Report of Working Group on Road Transport

For the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17)

Summary Highlights and Recommendations of Report of the Sub Group on Passenger & Freight Traffic Assessment and Adequacy of Fleet & Data Collection and Use of IT in Transport Sector under the Working Group Year Plan (2012-2017)

Road Transport is vital to the economic development and social integration of the country. Easy accessibility, flexibility of operations, door-to-door service and reliability have earned road transport an increasingly higher share of both passenger and freight traffic vis--vis other transport modes. Road transport has emerged as the dominant segment in Indias transportation sector with a share of 4.7% in Indias GDP in comparison to railways that has a mere 1% share in 2009-10. Road transport has gained in importance over the years despite significant barriers to inter-State freight and passenger movement compared to inland waterways, railways and air which do not face rigorous en route checks/barriers. Both freight and passenger movement by road is expected to rapidly expand in the coming years. In particular, freight movement by road transport is expected to show robust growth over the medium term due to a number of factors (a) substantial investment in improvement in national highway network which will facilitate speedy, reliable and door to door services; (b) freight movement by road transport offers a complete logistic solution that minimizes the cost of transport, logistics and inventories; and (c) rising volumes of exports and imports. More importantly, the growth in exports is expected to increase the demand for inland transport for moving cargo from production centres in the gateway ports both air and sea. These developments imply that a higher growth in road freight transport sector during the Twelfth Plan would be required to sustain a given targeted growth in the overall GDP. Despite good performance of the road transport sector, it is beset with slow technological development, low energy efficiency, pollution and slow movement of freight and passenger traffic. The step-up in freight and passenger road traffic during the Twelfth Plan in consonance with alternate growth paths provides an opportunity for technological upgradation, capacity augmentation and replacement of over aged rolling stock. The volume of freight and passenger movement by road during the Twelfth Five Year Plan has been projected as under: Table: Projected Road Freight and Passenger Traffic Years of BTKM BPKM 12th S I (BAU) S II S III S IV SV SA SB Plan (BAU) 2012-13 1,315 1,337 1,351 1,366 1,381 8,150 8,483 2013-14 1,429 1,465 1,489 1,513 1,538 8,868 9,111 2014-15 1,553 1,605 1,641 1,677 1,714 9,648 9,762 2015-16 1,688 1,760 1,808 1,858 1,909 10,497 10,438 2016-17 1,835 1,928 1,993 2,059 2,126 11,421 11,140 BAU: Business as Usual; S-Scenario; SI-freight traffic assumed to grow at 8.7% per annum in line with the past trend; SII-GDP growth 8% per annum and elasticity 1.2; SIII-GDP growth 8.5% per annum and elasticity 1.2; SIV-GDP growth 9% per annum and elasticity 1.2; SV GDP growth 9.5% per annum and elasticity 1.2; SA-passenger traffic assumed to grow at 8.8% per annum; SB-BPKM derived through regression analysis as a function of population growth, urbanization and per capita income The Sub-Group is of the view that in a liberalized economic environment marked by the absence of investment/capacity licensing, no quantitative restrictions on imports except on the grounds of environment, safety and national security and low and falling customs tariffs; users would have (both bus and freight operators by road) to choose between imports and domestically produced motorized vehicles to meet projected freight and passenger traffic demand. Under these circumstances, the Sub-Group felt that it would not be proper to recommend creation of domestic capacities to meet the additional freight and passenger traffic 3

requirements. However, a detailed exercise has been undertaken to estimate the additional buses/freight carriers to haul the passengers/goods by road transport keeping in view of the alternative growth scenarios. Data Issues in Road Transport The motor transport statistics cover the details regarding total registered motor vehicles across States/UTs in terms of vehicle classification; public and private ownership of buses; road accidents; motor vehicle taxation and fare structure; revenue realized from vehicle taxes, fees, etc. The Constitution of India has put road transport under List-II of Seventh Schedule, thereby placing road transport primarily in the domain of State administration. The availability of relevant data or relative absence of it essentially depends on the efforts of States. Major Gaps in Road Transport Statistics in India Indian system of transport statistics is marked by: Decentralized generation of data Multiplicity of agencies and time lag No data on movement of people, goods and vehicles. Hence lack of data on volume and geographical flow of traffic Passenger and freight flows measured in a variety of ways Vehicle Km of travel (passenger and freight) Passenger Km : (Distance traveled x No. of passengers carried) Freight flows: Tonne Km (movement of tonnes of cargo over Kms) No Price Index to measure changes over time in actual prices paid by the users. Data on vehicle population in terms of registration rather than vehicles in use. Vehicle weights impact condition and longevity of infrastructure. No information on vehicle weights. Lack of data on other dimensions make it difficult to assess current capacities and plan expansion

Currently, the database on road transport is restricted to number of registered motor vehicles category-wise as required by the Motor Vehicle Act. There is a complete lack of regular and reliable data on freight movement, passenger movement on private buses, trucking industry, transaction costs involved in inter-state movement of goods and passengers, etc. To overcome these data gaps, the Sub-Group recommends detailed surveys to be carried out by NSSO which could be supplemented by professional organizations and Directorate of Economics and Statistics at the State level in the interim period as data on freight commodity flows origin/destination under the Carriage by Road Act, 2007 will take sometime to get streamlined/organised. Also computerized and electronic transfer of data needs to be accorded priority. Quinquennial (at five yearly intervals) could cover following dimensions: Freight movement by Road Transport: origin, destination, size, type of freight and its movement by type of vehicle and age. Passenger movement by Road Transport: Passenger movement and related parameters by private bus operators need to be captured. Commuter Surveys: Commuter surveys covering time and money spent on travel by road in major metros which is vital for urban planning. 4

Trucking Industry: For evaluation of trucking operations and policy formulation, acquisition cost of vehicle, operating cost, financing, vehicle technology, vintage, turnaround time, utilization (distance covered in a month/year) time and resources spent on detention of vehicles at check posts/barriers need to be covered in the survey of domestic trucking fleet Time Motion Surveys: These could be undertaken to assess time spent on various activities related to document compliance/clearances at barriers to ascertain transaction costs faced by road freight/passenger industry. Motor Vehicle Statistics: Motor Vehicle Act provides for maintenance of State registers of motor vehicles. ICT based vehicle registration Vahan launched in July, 2011 will now enable the RTOs to process vehicle registration, fitness, motor vehicle taxes, permits and enforcement on line and get data/information computerized for storage, retrieval and investigation/analysis. In most of the countries, the data on vehicles is in terms of vehicles in use. With a view to capture the number of motorized vehicles in use, it would be desirable for State Transport Authorities to collect information on motor vehicles in terms of tax paying and non-tax paying vehicles as well. Use of Information Technology (IT) in Road Transport Sector Approaches to the Application of ITS The application of IT to surface transportation is called Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). ITS provides that ability to gather, organize, analyze, use, and share information about transportation systems. In the modern world, this ability is crucial to the effective and economical construction and operation of transportation systems and to their efficient use. ITS can be used in conceiving, planning, and building new parts of the transport system. ITS is being incorporated by manufacturers in intelligent equipment that can be installed as part of the transportation infrastructure to gather and disseminate traveler information, control traffic signals and variable message signs, electronically collect tolls, and help manage the system ITS provides vital support in operating transportation systems, including traffic management, pavement monitoring, oversight of system maintenance, and more effectively and reliably managing public transport ITS can store and evaluate archived data e.g. vehicle registration number, vehicle information about the transportation system that is useful to planners who are evaluating transportation system improvements or to others evaluating safety aspects of the roadway ITS also provides a wide array of in-vehicle technology to improve the safety, productivity, and comfort of road travel. In addition, a new direction for ITS in developed countries is worth watching. This is a new focus on using wireless communications to help vehicles and the infrastructure cooperate with each other to enhance safety and the ability to manage the infrastructure well. Developed countries went through a significant period of trial and error to get things right in ITS. The introduction of ITS can be significantly easier for countries that are starting to introduce ITS now because of the following factors: ITS equipment and systems are now cheaper and more refined than in the past. Partly this results from the general decrease in the cost of information technology (IT). It also 5

results from a more developed market and more experience in building ITS products and services. Communications technologies like cellular phones and the internet are spreading rapidly independent of ITS. Their existence allows many kinds of ITS applications to be introduced without the need for significant investment in separate communications infrastructure. Developing countries are able to install ITS infrastructure at the same time that physical infrastructure is being built. This allows for far cheaper deployment than introducing ITS subsequently. Experiences in developed countries can serve as the basis for successful ITS deployment in developing countries. This makes it easier to assess expectations realistically, both in terms of benefits and costs. The early adopters experience also makes it easier to identify the ITS services that are particularly beneficial to developing economics. ITS can be divided into nine subject fields: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) Traveler Information: Services to support traveler decision-making before and during a trip: which travel mode to use, starting time, specific route, etc., Traffic Management: Management of traffic flow on roads; Demand Management: Services to reduce traffic demand on roads and congestion in city centres by charging for road use and promoting use of other travel modes Road Management: Physical maintenance of roads and pavements, including repairs, snow clearance, etc. Advanced Driving Assistance: Automated systems to improve the performance of the vehicle and the driver to making driving safer Electronic Financial Transactions: Services to allow automatic electronic payment of tolls and fees, primarily on roads and bridges, but also to enter restricted city areas and sometimes to pay for parking charges, driver-through meals, etc. Commercial Vehicle Management: Services to support fleet and freight management, including fleet management and automatic safety and credential checking at borders Public Transport Management: Services to improve the convenience and performance of public transport, such as schedule management and common fare payment. Incident and Hazard Response: Services to respond to accidents and other emergencies such as dispatch of ambulances, fire trucks, etc.

