Promote non-motorised transport to prevent COVID-19 spread on public transport: HUA
In an advisory to states and metro rail companies, the ministry suggested a "three-pronged strategy" for public transport - with short (six months), medium (one year) and long-term (one to three years) measures.
It emphasised that public transport should be restarted with "greater confidence of commuters".
The advisory issued by HUA Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra underlined that non-motorised transport should be encouraged and revived.
"As most of the urban trips are clocked in under five kilometres, non-motorised transport (NMT) offers perfect opportunity to implement in this COVID-19 crisis as it requires low cost, less human resource, is easy and quick to implement, scalable and environment-friendly," it said.
The ministry said it is imperative at this stage that transmission of infection through usage of public transport should be curbed by adopting the right "sanitisation, containment and social distancing measures".
"Touch less system like BHIM, PhonePe, Google Pay, PayTM and National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) will reduce human interaction in operations of public transit systems," the advisory said.
The advisory also citied instances of world cities promoting non-motorised transport in view of the COVID-19 crisis.
New York has added 40 miles of new NMT lanes to support cyclists, while Oakland has closed 10 per cent of its streets for motor vehicles. Bogotá in Colombia has added 76 kilometres of cycling lane overnight.
The ministry said India has a robust 700 kms of operational metro rail in 18 major cities and a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network of about 450 kms operational in 11 cities carrying 10 million passengers daily.
"But due to the social distancing norms being practiced, their capacities would be utilised at 25 to 50 per cent of pre-coronavirus levels.
"Such dramatic and dynamic changes in demand and supply will require complementing these public transport systems with alternative modes of transit," it added.
BUN SRY