Guwahati, July 20: Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, IIM Kashipur, and National University of Singapore have developed a framework that can integrate private transportation services such as autorickshaws, minibuses, and vans into mainstream urban transport. The developed framework focuses on regulating these private transportation systems while addressing existing problems such as road congestion and environmental pollution.
Findings of this study have been published in the prestigious Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice journal, in a paper co-authored by Dr. Atanu Bhuyan, Assistant Professor, School of Business, IIT Guwahati, in collaboration with Dr. Abhishek Srivastava and Dr. Vivek Roy from IIM Kashipur, and Dr. Prateek Bansal from National University of Singapore.
In developing countries like India, rapid urbanisation and high population density put intense pressure on public transport systems which leads to usage of informal transport system. These informal transport systems often provide last-mile and flexible connectivity that many public transport services fail to provide.
While these informal transport services are used extensively, there are few regulations governing them. This results in inconsistencies in service delivery and safety concerns. Usage of private vehicles for unauthorised commercial purposes, road congestion, and inefficient use of public transport infrastructure are other challenges associated with it.
To address these challenges, the multi-institutional research team has developed a game-theoretic model, a mathematical framework, to capture and study the behaviour of multiple stakeholders and decision-makers. The four interacting stakeholders studied in this analysis included:
·the government
·an informal transport aggregator
·a ride-hailing platform
·commuters
Explaining the research, Dr. Atanu Bhuyan, Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati, said,
"Our framework compares three policy measures—charging private vehicles for driving in congested regions, providing financial assistance to operators of informal transport, and providing subsidies to informal transport users. We also included commuters' perception of service quality to see how policies can affect travel choices."
Key findings of the research include:
·Intervention from the government to improve service quality can improve informal transport systems’ usage.
·Subsidies for informal transport can encourage commuters to shift from private vehicles to informal/public transport.
·Congestion pricing combined with targeted subsidies can improve urban mobility by promoting a shift from private vehicles to informal transport.
·The success of these policy interventions depends on service quality and reducing the inconvenience experienced by commuters while using informal transport.
Based on these findings, the research team concluded that rather than relying individually on subsidies or congestion pricing, a combination of both approaches can help influence commuter behaviour and improve welfare.
These research findings are particularly useful for government agencies, and urban transport planners. It provides them with a scientific tool to evaluate and design policies that can help regulate and integrate informal transport systems into urban mobility networks.