Introduction and deployment of ITS can be done selectively, step by step, as resources permit. The reasons for introducing ITS can be grouped into three categories: (I) Efficiency with a view to enhancing mobility for both people and freight; Reducing traffic congestion and; managing the transportation infrastructure more effectively and economically;(II) Safety with a view to reducing the number and severity of crashes, to lower the number of traffic-relating deaths and injuries and; (III) Environment with a view to reducing the environmental impact of cars, trucks, and buses, by reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Countries which led the introduction of ITS-Europe, the U.S., and Japan use approaches that have many features in common. Europe: In Europe ITS is playing an importance role in lowering barriers for the movement of people and freight throughout Europe. ITS is regarded both as a transportation tool and as part of Europes Information Society. Europe has been able to introduce transport control technology to advance social goals. This includes using technology to limit the speed at which trucks can travel and Intelligent speed adaptation which advises vehicles of safe speed limits 6

and has the capability to limit driving speed. Europe is taking a very aggressive approach to traffic safety, with the objective to halve the number of traffic fatalities by 2010 and aim for zero traffic fatalities by 2020. An EC directive called Eurovignette prescribed moving toward a road-charging system, starting with heavy trucks, based on vehicle weight, distance traveled, and other criteria. This has been experimentally introduced in some countries. USA: ITS has been an important part of major highway transportation laws. These laws set government directions and provide funding for transportation programs. They include the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA, 1991) and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21 Century (TEA-21, 1998). The most important new program in the U.S. is called Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration. The objective of this program is to create an integrated, intercommunicating surface transportation system. The system relies on wireless communications, primarily DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication) to link the infrastructure and ITS managers with vehicles and their drivers. It will gather and share information about the transportation system to help improve the performance of the infrastructure, vehicles, and drivers. This effort currently includes U.S. Department of Transport (DOT), State transportation departments, and auto manufacturers. Another programme that is becoming wide-spread in the U.S. is called 511-The digits 511 have been reserved as a nationwide telephone number for obtaining traveler information. Several states are already providing 511 services, consisting of current traffic information, weather and road conditions, and public transport information. U.S. DOT is encouraging and helping to fund the national 511 deployment. ITS offers the prospect of far more flexible ways of charging for infrastructure use (e.g., based on time of day, level of congestion, required level of service, demand, etc.) Japan: The most prominent ITS programs in Japan are the widespread adoption of car navigation systems and the nationwide deployment of the Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS), which provides real-time traffic information to vehicles. Japans complex and congested road system has made these technologies particularly attractive to the driving public. Developed countries have introduced basic systems to manage road traffic. These include traffic signal systems, traffic surveillance systems using CCTV, and traveler information systems based on variable message signs (VMS). As expected, systems that provide a high rate of return on investment have the greatest likelihood of being introduced. These include electronic toll collection and fare payment systems, commercial vehicle tracking systems, and bus management systems. Public Transport and Cargo Monitoring System: Public transport is an important part of the transportation system in many countries. For example, antennas and onboard could be installed on buses on certain routes. Location information acquired by GPS is transmitted by GSM to the operating centre. The data is processed by a standard PC, which sends arrival time forecasts to users. This system also helps promptly detect bus problems. Real-time information on vehicle location and status enables the operator to identify schedule deviations and to reschedule dynamically. This system is being used by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. This case illustrates two important points: (i) People find it valuable to be informed of expected arrival times through bus location systems. This system would not necessarily improve the 7

average waiting time, but it improves the credibility and accountability of the public transport operations; and (ii) The system takes advantage of the existing IT infrastructure, such as GPS and GSM, to introduce ITS solutions economically. Similar systems could be deployed for commercial fleet management. Fleet management requires tracking vehicles and cargo. These services use Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and vehicle-to-control-center communications to provide vehicle location and other status information to fleet operators. These services also make good use of dynamic dispatching systems to improve the efficiency of the fleet management process. The system may also support logistics and freight management. Besides, ITS can be used in public-private partnerships mode to cover, for example: Road asset management and maintenance through public sector concessions to private companies Cooperative efforts to gather, assemble, and distribute traveler information Private Sector participation in the administration and execution of road pricing. Public encouragement of the freight hauling industry in countries where the industry is not well developed

Application of IT in Road Transport Sector in India

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways with the help of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is implementing a project for creation of National Registers and State Registers of Driving Licenses and Registration Certificates of motor vehicles. The project involves computerization of Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) / State Transport Authorities (STAs) and subsequently links them to the National and State Registers. Under the New National Permit System (NNPS), composite fee are being collected through an e-payment system with the help of software developed by the NIC. Once the system is fully integrated with leading banks, States would be advised to collect composite fee on National Permits through e-payment which would help Sates in checking revenue leakages and lessen the time at border check posts to cross-check validity of payment of taxes, thus, paving the way for seamless movement of inter-state traffic. Electronic Monitoring, Management and Regulation of Vehicles and Drivers Licenses VAHAN ICT Based Vehicle Registration: Vahan is a highly flexible and comprehensive system that takes care of all the burdensome vehicle registration. Vahan is a 3 tier, platform and database independent software, which is customized to cater to the needs of individual States. The software enables the processes at RTOs vis--vis vehicle registration, fitness, taxes, permits and enforcement to get computerized. Vahan is conceptualized to capture the functionalities as mandated by Central Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 as well as State motor vehicle Rules. Customization is done in the core product to suit the requirements of States/UTs. The product has been successfully customized and implemented for the 33 States and Union Territories in the country. This will automate all vehicle registration related activities in transport authorities of country with introduction of smart card technology to handle issue like inter-state transport vehicle movement and to create state and national level registers of vehicles information. SARATHI Licensing Solutions for RTOs: SARATHI is a computer based solution that helps RTOs to issue the Learning License, Driving License, and Conductor License to the citizens 8

and the License for the Driving School Establishment. It is designed to process the citizen requests using the work flow based processing. Established with the authority of RTOs, the package can be customized to the various changing needs of RTOs in India. National Register: National Register has been created from the State registers under National Transport Project to act as a central repository of all crucial data/information. The State Registers of all states are compiled into one and integrated as the National Register for DL & RC. Several types of Any where & Any time citizen Centric Services are opened up for public for day to day transactions on DL & RC with the RTO & DTO. In addition to the above, National Register will provide Information to Ministry of Road Transport & highways, RTO, inter-state check post, police department and other G1G, G1C and G1B services. Its mission is to provide centralized repository for Driving Licenses & Registration certificates. Electronic payments for toll collection Electronic payments, a popular mode of toll collection worldwide, process financial transactions without human intervention at toll plazas. Electronic Payments may be achieved with: (a) Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) using On Board Units (OBU)/Tags; and (b) Smart Cards. The Committee to examine to examine Electronic Toll Collection (CETC) under Prof Nandan Nilekani has recommended that the appropriate ETC technology would be passive RFID conforming to ISO 18000-6C, which uses Tags that can be stuck on the windscreen of the vehicles (and can even be provided at the time of manufacture by regulation). The Tags will have the unique identification of the vehicle and all tolling transaction and settlement can be accomplished by the reader, the software client and a CTCH. Presently in toll plazas toll operations are primarily manual, where the receipt and collection of money is done manually and the receipts are issued with the help of computers. The cash collection method forces road users to stop and pay at the toll plazas, resulting in long queues. Road Accident Data Management System (RADMS) is a comprehensive traffic-management system launched by the Government of Tamil Nadu, which helps to study and analyze road accidents in a systematic and scientific way. The three stake holder Departments are Police, Highways and Transport have access to use the data for analyses and follow up actions in order to reduce accidents. RADMS is being used for: a) for making appropriate data entry relating to accidents; b) for verification of data; c) to ensure quality of data and; d) to analyze the data various purpose of planning in the interest of public. All user departments like Police, Transport and Highways feed the data relating to road accidents in the RADMS. Various components included in the RADMS are as follows: a) b) c) d) e) Creating of GIS data base Web based access and data flow Seamless report generation and plotting results on maps Black Spots identification and analysis for effective of Police and Transport Departments Analysis of safety scenario of the State by top management and policy makers of the above so far creation of GIS data base above is in progress.

Under RADMS, number of fields for data entry available to the user departments are: i) Transport Department 23; ii) Highways Department 14; iii) Police Department 68 9

Summary Highlights and Recommendations of Report of the Sub Group on Policy Issues under the Working Group Year Plan (2012-2017)

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Overview of Road Transport Sector Easy accessibility, flexibility of operations, door-to-door service and reliability have earned road transport an increasingly higher share of both passenger and freight traffic vis--vis other transport modes. Road transport has emerged as the dominant segment in Indias transportation sector with a share of 4.7% in Indias GDP in comparison to railways that has a mere 1.0 % share of GDP in 2008-09 as per the revised data on National Accounts released by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO).

