Your Commute in 2030

[Applause]

hi there

i made sustainability my default choice

in 2015

and as a transport mafioso my vision for

2030

is that our cities will have no more

traffic

and there will be no more need for us to

commute

my vision for 2030 for sustainable

transport in our cities

is that we should not be commuting like

we do right now for two

three hours a day stuck in traffic

staring with dead eyes

at the dull gray concrete mushroomed

around us as we painfully

inch through kilometer long traffic jams

surrounded by a cacophony of honking

my vision is that transport in our

cities should be humane

and considerate and for this we should

not be commuting at all

why do we commute it causes untold hours

of lost productivity that’s three hours

in a day

that you aren’t getting back if you

think about it it adds up to nearly 30

days worth

every year that you spend just in

traffic it causes a severe health impact

mental and physical and not just while

you yourself

are stuck in the traffic jam but for

everyone else

because the particulate matter the suit

the greenhouse gases they persist in the

air

damaging all of us over time let me

share with you my example of bangalore

traffic

the famous silkworth traffic jam i live

about six kilometers across from where i

used to work

and this had me crossing silk board so

every day i had to cross silver

and then on the way back cross sidewalk

and this

used to take me one hour just to cross

silport i left the job after about a

year and

in part because of this famous traffic

jam and moved to another job

up north of bangalore this was 25

kilometers away from my residence

the time that it used to take me the

same

one hour one week this is what traffic

does to us

and my vision for 2030 is that our

cities will not

need such long transport commutes we

will not need to transport ourselves for

so long

we would live in cities that are

organized in a way

that everything that we need whether

it’s school or workplaces

whether it’s parks or recreation shops

or essential services

leisure and entertainment will just be a

walk or a bike ride away

my vision is that changing our cities

this way

would open up unimaginable real estate

in our cities that we can dedicate

to rich biodiverse lung spaces

tree filled boulevards and lush green

walkways and bike lanes

and so that anytime we do need to

transport something

it is done in an efficient and in a

humane way

to reach um this extremely

achievable vision by 2030 we just need

to do

three small things one avoid transport

avoid transport at any time two

transform transport

and number three overhaul our cities and

i hope that at the end of these 15

minutes you will have three simple ways

in which you can transform

transportation

and our cities starting today step one

avoid transport and when you do do it in

an efficient

and in a humane way because of

congestion

we all know congestion on our roads

indians spend

more time on our daily office commute

than people

in most countries in the world a study

by move-in sync

in a bangalore-based company across

multiple cities in india in the i.t

corridors

found out on the office travel time that

we average

more than two hours every day on our

roads

that’s seven percent of your day and if

you want to think about it that’s

ten percent of your waking hours that

you’re spending

just in transport and are we getting

anywhere fast

no we average a less than three minutes

a kilometer

another study by bcg found out about the

cost

cost of traffic jams in just four indian

cities

is 22 billion dollars a year

where does this cost come from it comes

from fuel waste

it comes from reduced productivity it

comes from air pollution

and it comes from accidents just in one

of these four cities which is delhi the

9.6 billion dollars of cost

is about 12 of its gdp

think about peak hour congestion peak

hour congestion is the additional time

that you take

to travel any given distance during the

peak hour traffic time

versus any other time in indian cities

we spend

149 percent on an average more

during our peak hour congestion and this

is against a 67 percent on average in

other asian cities

and these are not just any asian cities

these are highly congested

densely populated urban urban centers

like hong kong and manila

kl and bangkok these are not open cities

these are not less

congested these are very densely

populated which

leads to situations like this

which brings me to step two we need to

transform our transport because

of our health and the air pollution and

the impact of air pollution

on our health vehicular tailpipe

emissions

are a major cause of pollution in our

cities

anywhere between 14 to 43 percent

right air pollution is linked directly

to diseases

that kill life expectancy in indian

cities

is down by 2.6 years just because of air

pollution

and a recent study found out that when

pregnant women

breathe polluted air the particles

are able to

enter the placenta and reach a placenta

via the bloodstream

the famous delhi pollution that happens

every year around

diwali a day outside at this time

in delhi is equivalent to smoking 50

cigarettes

what can you do right now to transform

this

go electric a petrol scooter

costs two rupees a kilometer versus

30 pisces a kilometer for an electric

scooter

saving you 1.7 rupees for every

kilometer you travel

so this is for everyone who counters me

saying that you know

electric transport is expensive on the

other hand you might counter by saying

oh no you know we don’t get enough range

75 of all of us in indian cities

commute less than 35 kilometers a day

that’s 35 kilometers up and down

so if you find yourself an electric

vehicle that gives you a range of

anything 60 to

80 kilometers that is largely sufficient

for our needs

so this is about personal transport what

about b2b transport

right what about the commercial vehicles

it has been found out over multiple

studies

that intra city transport within 150

