heat, drought and insect outbreaks. These all are linked to climate change which also causes wildfires. These all factors further result into declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat, and flooding and erosion in coastal areas are additional concerns.
The traffic which we see in our everyday life is increasing day by day. According to different reports, By 2031, some 600 million people are expected to live in India’s cities. However, only about 20 Indian cities with populations over 500,000 have any kind of organized public transport systems. And, only a few can lay claim to a system for mass rapid transit. The share of public transport in large Indian cities declined from 70% in 1994 to almost 40% in 2007. Furthermore, India’s accident and fatality rates are among the highest in the world, mainly affecting the poor and vulnerable who do not have their own means of transportation.
The scenario has to be changed. A lot of factors need to be replaced as the increasing traffic may increase pollution by a higher level. The increasing problems need to be addressed. The people should be made aware of the fact that the Public Transport System is more secure and safe. Furthermore, the public transport system is more environmentally friendly than private ones.
Here, I am explaining it with the example of Mumbai. Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) was the first multi-modal project of its kind in India. It included improving the roads, rail, buses, bridges, and the traffic system of Mumbai.
Over 17,000 households – including thousands of squatter families living in shacks along railway tracks – were relocated to safe permanent dwellings and given legal title to their new housing. This whole process was challenging and required tremendous efforts in terms of assessment, building of resettlement sites, consultation, negotiation, relocation, and post-resettlement support.India’s public transport systems are largely run by public sector monopolies. They typically suffer from poor service, inefficient operations, and deteriorating finances, resulting in dramatically declining mode shares. On the other hand, private transportation is often costly, extracting a huge cost from the urban population, especially from the very poor.
Things need to be understood in a better and effective way. The people now need to be more aware and responsible for their role. The use of the public transport system needs to be encouraged and adopted by the people. The growing population is in itself a bigger concern and global warming along with climate change, another big issue.
The climate change will further influence the climate of individual places, and henceforth, it will further need to make necessary changes in the way of urban transit set up. For example, if flooding becomes a new feature of a City influenced by climate change, the setup and planning of urban transport system, there needs to be changed. In such circumstances, technology will play a vital role in the future of our cities.
Climate Change, Global Warming and greenhouse effect has taken together may create huge problems for the human civilizations in time to come. It’s an urgent need of time to address these issues and challenges to make sustainable development look realistic. The people of Urban Centres will play a crucial role in this, and the Urban Transport System will form the backbone of Future India.