Barriers to Road Transport

A typical truck operator has to face a number of different agencies for either obtaining clearances for carrying goods or paying certain charges at the check post. These agencies include (i) Sales Tax, (ii) Regional Transport Officer (RTO), (iii) Excise, (iv) Forest, (v) Regulated Market Committee, (vi) Civil Supplies (check on the movement of essential commodities, black marketing, weights and measures, food adulteration) and (vii) Geology and Mining. These checks are generally conducted by respective agencies at separate points, resulting in more than one detention. Detention of vehicles causes lower speed, loss of time, high fuel consumption and idling of vehicles, leading to under-utilization of transport capacity and adversely affecting their operational viability. Besides, it imposes economy wide costs which are not easy to assess. By introducing checks at each interstate border the road freight transport experiences significant inequity compared to the freight/cargo transport by the railways, aviation and even inland transport, which do not face such rigorous en route checking. The system in vogue hinders rather than facilitates smooth flow of freight and passenger movement across the country and has thwarted the formation of single common market. Further road transport sector is subject to myriad levies/taxes (both Central and State) with no provision of set-offs in many taxes/levies leading to cost and price escalation which erodes competitiveness of domestic manufactures. Taxes and non-tax charges on road transport sector can be broadly classified into the following categories: (i) taxes on the vehicle purchase, (ii) taxes on operation of motor vehicles, fuel taxes, motor parts, tyres and tubes, etc., (iii) Sales tax/VAT levied by the States, (iv) Registration and Transfer fees, license/permit fees, (v) periodical vehicle tax (also called road tax), (vi) tolls, (vii) parking fees, (viii) Octroi, (ix) Entry tax, (xi) Lease tax, and (xii) passenger and goods tax. Essentially the checks made at border posts aim to ensure that: Taxes in the State of destination paid on the goods being carried Trucks not overloaded Trucks being operated safely Trucks carrying valid papers. Suggested Measures to Overcome Barriers in flow of Road Freight Movement a) Integrate Tax administration with inter-state road freight and passenger movement through online communication network system at National, Regional and Local level. This will help move towards border less and paper less movement of freight traffic across borders aided by IT in a time bound manner. This will greatly reduce transaction cost and logistics cost of domestic trade. 11

b) c)

d)

e)

f) g) h)

Presently checking/verification work is being done manually at check posts. However, electronic surveillance and computerization present vast opportunities for outsourcing. Adopt concept of Green Channel. Currently, Green Channel is being implemented in Gujarat and needs to be replicated. Freight with single destination accounts for a large proportion of consignment and is likely to go up with containerization. Such cargo by road could be accorded Green Channel treatment provided papers are prepared in advance and sent to the check post. Initially high value freight and sensitive commodities could be covered under Green Channel. Implementation of this proposal will also need some modifications to existing truck fleet, which can be locked/sealed and certified for the journey to their destination; introduction of smart cards for vehicle registered (Vahan) and driving license(Sarathi) will be a pre requisite. Similarly development of national Registers for Vehicles and the traders, who are frequent users of Check Posts, will also be required. Adopt Single Window Clearance System for all authorized charges/clearances both at origin and at Check Posts. Most of the States are collecting various taxes at border check posts. Owing to non-integration of various offices (Motor Vehicles, Excise and Taxation, Forests, Sales Tax, etc.) dealing with taxes/checking of goods in many States, goods vehicles are detained at several places en route. In addition, manual processing of tax papers at inter-state checkposts, lead to delays and hampers smooth traffic flow. Single window integrated border check posts would help in drastic reduction of waiting time and smooth flow of traffic at State borders. Need to emulate innovative approach of State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat towards automation and computerization of the Inter State Check Posts (ICPs). In case of Gujarat this has enabled 100% checking of vehicles and more than 4 fold increase in revenue collection from Rs. 56 crore to Rs. 237 crore within three years of introduction. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh through common software has ushered in a Single Window Checking Facility covering 8 major departments at 5 ICP on NHs bordering adjoining States. This will result in faster delivery time, fewer opportunities for rent seeking and predictable revenue cash flows. Freight agents and brokers are important actors in the trucking industry. They have now been brought under the purview of legislation carriage by Road Act, 2007. This provides for registration/accreditation of brokers and freight agents. Abolish requirement of a transit pass The question about erection of check barriers was considered by the Transport Development Council at its meeting in August 1980. The Council had emphasized that all efforts should be made by the States to unify check barriers along the National Highways having single combined ones at inter-state boundaries and that they should be proper design with separate lay so as not to hinder movement of the through traffic.

Taxation a) b) c) Replace various road transport related taxes/levies (road tax, goods tax, passenger tax) etc by a single composite tax. This will both reduce collection cost and compliance cost of vehicle owners/operators. Phase out Central Sales Tax Provide tax credit for the inter-state movement of goods under State VAT.

Motor Vehicles Act a) Amend the Motor Vehicle Act, removing penalty payment clause and retaining only removal excess load from the trucks. 12

b) c) d)

Install WIM (Weigh-in-Motion) to identify violators. The colour of truck number plate of interstate vehicles should be different from the intra state vehicles. This will help segregate goods vehicle and reduce the intermediate checking of inter-State freight movement. For enhancing inter-State road transport efficiency following amendments to existing MV Act are suggested. 1 Punishment to common carrier found responsible for overloading. 2. Deletion of Section 194 from the recitation of Section 200 for discontinuation of compounding vehicles. 3. Repealing Section 158 of MVA for limiting police powers for checking vehicle documents without the preliminary requirement of commission of any offence.

Over Dimensional Cargo Over dimensional (OD) cargo is defined in terms of weight and dimension. In dimension terms, anything above 40 feet length, with 8.25 feet height, and 8.25 feet width would be considered OD cargo. Government regulation usually permits 11 tonnes per axle. Practically, anything above 35 tonnes is considered OD cargo. There is an urgent need to have clear, wellset guidelines for heavy haulage by road. There are no clear norms or time-lines to get the necessary approval and permissions. These clearances take time and often add to cost overruns and delays in infrastructure projects. Clearances from multiple agencies such as the Public Works Department, the National Highways Authority of India for using roads and bridges; the State Electricity Boards for overhead wires; and the Railway Board for railway bridges is cumbersome and time consuming. Lack of standardized rules across the States makes this difficult. Internationally, there are defined routes for transportation of OD cargo. Australia which is a federal country like India has envisaged a National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) which would be responsible for all vehicles over 4.5 gross tones. This is being done to ensure consistency in heavy vehicle regulation and would involve less procedural hassles. Automate and use of Information Technology for cross border road freight transport management Activities at borders involve checking parameters related to vehicle, driver and cargo. Origin, destination, value, weight, tax paid and type of cargo is checked which either lead to compliance or violations related to weight and taxation. Non-compliance leads to payments of penalties and detentions, both of which require safe parking for both, short and long term. Issuance of tickets for complying as well as non-complying vehicles is also an activity. Also checked at the border are compliance related to vehicle and its driver including various certificates and licenses. All of these activities above can be classified into following broad categories: (a) Weight check; (b) Commodity Documentation Check (c) Payments (penalties and fees) (d) Issuance of tickets/certificates and (e) Parking management (for waiting and detained vehicles) is given in table. It needs to be kept in view that IT also makes it possible to spatially segregate many of the activities from the exact border locations. e.g., a) Weigh-in-motion (along with Automatic Vehicles Identification which can be remotely communicated to the Border Check-Posts. b) Commodity certification for unitized cargo (in a manner similar to dry-ports) and communication of the same at check post enabling early preparation for inspection and regulation. c) Attempts at moving clearance centres away from the border with inland inspection, in a manner similar to dry ports in case of export cargo. 13

Table: Automation Requirement of Activities at Border Check Posts Type of Activity Automation Requirement Probable Technology Weight check Automatic weighment and vehicle Weigh-in-motion, license plate identification, electronic data readers interchange Commodity documentation Electronic credentials, electronic Electronic manifest, smart card check preprocessing, electronic data (with or without biometric interchange identification/thumb print), transponders Commodity check Electronic screening Vehicle X-ray, electronic sealing Payments (penalties and fees) Electronic/cashless payments Smart card, debit card Issuance of tickets/certificates Electronic credentials, electronic Electronic manifest preprocessing, electronic data interchange Parking management (for Queue end parking lot management Queue end detection waiting and detained vehicles

Motor Vehicle Taxation

MVT is being levied in all States and UTs except the UT of Lakshadweep. Existing tax structure for commercial vehicles shows wide variations among States. There are different bases for computation and different rates, leading to differing incidence of taxes per vehicle in different States. In fact, it is not easy to make comparisons of rates levied on different types of vehicles in different States. Inter-State comparisons are difficult for the following reasons: a) different classification principles for the taxation of vehicles in different States; b) variations in the application of lifetime and annual tax rates to vehicle categories; c) use of specific and ad valorem rates; and d) multiplicity of rates. To evolve the common tax rate strategy, two key approaches may be suggested on following lines: Light Motor Vehicles (LMV) and two wheelers: It is suggested that: a) b) Floor rate of these vehicles be pegged at 6% in all the States and Union Territories; It would be desirable to move towards ad valorem taxation for non-commercial two wheelers, motor cars and jeeps from the point of view of administrative convenience and revenue buoyancy. The reasoning is that to have buoyancy in the tax system, it would be useful to resort to a tax system which is based on the cost of vehicles. Tax is levied on the basis of sale price of the vehicle eliminating all other bases linking it directly to the VAT. Further it is progressive in incidence; Tax be collected as lump-sum tax for life time on the Sales on the basis mentioned above; To facilitate free movement across States of personalized vehicles which are on lifetime tax, those which have paid taxes in one State could be treated as tax exempt by others. A vehicle moving to other state after a period of two years of registration may be exempted from tax in the new state obviating requirement of refund and subsequent payment of tax in the new state.

c) d)