kilometers a day

is already economically viable to go

electric

so who are these b2b players i speak

about these are high utilization

vehicles

so um people like last mile connectivity

uh delivery companies logistics

companies

transport companies anyone who does

within 150 kilometers a day

can already go electric and it’s already

economically viable for them to do so

continuing on the previous example of my

transport and travel

and commute in bangalore the travel that

i used to do whether it was

across silkworth or when i used to

travel up to the bank

north of bangalore all of that was done

in me and my

little yellow eevee bangalore is a very

hilly city it has a lot of ups and downs

and it is it has quite a number of

flyovers as well

so over every 25 kilometers that are

used to travel

i used to regen five kilometers so evs

in themselves

are so much more efficient than petrol

vehicles i would regen five kilometers

for every 25 kilometers that i would

travel

i still travel between 40 to 70

kilometers every day

uh depending on my meetings on my

customer visits or any other

visits that i have i’m still traveling

40 to 70 kilometers a day

i add to the congestion yes

i agree that i add to the condition on

the roads because i travel by car

but i do not add to the vehicular

tailpipe

emissions this brings me to step three

we need

to overhaul our cities right

we need to overhaul our cities because

on one hand

we’re solving for climate change all of

us here are here at this event

because we’re trying to solve for

climate change on the other hand

we’re trying to build cities for three

billion people it’s a doubling of the

urban environment

it is estimated that by 2050

70 of humans will be living

uh in cities that’s seven billion people

seven billion people will be living in

cities and our current

model of transport in cities of

urbanization in our cities

is broken we cannot handle this doubling

of the urban environment

over the last few months we’ve all been

in this pandemic and we found out that

you know that meeting could have been a

phone call or an email

or most of us most of our work does

allow us to do remote work

i believe that this is the best moment

to redesign

our urban and our mobility future

because we don’t want

cities that are built for cars if we

continue to add

fleets and fleets of conventional cars

to our roads and then cutting down all

the trees on our roads to expand them to

meet these fleets of cars

our cities will become unbearable to

live in

we want cities where we can walk

we want cities where kids can bike we

want cities

where we have public transportation lots

of it and public transport that’s clean

and dignified in conclusion i want to

leave you

with three things walk

there is no great city that you don’t

enjoy walking in

you don’t go there the places you go on

vacation are the places

you want to walk whether it’s avinu the

champs-elysees in paris

or la ramblas in barcelona the places

you want to vacation in are the places

you can walk

why not make it everywhere and what is a

walkable city

walkable city has been defined as a city

where there is a proper reason to walk

the walk has to be safe and it has to

feel safe

whether it’s for women or children or

seniors

the walk has to be comfortable and it’s

interesting

because of air quality we found out over

the pandemic that the air quality index

across all of our cities improved

remarkably why don’t we just stop

polluting

why not use our feet and our bikes more

and that way the way we move can keep us

healthier as well

we want public transportation clean and

dignified

public transportation for the longer

distances and until

uh we reach this place please use fully

electric

battery operated electric vehicles there

are no tailpipe emissions or direct

emissions

this means that there’s no smoke there’s

no unburned carbon or soot there are no

carbon oxides and sulfur oxides and

nitrous oxides and no particulate matter

that come out of the vehicle while it’s

being driven

so three steps that you need to do to

transform transport

and overhaul our cities starting today

while you are in cities for anything

less than five kilometers

bike or walk for anything that’s between

five and ten kilometers

use electric transport and for anything

more than

10 kilometers choose public transport

always and make our cities more livable

for anything less than five kilometers

walk or bike as often as you can

and convince as many people as you can

this will not just keep you healthy

but it will reduce the congestion for

essential services

like ambulances it will also give those

people with limited mobility like

seniors or people

who are differently abled more space on

the roads

for anything between 5 and 10 kilometers

choose electric

always over ice transport for as

many city travel points as you can for

anywhere you need to go between five and

ten kilometers use electric transport

there are many

mobility providers right now who give

you

electric true wheelers on rent choose

them

and talk to your fleet operators talk to

your delivery companies

ask them to shift to electric

and for anything that’s more than 10

kilometers use

public transport as often as you can

metros in the indian cities are already

clean and dignified they’re

air-conditioned they’re comfortable our

air-conditioned buses are comfortable

there is still a ways to go for last

mile connectivity

and i will agree there is still a ways

to go for this but

if there is more and more utilization of

public transport

then more and more options will

definitely come up for last mile

connectivity

so in conclusion if i got to summarize i

would say

for livable cities bike or walk

for anything less than five kilometers

use electric transport for anything less

than 10 kilometers

and always try to choose public

transport for anything more than 10

kilometers

and make your city a city where someone

else would want to vacation in

thank you

[Applause]