Transport Vehicles The scheme of national permit has been introduced to facilitate seamless movement of goods vehicles. However, basic motor vehicle taxes on transport vehicles vary. In such a scenario a State which has comparatively higher rate of tax, tends to lose the tax revenue whereas its share of national permit is fixed. Similarly, the reciprocal arrangement between two states becomes 14

skewed when the basic tax rates between neighboring States differ considerably. Therefore it is suggested that: a) b) c) d) Tax rate of all goods transport vehicles be brought to a floor rate; Basis of tax may be capacity of the vehicle; Tax is levied on an annual basis whereas the facility of payments may be given on quarterly basis. In case of passenger vehicles like national permit holder tourist buses and taxies, a similar approach can be adopted to facilitate growth and free movement of transport vehicles in the country. For this purpose, a meeting of State Finance Ministers/Transport Ministers may be convened and appropriate decision be taken as was done in case of Value Added Tax. Vehicle taxation is road damage related, but levied on the basis of gross vehicle weight rather than on potential axle loads, resulting in under-taxation of 2-axle trucks compared to multi-axle vehicles (MAVs). Since the former is a major source of revenue to States, there is need for its rationalization, to ensure that the tax burden is distributed fairly among different types of vehicles according to PCUs (Passenger Car Units) as well as the road damage caused by each type of vehicle, according to the equivalent standard axle (ESL). Motor vehicle taxes could be used to encourage the plying of MAVs.

e)

Modernization of Road Transport System

Introduce electronic toll collection (ETC) system: Presently ETC is used at few toll plazas on National Highways. Implementing ETC can improve throughput at toll centres by as much as 3 to 4 times over manual toll collection systems. ETC significantly reduces waiting times and consequently reduces fuel requirements. Besides, toll operators benefit from lower personnel requirements and reduced leakages. Improving Fuel Efficiency of Vehicles Introducing fuel efficiency norms for automobiles is another approach to address the twin problems of energy security and increasing emissions from transport. To this end, following measures are suggested: a) b) c) Label individual vehicles on a kilometre per litre (kmpl) basis to enable consumers to make a rational choice. This could be accompanied by either a star rating or a mention of the worst and best fuel efficiencies in that vehicle class. Begin with labeling that is based on a continuous function of weight and fuel efficiency. Define a minimum efficiency standard for the countrys vehicle fleet.

Fleet Modernization Some options to modernize the vehicle fleet in the country by replacing older vehicles with newer ones (with better technology and lower emissions) need serious consideration. These include incentives to owners of commercial vehicles older than 15 years to modernize their fleet, encourage owners of private vehicles older than 15 years to replace their vehicles through a suitable tax regime, a vehicle recycling policy and drastic improvement in the inspection and certification regime.

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Encourage use of multi axle vehicles (MAV) MAV (gross tonnage including weight of truck of over 16.2 tons) are cheaper to operate compared to smaller trucks i.e. medium commercial vehicles and light commercial vehicles, by over 25%. In fact, cost per ton Km for 25 ton truck and 30 ton truck is estimated at 85% and 75% respectively relative to a 16 ton truck (Building India: Transforming the Nations Logistics Infrastructure, Mckinsey & Company, 2010).The incremental cost of a MAV can be recovered in less than three years. Measures to promote the use of MAVs could be considered including excise duty reductions for MAVs similar to small and fuel efficient cars, stringent monitoring of overloaded trucks and enforcing pollution and safety norms, which could lead to retirement of old trucks. Truck Terminals At present, there are few truck terminals in cities whereas Government should create truck terminals in almost all A, B and C class cities and towns. We suggest that in A class cities there should be four truck terminals in East, West, North and South, two in B class cities and one in C class cities and towns. These truck terminals will ease the traffic congestion in the city and decrease pollution, facilitate emergence of hub spoke system for distribution of goods and greatly improve the turnaround time of goods carriages. On these truck terminals there will be medical facilities, rest room, restaurant and equipment handling facilities. It is suggested that while planning SEZ or SER or Industrial Park at least 10% of the area should be embarked for logistics and warehousing to support industrial activities efficiently. Vehicle Safety Standards, Inspection & Certification A phased approach would be necessary to inspect all vehicles on safety and emissions performance. Significant investments, improvements in regulatory and management practices, increased capacity and capability would be prerequisites for the effectiveness for such a regime. Hence, a phased approach has been suggested for ensuring effective implementation of inspection and maintenance program. Thus, the following phasing is suggested: a) b) c) d) e) In the first phase, cities with significant transport vehicles(Metros) should introduce a modern Inspection and Certification regime In these cities, a modern inspection regime should be first introduced for commercial vehicles, and then subsequently to private vehicles. Within private vehicles, older vehicles (more than 9 years old) should be included in the regime earlier. And then it must be extended to newer fleet (3-9 year old) Both emissions and safety tests should be introduced simultaneously for commercial vehicles. For cities where the regime would be introduced later or for vehicle categories that are not being covered at the first instance, the current PUC and fitness testing regime should continue. Here the existing PUC regime should be strengthened by improving the efficacy of the tests carried out with improved instrumentation and test methodologies and a more effective auditing system.

While it would be ideal to have a large number of testing centers spread all over a city that could cater to the entire vehicle fleet so that vehicle owners are not inconvenienced, cost and investment considerations may make such an extended system unviable. The frequency of these tests should be based on the tradeoff between the cost implications for setting up the infrastructure for testing as also convenience to vehicle users. Initially, the focus should be on 16

testing of commercial vehicles only. With gradual capacity building and increased number of integrated safety and emissions testing centers, the frequency and tests can then be extended to private vehicles and other category of vehicles including 2 wheelers. Considering the growth of vehicle population, large number of I&M test centers needs to be established would need large investment to cover Heavy/Light Vehicles and Private Vehicles. Hence, the operation and establishment of I&C centre can be worked out on the basis of BOOT or PPP model and considering international experiences like UK model. For the implementation of effective I/C regime in India, there is a need for creating an independent centralized nodal agency like ARAI, which can provide necessary technical and administrative assistance to the Government of India in developing a comprehensive I/C regime, assist the state government in creating necessary infrastructure and monitor the implementation at State level. This agency can be built on the basis of similar agency like Vehicle Operator Service Agency (VOSA) in UK and National Vehicle Inspection Agency in Japan. Though initially the Government may provide funds to create the nodal agency, later self-sustainability should be achieved through functioning of the agency. This agency should function with the following objective to develop an effective I&C regime for the country.

Preferential Framework for Public Road Transport

Major Issues concerning seamless road passenger movement in India a) b) c) d) e) f) Lack of uniformity in motor vehicle taxation including taxation for various passenger transport vehicles like tourist taxis, maxi cabs, All-India tourist buses, etc. Issue of Inter-State Agreements for Stage Carriage buses. Problems faced by private service vehicles and educational institutional buses transporting workers and students respectively between neighbouring States. Absence of any holistic transport planning including non-availability of benchmarks for bus operations in India, assessment of passenger and goods travelled demand on a regular basis. Absence of any inter-modal integration in terms of common ticketing, transfer stations, etc. Problems affecting SRTUs including recurrent losses resulting from various internal and extraneous factors.

Recommendations/ Suggestions for improving the system (i) Rationalisation of tax structure in passenger transport

Immediate efforts should be made to harmonize the categories of vehicles and achieve uniformity in the taxation rates. Although, there could be specific issues relating to specific States. In a federal set up this would require consensus of all the States/UTs. (ii) Intermodal integration

For the overall system to be efficient it is necessary to establish linkages between different transportation systems. There is an urgent need to provide proper integration of modes such as rail, bus, and other para-transit modes with respect to the following: (i) transfer station, (ii) ticket, and (iii) arrival/ departure schedule, etc.

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(iii)

Regulation of various modes of transport operating in a State.

There is a need to take a re-look at the regulatory framework, keeping in view the overall requirement of passenger transport for an area / region. The regulatory mechanism should give primacy to mobility to ensure access of people to socio economic services. (iv) Guidelines for Inter-State Agreements

The present system of entering into inter-State agreements between States as required under section 88 of the M.V. Act is a long drawn process and hampers smooth movement of passenger buses between States. Hence, it was unanimously agreed that the Government of India could frame basic guidelines for uniformity in the inter-State agreements on stage carriages including delegation of powers to Transport Commissioners of States for entering into inter-State agreements. This would facilitate speedy finalization of the inter-State agreements and provide better transport facilities to the public. Control over the inter-State agreements may, however, still remain with the respective State Governments. (v) Seamless movement of passenger transport vehicles in line with the New National Permit System for goods vehicles. The New National Permit System (NNPS) for Goods Vehicles which came into effect from May 2010 has facilitated the free movement of goods vehicles throughout the country on payment of a composite fee of Rs. 15,000/- per annum together with the authorization fee to the home State where the vehicle is registered. It is essential that All India Tourist Taxi Cabs, Maxi- Cabs, All India Tourist Buses and buses covered by Special Permits under section 88(8) of MV Act should also be subjected to uniform fees for free movement throughout the country. (vi) Scientific assessment of passenger and goods travel demand

By carrying out traffic studies for major travel corridors of the region periodically, travel demand for both passengers and goods can be assessed scientifically for the present and over medium term. Based on travel demand (number of commuters and their need for travel), proper assessment of bus fleet, bus frequency, augmentation of routes, etc. can be done. Norms regarding minimum requirement of buses for different category of operations including hilly areas, mofussil and city operations should be evolved. Similarly, requirement for necessary infrastructure for goods transport such as parking facilities, rest facilities for operators, weighing bridges, fuel stations, etc. can be assessed and planned. (vii) Strategies to Revive SRTUs

A framework should be evolved which could provide flexibility and freedom to SRTUs for automatic fare revision, depending on the increase of fuel and wage costs. SRTUs should be enabled to mobilize funds for capital expenditure, on their own strength and financial capability from banks/ financial institutions in terms of soft loan, tax free bonds etc. Expansion of fleet is needed to augment services in the rural areas. Government of India could consider providing financial assistance to SRTUs for purchase of new buses exclusively for rural operations in line with stimulus package similar to one sanctioned under JNNURM for purchase of buses with regard to urban operations. Technical capacity of SRTUs shall have to be improved through training programmes and workshops. SRTUs should explore the possibility of tapping nonticket revenue sources. 18

Automatic Fare Revision for SRTUs: A framework should be evolved which could provide flexibility and freedom to SRTUs for automatic fare revision, depending on the increase of fuel and wage costs. The State Government of Karnataka has evolved a formula for automatic revision of fares based on the percentage of increases in cost of fuel and dearness allowance. Such mechanism for fare revision should be followed by all State Governments for their SRTUs. Facilitate access to financial markets/institutions for SRTUs: SRTUs should be enabled to mobilize funds for capital expenditure, on the strength of their balance sheet from banks/ financial institutions in terms of soft loan, tax free bonds etc. Presently, SRTUs are constrained by the Section 26 of the Road Transport Act, 1950 which requires prior approval from the Government. This may require modification in the Section 26 of the Road Transport Act, 1950. Improve rural bus connectivity: Expansion of fleet is needed to augment services in rural areas. Presently, less than one-third of the inhabitated villages (5,93,731) are connected by SRTUs. Government of India could consider providing financial assistance to SRTUs for purchase of new buses exclusively for rural operations in line with the existing JNNURM for purchase of buses for urban operations. The scheme for rural bus connectivity could be launched during the 12th Plan with one time Central assistance. It is estimated that 50,854 buses would be required if 600 buses were to be provided per one lakh of rural population at a cost of about Rs 9154 Crore with Central Governments contribution at close to Rs 7584 Crore in the form of grant assistance with the balance to be shared between the State Government and SRTUs. The operational modalities for the scheme would need to be worked out in detail. SRTUs should also explore the possibility of tapping non-ticket revenue sources as done by APSRTC etc. The major non- ticket revenue sources could be through license fee on Canteens, Stalls in Bus stations followed by Ad revenues on Buses, Bus stations, CCTV, Bus tickets besides license fee through Parcel Service, Postal Mails, Person Weighing Machines, etc. Framework for Competitive Public Bus Passenger Transport Services A competitive environment in Road Passenger Services can be created in a variety of ways: (a) Competition in the market: this occurs where there is no restriction on entry. "Competition in the market" can be between individual operators within a mode of transport, between groups of operators within a mode or between modes; and (b) Competition for the market: where entry is restricted, it is possible to organize competition for the right to service individual routes, for the sole right to provide a whole network or to undertake particular functions as a subcontractor to a monopolist operator. Competition in the market", without barriers to entry is appropriate for the provision of many kinds of transport services and in particular where the size of the market is large or if there are good modal substitutes (metro rail etc) There are several ways in which firms can compete for a public transport market: Gross cost service contracting involves the procurement by a public Authority of specified services at a price determined through competitive tendering among competent operators. Contracts are usually for three to five years. The operator passes all on-bus revenues to the procuring authority and does not take any revenue risk. Gross cost service contracting requires that there is a secure means of ensuring that the procuring authority actually gets the fares that are paid on the vehicle, and careful monitoring to ensure that suppliers actually do provide the service for which they have been contracted. 19

Net cost service contracting is similar to gross cost contracting, except that the operator retains the revenue and hence incurs both the demand and supply side risks. This increases the incentive to the supplier to provide the service contracted for (otherwise he loses his fare revenue) and removes the need for complex fare collection and security arrangements. However, it makes modal coordination more difficult and often involves a higher net cost for the authorities as the supplier is incurring an extra risk, the revenue risk, against which he will be averse, and for which he will require remuneration. Competition can work very effectively provided the competitive regime is appropriate to the objectives of the Government. Whichever system is chosen, effective competition between private sector suppliers can only be achieved if the public sector itself is appropriately structured. This imposes a number of institutional requirements. a) b) Separation of operations from policy planning; Setting up a third party regulator to oversee rote planning, franchising and tariff supervision

Para-Transit: The public transport sector in many developing economies in recent years has seen the explosive growth of publicly available passenger transport services outside the traditional public transport regulatory system, often referred to as para-transit. This does not necessarily mean that they are operating illegally, as in many countries entry to the sector is effectively free, with operators subject only to the general rules of the road and law of the land. Nor does it necessarily mean that they are operating completely independently as many informal sector operators are members of associations of operators. Typically para-transit services are usually characterized by: (a) Services that are usually unscheduled and mainly on demand responsive routes, filling gaps in formal transit provision, such as public bus services and taxis; (b) Vehicles that are operated are typically small, including motor cycles (in case of Goa). Smaller vehicles are used partly because of the lower financing requirements, the flexibility of operation, and partly because controls over small vehicles are lax even in situations where entry to the large vehicle market is strictly controlled. The vehicles used are also often very simple, and include non-motorized vehicles, auto rickshaws, and motorized improvised vehicles (jugad in rural India). Para-transit services are usually provided by informal operators and offer a range of services. There is need to evolve a policy framework for para transit mode.

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Summary Highlights and Recommendations of Report of the Sub Group on State Road Transport Undertakings under the Working Group Year Plan (2012-2017)

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Summary Highlights and Recommendations

Background Efficient mobility of people is one of the key factors for the progress and prosperity of a society and a nation. Public Transport services play a major role in reducing the poverty and keeping deprivation at check in rural areas. Apart from offering the rural population a viable and convenient way to market their agricultural produce, it also enables them to access other sources of income such as engagement in informal services in nearby urban nodes and formal employment in manufacturing, food processing, transport and other industries, etc. Certain inherent characteristics of the Bus transport system make it the ideal mode for meeting the huge and increasing demand for passenger transport services. Bus transport makes the most optimum use of the available road space and fossil fuel by transporting the maximum number of people per unit of road space. On an average, a car consumes nearly 6 times more energy than an average bus, while two wheelers consume about 2.5 times and three-wheelers consume 4.7 times more energy in terms of per passenger km. Most of the State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) have been set up under the Road Transport Corporation (RTC) Act of 1950, bus-based public transport system provides passenger transport services for rural, inter-city and urban areas and continues to be dominated by the STUs in terms of coverage and patronage. There are altogether 54 State Transport Undertakings comprising of 24 State Road Transport Corporations (SRTCs), 12 Companies, 8 Government Departmental Undertakings and 10 Municipal Undertakings, providing public transport services to the people. All of these own 1,47,000 buses, as on March 2011 including 10,000 buses taken from private sector on hire basis for their operation, of which about 81% are engaged in rural and inter-city operations. At the end of fiscal year 2008-09, the country had about 115 million registered automobiles of which two wheelers and cars constituted over 85% of the vehicles in the country. At the time, 52 State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) had a total number of 1.17 Lakhs buses of varying fleet size accounting for almost 0.1% of the entire vehicular population in the country. In contrast to this, it is notable that the share of buses (including those owned by the private sector) is about 1.3%. The total registered vehicles have increased from 0.306 million in 1951 to 115 million in 2009, and the registered buses have increased from 34,000 in 1951 to 14,95,000 during the same period whereby the share of buses in total registered vehicles has declined from 11.1% in 1951 to 1.3% in 2009 even though they accounted for about 50% of all journeys performed by road. The extent of rural population served per bus varies from 4,535 in Andhra Pradesh and 11,435 in Rajasthan to 23,230 in Uttar Pradesh and 1, 36, 639 in Bihar. The erosion in the role of buses in public transport system is also reflected in the fact that while the vehicle population grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of close to 9.8%, the number of buses grew by less than 8.7% during 1991 to 2009. At present, the rural demand is mostly catered to by the informal and unorganized modes of public transport system such as tam-tam and 6-8 seater auto rickshaws. Lack of access to opportunities for the rural population is likely to push the migration rate higher since the infrastructure and accessibility is perceived to be better in urban areas, consequently increasing the urbanization rate. It is quintessential to recognize the need and provide for a public transport system in rural areas which is reliable, comfortable, safe and efficient. Governments in most of the developed countries have devoted resources to strengthen bus passenger services. In USA 22

for example, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, enacted in 1991, includes a requirement that each state spends a minimum 15% of its annual apportionment of federal nonurbanized funds to support rural intercity bus service. Many local bodies spend even more than this stipulation recognizing the need and importance of the rural bus service. In London, Singapore and Hongkong, the Government provide explicit subsidy to bus services, and promote taxi operations, to encourage people into public transport. Performance of State Road Transport Undertakings Bus-based public transport system continues to be dominated by the STUs today in terms of coverage and patronage. The SRTUs carry about 70 million of passengers per day performing about 501 billion passenger kilometers annually. In the non-urban sector alone, the SRTUs performed about 12.6 billion bus kilometers carrying a total of 478 billion passenger kilometres (pkm) of service. The declining share of SRTU in passenger transport can be partly attributed to the fact that there were a total of 23,000 over-aged vehicles (as per existing standards) as on March, 2009 as reported by 27 SRTUs. Add to that, the cancelled kilometers of STUs in 2008-09 were around 590.69 lakh kms due to inadequate number of buses. Finances of SRTUs The finances of SRTUs are unsatisfactory. Profitability of SRTU operations is an outcome of a number of factors which are both endogenous (internal to the SRTUs and can be rectified by the decisions of SRTUs) and exogenous (outside the control of SRTUs). The aggregate financial performance of SRTUs in terms of its aggregate performance and for rural operations is given in Tables 3 and 4 respectively. It can be seen that while total revenue rose from Rs19,509 Cr in 2004-05 to Rs 31,651 Cr in 2010-11 , over the same period the total cost surged from Rs 21,395 Cr to Rs 36,863 Cr leading to almost four fold increase in losses (Rs 1,887 Cr to Rs 5,260 crores) in the corresponding years. Consolidated Finances of SRTUs (Rs in Crore)
Year 1. 2. Total Revenue Total Cost Net cost due to Concessions * Accident Compensation Surplus before tax Profit/loss (net) Total capital Investment 200405 19509 21395 -268 -253 -41 -1887 11021 200506 21397 23707 NA NA -929 -2660 NA 200607 22800 24951 NA NA -250 -2150 14316 200708 23946 26008 578 344 -169 -2062 13821 200809 27661 31130 298 319 -1468 -3469 17972 200910 27507 32270 NA NA -2477 -4763 NA 2010-11 (Provisional) 31650.85 36862.56 NA NA -2796.12 -5259.71 NA

3. 4. 5.

Source: Central Institute of Road Transport

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Factors affecting the Efficiency of SRTUs - Internal Drop in occupancy ratio (i.e. average percentage of seats in a bus taken by passengers): The occupancy ratio of SRTUs has come down significantly from 71% in 1995-96 to 66% in 200809 with slight improvement to 71% in 2009-10. This is because of the competition from other modes which have gained importance due to decreasing fleet size of SRTUs. Fleet Utilization - It has improved from 88% in 1995-96 to 92.3% in 2009-10. There is considerable variation in fleet utilization across SRTUs as can be seen in Annexure 2 which points towards scope for improvement, for e.g. fleet utilization was as high as 99.5% in case of APSRTC and a low of 42.5% in case of Bihar SRTU. Bus Staff Ratio - The staff bus ratio has dropped from 8.1 in 1995-96 to 5.98 in 2009-10 and is in the optimum range of 5.5 to 6. However the variation among SRTUs is quite pronounced as can be seen from Annexure 1. It varies from a high of 23.21 in Mizoram SRTU to 3.38 in Orissa which points towards considerable scope for improvement in man power utilization. Fuel efficiency - Fuel efficiency is a function of age of bus fleet, maintenance, competence of drivers and terrain. Although over all fuel efficiency in terms of km per liter has improved from around 4.4 in 1995-96 to 4.91 in 2009-10 ( 5.13 for rural operation ) there still seems to be a lot of scope for improvement. At present there are many SRTUs which have attained fuel efficiency of more than 5 km per liter during 2010-11. Absence of fare revision mechanism - Fuel cost and man power cost accounted for 32 and 40% respectively of the total cost in 2010-11. Though the cost of manpower has come down during the last few years, the cost of fuel has been increasing which in the absence of a suitable fare revision mechanism is adding to the losses of the SRTUs. Factors affecting the Efficiency of SRTUs - External Burden of Concessions/exemptions - SRTUs are not fully compensated for various concessional fares/exemptions and universal service obligation rendered in the form of bus connectivity to remote areas. Above all, there remains an overarching problem of lack of accountability of losses occurring due to operational inefficiencies and those occurring due to operations on unviable but socially desirable routes. National Transport agenda It is proposed to have national transport agenda for the entire country. National Action Plan is required to be implemented improving accessibility of all transport services. National Transport Policy for 20 years i.e upto 2032 is proposed on the followings: Build a safe, fast, environmentally, friendly and economically sustainable transport system throughout India. Balance all modes of the transport and prioritize projects. Transport infrastructure should be controlled with modern information technologies and security. Transport Master Plans should be prepared for each State and integrated with city level transport plans.

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International standard/level training and fitness institutes are required to be established in every STU for proper training of drivers. Similar institutes are required to set up in all States for training of commercial drivers. Implementation of integrated transport management system including ETIMs, introduction of Smart Cards, vehicle tracking system with GPM system. Key Recommendations a) Reduction of Excise Duty on public passenger transport vehicles At present, 20 to 25% cost of the buses is on account of taxes and duties accruing to Central & State Governments. In order to ease the burden to improve the lot of public transportation, the government must exempt/reduce the excise duty on the bus chassis being purchased by SRTUs. Similarly, the high excise duty and sales tax incidence on spare parts, assemblies and tyres etc. is also a burden for the SRTUs. Tax exemption on safety critical components such as Antilock Braking System, Electronic Braking System etc, may also be considered at the first place. The State Government may also consider the uniform rate of sales tax/State Vat for SRTUs on purchase of chassis and spare parts. b) Reduction of excise duty on diesel The tax on diesel varies from 29% to 42% depending on the location/states. The SRTUs altogether consume approximately 3.2 billion litres (32 lakh kiloliters) of diesel per year, out of which more than 80% is being consumed for rural operation. The Central Government may consider for extending 50% rebate on excise, Vat/Sale Tax by State Govt. for SRTUs to the extent of diesel consumed for rural operation. Volume discounts which are discontinued may be restored to SRTUs. c) Reduction of rates of Motor Vehicle tax and passenger tax The passenger tax varies from State to State and is as high as 17.5% of the total fare in some States. In addition to the passenger tax, states also charge MV tax and annual charges of RTO passing, etc. State governments must be encouraged to reduce MV tax and passenger tax and make the incidence of tax on the turnover of SRTUs rather than on per seat basis. d) Toll tax reduction/reimbursement At present, all SRTUs put together are paying approximately Rs 625.00 crore per annum towards the toll tax ranging from Rs 1.00 crore to Rs 80.00 crore by different SRTUs depending upon their daily operations. It is suggested that the toll fees paid by SRTUs may be reimbursed in full by Central Government with the condition that SRTUs will utilize this amount exclusively for replacement/augment of buses in the rural sector. e) Exemption from payment of income tax by SRTUs The SRTUs are established under the central legislation (RTC Act 1950) to provide transport services to traveling public and not establish to earn profit. All SRTUs were exempted from income tax as per Section-11 of the income tax act. However, with effect from 1.4.2008, Section 2(15) of the income tax act is modified which ends the charity status of SRTUs and requires all SRTUs to pay income tax on profit earned by them. There is need to restore the provisions to maintain the charity status of SRTUs under income tax act. f) Exemption from payment of service tax on income from casual contract services by SRTUs The Service Tax Act exempted private operators from payment of service tax w.e.f. 7.7.2009 on casual contract income, whereas SRTUs are to pay service tax on this account. 25

To offer level playing field, it is suggested to exclude all state carriage buses owned by SRTUs and utilize for casual tours for the purpose of marriage, excursion, pilgrimages, etc., from the payment of service tax. g) Viability Gap Funding The SRTUs particularly operating in the rural areas have to run transport services to cater to passenger requirement. Operations in rural areas are not economical as the fares in these sectors are low so as to make bus travel affordable and also face unhealthy competition from auto rickshaw, mini and maxi cabs etc. As such, the SRTUs have to incur major losses for operations providing transport services to the rural areas. The Government may develop a mechanism by which the financial losses of SRTUs incurred in rural operations are adequately compensated by way of viability gap funding for procurement of rolling stock. h) Liberty to STUs for mobilizing funds by way of loan SRTUs should be allowed to raise funds for capital expenditure on their own strength/financial capability from banks and financial institutions or in terms of soft loan from tax free bonds, etc. Lack of funds for capital expenditure is one of the chief causes for lack of modernization and expansion of fleet in the SRTUs. Under Section 26 of the RTC Act 1950 which prior approval of the State Government is required for SRTU to borrow. If the financial institutions are willing to lend money to SRTUs on the basis of their financial appraisal of the SRTU, without insisting on government guarantee, there should not be any restriction to raise capital. The proposal in this regard to modify section 26 of the RTC Act must be considered. i) Central Assistance for use of intelligent transport system for the SRTUs The Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways, had launched a scheme during June, 2010 to provide financial assistance for the use of latest technologies such as GPS/GSM based vehicle tracking system, computerized reservation system, automatic fare collection system, electronic ticket vending machine, inter-modal fare integration, passenger information system etc. for the SRTUs covering inter- city and mofussil areas. One time assistance to the extent of 50% of the project cost was sanctioned to SRTUs for IT related projects. Only very few SRTUs availed the benefits. Intelligent transport system helps in reduction in revenue leakages and instant data obtaining. The central government may consider extending the scheme and continue to provide 50% assistance to the SRTUs during 12th Five Year Plan period. The balance 50% can be shared by the State Govt. and the SRTU at the ratio of 30% and 20% respectively. j) Green Public Transport and use of Alternate fuels It is required to focus on development of green transport system for SRTUs. Initiatives need to be taken up by the Central Government for implementation of eco-friendly, technologies and alternate fuels for reduction of air pollution and carbon footprint. Delhi Transport Corporation has already converted its entire fleet to CNG fuel mode. k) Automatic Fare Revision A mechanism should be evolved which can give the freedom to SRTUs for fare revision automatically, depending on the increase of factor costs like fuel and manpower. There is a wide disparity of fares across states. Karnataka State has evolved a formula for automatic fare revision which provides for automatic revision of fares based on transparent mechanism linked to the percentage of increase in cost of fuel and percentage of increase in Dearness Allowance. It is recommended that such automatic fare revision formula may be provided 26

for the STUs. The recommendation to this effect has also been made to encourage this as part of the amendment of the RTC Act 1950 by amending section 22(a). l) Provision of reimbursement by respective State Governments for concessional travel to identified categories of commuters being provided by STUs. Myriad of concessions granted by State Governments to various categories like Students, Blind persons, Freedom Fighters, Physically handicaps, diseased, Journalist & Senior citizen, courses of professional education etc. have become a universal service obligation for SRTUs. Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation provides 37 types of concessions and situation in other States too, is almost similar. These concessions cost the STUs heavily in terms of foregone revenue. The cost of these concessions to the STUs amounted to Rs.1137/- Crore in 2001-02 and Rs.2504/- Crore in 2008-09. While some States reimburse the cost of these concessions to STUs partly, in most cases such compensation by way of reimbursement is grossly inadequate. There is need to provide for such reimbursement of concessional travel through the State Government budget. Following strategies can be suggested for improving the system: Strategies The strategies identified under equity infusion and flow of funds either by the State Government or Central Government along with empowering SRTUs to generate their own resources are classified into following 5 groups. a) Fleet augmentation of SRTUs: Increasing connectivity in rural areas through Public Private Partnership: Rural areas remain underserved to a major extent in most States. The Central Government can increase the connectivity in those areas by partly funding the fleet required for operations. While the operations can be given to SRTUs or through PPP mode, the management and monitoring can be given to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPVs). There are 5,93,731 inhabited villages in India. So far about one third (1,83,000 villages) are connected by organized bus transport by SRTUs either directly or PPP (Hire scheme) model. Remaining 4,10,731 villages which are not connected by organized public transport and the available mode of transports are not safe, affordable and reliable. The proposed scheme is in line with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for one time central assistance for purchase of buses be launched by the Central Government for rural operation as per the guidelines framed. It is proposed to finance purchase of 50,854 with the aim to provide 600 buses per one crore of rural population at a cost of Rs.9153.72 crore of which the Central Government share will be Rs.7583.74 for all states and the balance be shared by the State Government and the SRTUs. For the North East SRTUs (Assam SRTC, Meghalaya TC, Nagaland ST, Arunachal ST, Manipur SRTC, Mizoram ST, Sikkim ST, Tripura RTC), sensitive zones like Jammu & Kashmir and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and states of Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh & Jharkhand where public transport is very un-structured, the Central share of assistance shall be 90% grant, State Governments share shall be 10% and for other states the Central assistance share shall be 80% grant, the respective State Governments and SRTU share shall be 10% each. With this scheme it is expected that about 70000 villages will be newly connected in addition to the existing bus service connectivity to 1,83,000 villages by SRTUs. b) Replacement of over-aged buses of SRTUs:

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SRTUs are unable to generate adequate funds for capital expenditure and replacement of rolling stock as the financing of SRTUs (operating and investments cost) cannot be covered by the income from fares and subsidies alone. Twenty eight reporting SRTUs were having about 23,000 over aged buses by the end of financial year 2008-09. Taking into account all the 54 SRTUs, about 35,000 buses are over aged as per individual SRTUs scrapping target policy and need to be replaced during the Twelfth Five Year Plan period amounting to approximately Rs. 6300 crore (Rs.18 lakh per bus) . For meeting the above requirements in rural operations of SRTUs, it is proposed that share of Central Government may be 50% of the total cost and that of the State Government may be 30% and the respective SRTU 20%. For hilly and North Eastern Regions like Assam, Himachal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim and sensitive zones like Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, it is proposed that the Central Government may share 90% and State Government 10%. The Central Government share will be approx. Rs.4500 crore for purchase of 35000 buses. c) Demand assessment and Route Rationalisation Separate Schemes to this effect is proposed to be launched by the Central Government, whereby, SRTUs can carry out a demand assessment/ route rationalization exercise and prepare a fleet augmentation/replacement plan based on which it can apply for financial assistance from the Centre and the State. The Central Government and State Governments in turn can push for various reforms and bench marks needed for increasing the efficiency of SRTUs, such as fleet utilization, bus staff ratio, vehicle utilization and employee productivity, etc. d) Bringing greater accountability in operational and financial performances of SRTUs: Guidelines can be formulated for improving the Management Information System of the SRTUs that can bring in greater accountability for the costs and losses being incurred. Various kinds of State subsidy can be linked for development of such a system thereafter. e) Increasing use of Intelligent Transportation System in SRTU operations and Management Information System: The use of intelligent transportation systems, Electronic ticket issuing machines, on line passenger Reservation systems, SMS based reservation of tickets and passenger information can be insisted upon as one of the conditions while granting financial assistance to SRTUs and SPVs. The proposed action plan for implementation of these strategies would include: Demand Assessment:(a) Demand Assessment for the existing rural bus operations by route rationalization exercise; (b) Demand Assessment for the operation of rural bus services for remote, hilly areas and so far connected inhabited villages; and (c) Road map for connecting all the inhabited villages and cost involvement both for infrastructure and capital investments for rolling stock in each state. Preparation of perspective plans for ITS implementation and infrastructure expansion for SRTU operations and; Implementing an improved system of data collection.

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Summary Highlights And Recommendations of Report of the Sub Group on Road Safety & Human Resource Development under the Working Group on Road Transport for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017)

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Current Status of Road Accidents & Fatalities The total number of fatalities increased at an average rate of about 2% per year in the period 1997-2003 and the rate has increased to ~6.5% per year since then. The number of fatalities per million populations remained around 79-83 during 1997-2003 and has since increased to 108. Road user category Official road traffic crash data do not include fatalities by road user category in India. Traffic fatalities by category of road users in Delhi (capital city of India) and selected locations on national highways show that car occupants were a small proportion of the total fatalities, 3% in Delhi and 15% on rural highways. Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorized two-wheeler riders) accounted for 84% deaths in Delhi and 67% on highways. This pattern is very different from that obtained in all high-income countries. The low proportion of car occupants can be explained by the low level of car ownership at 7 per 100 persons as compared to more than 50 per 100 persons in most high income countries. Fatalities in cities with population greater than 1 million persons

Figure: Traffic fatality rates in cities with populations of at least one million, 2001 and 2007 (Source: National Crime Records Bureau, Delhi).
Figure shows the fatality rates for cities with populations greater than 1 million persons for the years 2001 and 2009 (3). Delhi had the highest number of fatalities in 2009 (2,325) with a rate of 127 per million population. The lowest rate was in Amritsar (22) and the highest in Vishakhapatnam (433), with an overall average of 172 fatalities per million persons for all these cities. In this period of eight years, only nine of the 35 cities did not experience an increase in fatality rates. The highest increase was 1,027% in Asansol. Since a vast majority of the victims in these cities are vulnerable road users, one possible cause could be increases in vehicle speeds. The probability of pedestrian death is estimated at less than 10% at impact speeds of 30 km/h and greater than 80% at 50 km/h, and the relationship between increase in fatalities and increase in impact velocities is governed by a power of four. Small increases in urban speeds can increase death rates dramatically.

Time of the Day Proportion of fatalities by time of day in 35 large cities of India (population >1 million) and in the rest of the country including rural roads are quite revealing. In the period 09:00 to 21:00 the proportions remain high and similar both in the large cities and elsewhere. In the late night hours (21:00-24:00) traffic volumes are much lower than the peak day time rates but the fatality 30

rates do not reflect this. In the early morning hours (00:00-06:00) the proportions are much lower in the large cities, but relatively higher in the rest of the country. High rates at night could be due to higher speeds of vehicles when traffic volumes are lower and/or higher frequency of driving under the influence of alcohol. Evidence for increased use of alcohol comes from a hospital study in Delhi where 29% of the riders of motorized twowheelers admitted to alcohol consumption before the crash. In Bangalore, a hospital-based study showed that alcohol was involved in 22% of night time crashes, and that 35% of randomly checked drivers on the road at night were under the influence of alcohol. Fatalities on Rural Highways A study (Geetam Tiwari et al) collected data on modal shares, vehicle speeds, and traffic crashes on selected locations on national and state highways around the country in the late 1990s shows the type of road users killed on highways. The study reported that trucks were the striking party in 65% of fatal crashes. Other studies report that majority of the crashes involved buses, 25% of the victims were pedestrians, rear-end crashes comprised 40% of total crashes. A study of road traffic crashes on a National Highway in the southern state of Kerala reported that heavy vehicles had a high involvement, and pedestrians and cyclists were 28% of the victims. The most important finding of this study is that the fatality rate per volume is more than three times higher on the four-lane section than on two-lane sections. The construction of four-lane divided highways (without access control) does not seem to have reduced fatality rates, and vulnerable road users still account for a large proportion of fatalities. There is a clear case for redesign of intercity roads with separation of slow and fast modes. A study conducted by Tiwari et al shows that 19% of crashes on four-lane divided roads were head-on collisions. This means that many vehicles were going the wrong way on divided highways. Rear-end collisions (including collisions with parked vehicles) were high on all types of highways, including four-lane highways. This shows that although more space is available on wider roads, rear-end crashes are not reduced there. Impacts with pedestrians and bicycles have a high rate on all roads, including four-lane divided highways. Collisions with fixed objects were infrequent only on four-lane divided highways. Speeds of cars averaged 60-70 km/h and heavy vehicles 50-60 km/h on four-lane divided highways (with no access control). This means that many vehicles on these highways would have been travelling at speeds in excess of 80 km/h in mixed traffic, with some vehicles at speeds less than 50 km/h, and the presence of pedestrians and bicyclists. In summary, it is clear that crash rates on intercity roads are high. The construction of four-lane divided highways (without access control) does not seem to have reduced fatality rates, and vulnerable road users still account for a large proportion of fatalities. The presence of slow modes on highways creates serious problems, as speed differentials can account for significant increases in crash rates. High incidence of fatal rear-end crashes suggests a general lack of visibility with a possible contribution of poor conspicuity of parked vehicles. There is a clear case for redesign of intercity roads with separation of slow and fast modes. The needs of road users on local short distance trips will have to be accounted for to reduce the probability of head-on crashes (due to drivers going the wrong way on divided highways) by provision of continuous service lanes and safe road crossings at convenient distances. Solutions for many of these issues are not readily available, and research studies are necessary for the evolution of new designs.

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Projections and Road Fatalities in India

Road traffic fatalities have been increasing and show no signs of decreasing. Two modelling exercises have attempted to predict the time period when we might expect fatality rates to start to decline in a range of countries. Cropper and Kopits predicted that fatalities in India would reach a total of about 198,000 before starting to decline in 2042 and Koornstra predicted an earlier date of 2030 for the peak traffic fatalities in India. If we assume that the present growth rate of 8% per year declines in a linear manner to 0% by 2030, then we can expect about 260,000 fatalities by 2030. Neither of these projected dates (2042 and 2030) can be accepted as road safety goals for the country. In summary, road safety policies in India must focus on the following issues to reduce the incidence of road traffic injuries: pedestrians and other non-motorist in urban areas; pedestrians, other non-motorists, and slow vehicles on highways; motorcycles and small cars in urban areas; over-involvement of trucks and buses; night-time driving; and wrong way drivers on divided highways. There is an urgent need to revamp police data collecting procedures so that necessary information is available for scientific analysis. India specific countermeasures will be possible through continuous monitoring and research, which will require the establishment of road safety research centres in academic institutions and a National Road Safety Board that could help move toward a safer future as outlined above. International experience has shown that increase in vehicle need not result in increase in road traffic accidents if scientific countermeasures are implemented along with increase in vehicle ownership. Most European, North American countries and others like Australia, Japan and Singapore have much higher vehicle ownership rates than India, but they have much lower traffic fatality rates. Education and awareness Road safety is in a critical state in India and needs a systematic effort to change the behaviour of all citizens through a cultural shift to inculcate a safety culture. The basic instinct of flouting rules needs to be changed to respect the rules of the road, so that all road users become safe. To educate and bring awareness in the population on road safety, a massive programme of education and awareness campaign is required to be undertaken. This will have many features for addressing the weaknesses in the system, as well as in improving the awareness levels. This will include educating the system managers covering safety through curriculum based education and in the form of campaign for better awareness encompassing safe behaviour and safety culture. There is a whole range of awareness which is required to be brought into the system, so that systemic problems get connected. In addition to this, general public is to be exhorted with the road safety scenario and its implication on individual and the country, regularly for a very long time so as to bring in permanent behavioural changes. Road safety education should cover officials in the system and school curriculum development. Capacity building of policy makers and programme managers is crucial to increase the role of safety in traffic environments, incorporating safety features at the time of design of vehicles and roads, and to formulate safety policies and programmes. The main aim of road safety education should be based on the following principles: (a) To instil the knowledge necessary to understand road traffic rules, and for safety on the road; (b) To aim at appropriate and safe behaviour in specific traffic situations and; (c) To develop awareness of the importance and usefulness of respecting road safety rules and measures. 32

Driver Training Present Scenario For want of any credible data with the regulatory agencies, it is estimated that there are 7000 driving schools across country. Majority of driving schools are for LMV Drivers. There are about a dozen institutes with proper facilities to train HMV Drivers and SV Drivers. There are no dedicated facilities for Training of trainers. There are very few schools / institutes who organize structured training for the trainers. One such institute is IDTR. These driving schools can train at the most 2 million novices in driving training. Less than 2% schools are in the organized sector. Policy intervention Framework for evolving policy guidelines on all aspects of driver training should be formulated at the State level; A national regulatory agency should be promoted to coordinate all aspects of driver training; All large public and private companies should develop and implement a fleet safety policy; Auditing and grading of driving schools All existing driver training programmes should be evaluated for content, duration, methods and need based programmes should be developed; A three tier Structure to integrate driving training at local level to a standards monitoring body. Objective of the proposed structure is to formalize the driving training standards and monitoring the same. This consists of three components: (a) Local Driving Training Schools (LDTS) and Regional Driving Training Schools (RDTS); (b) IDTR (Institute of Driving & Traffic Research) and DTI (Driving Training Institute); (c) Forum comprising of IDTR and DTI. The forum shall be a body comprising of all IDTR and DTI and headed by each IDTR/DTI on rotation basis. The IDTR/DTI shall also help Transport Department in auditing and giving accreditation to the DTS and RDTS. All registered companies, corporate and Government Departments should employ drivers having certificate from accredited institute/school only. Auditing and grading of driving schools Registered companies/Government Departments should employ only trained drivers; Transparent and fair process of licensing Training of Trainers All the trainers shall be selected, trained and certified only by IDTR/DTI. All DTS shall employ only certified and licensed trainers. Based on level of compliance to rules for setting up driving schools, the driving schools shall be graded as A, B, C, D or E. A grade schools are such that they fully comply with the rules. B, C, D or E grades are for lesser compliance. To ensure that the needs are met driver training schools should be encouraged to come up in the PPP mode. Road design standards for urban and rural roads and highways Road Design Standards for Roads & Highways Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Indian Roads Congress lay down the standards and specifications on various aspects of the design of roads and Highways. There are a large number of documents which deal with the various aspects of road design brought out by Indian Road Congress They are deficient to address the needs of present day requirements of road transport. 33

Most of these documents were evolved about 10 to 20 years back. A sea change has taken place in the road transport sector in the last two/ three decades. There has been a tremendous increase in road length, vehicular population and road travel. Despite the huge investment in the road sector road traffic crashes and fatalities have increased during the years. About 50% of these are on National and State Highways and Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) are involved in about 60% cases. Therefore, the focus has to be on National and State Highways and on VRUs. It has been found the world over that divided carriageway roads are safer but in India the situation is found to be quite different. Despite up gradation of NHs to 4/6 lane divided carriageways facilities road traffic crashes have been increasing. The present Design Standards require critical review and modifications to give more focus on VRUs, separation of fast and slow traffic, removal of conflict areas and points, access issues and holistic design approach starting from planning stage of the basics of hierarchical system of road network. The approach of keeping the cost of improvement as low as possible so to make it fit into available funds and to make it viable on PPP, needs to be given up. It is better to limit the scope in length than in vertical and lateral directions. The impression of over engineering needs to be given up. It would be advisable to plan more and more access controlled facilities such as Expressways if we want to improve mobility and safety. The life cycle cost approach must be adopted in planning and designing the roads and highways. Many countries are adopting this approach for better and safer roads. It needs to be recognized that the human user is bound to commit mistakes and therefore road infrastructure has to cope with human failings and shortcomings. Countries with better road safety recognized this long ago and adopted the concept of forgiving highways. Systems approach rather than piecemeal improvement should be adopted. The design standards should be revised accordingly. Recommendations 1% of cess money should be earmarked for engineering aspects of road safety which should be utilised for research, pilot projects for show casing, before and after studies and safety audits. Cost cutting approach in road development should be abandoned and forgiving highways be planned and provided. More Expressways be planned rather than upgrading existing 4- lane highways. Focus should be on VRUs and local traffic by providing service roads along the whole stretch of divided highways. Special attention should be given to the stretches passing through linear settlements (built up areas) for conflict removal by speed control. Capacity strengthening of officials involved in design and development of highways should be taken up in consultation with with institutions of excellence in the country. Existing standards should be reviewed and new standards should be developed by technical bodies like IRC and CRRI. Trained and qualified people should be developed in agencies involved in road safety. All engineers employed in city corporations, urban development bodies, highway engineers and in public works departments in rural areas should be trained in road safety aspects. Road safety audits should be an integral part of road building and maintenance projects.

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Vehicle Safety Standards Major issues The existing vehicle inspection system in India is inefficient and faces a lot of problems which are discussed below: a) At present, only visual inspection is carried out by the inspectors, and even that is mandatory only for commercial vehicles. b) The vehicle inspection is mandatory for the commercial vehicles only. c) Personal vehicle owners are required to pay only a one-time tax, at the time of initial registration of the vehicle. Therefore presently there is no mechanism by which it is made mandatory for personal vehicles to go in for a regular fitness check. d) Mostly, the vehicle inspection centres do not have any instrumentation or equipment to carry out proper inspection of the vehicle e) The inspectors and other staff are not given regular training for skill up gradation. f) There is no set procedure for inspection and often the decision whether a vehicle is fit or not left to the discretion of the vehicle inspector. g) The number of vehicles per inspection centre is very high due to centralized nature of inspection, putting further pressure on the limited capacity of these inspection centres. h) There is no mechanism at present for auditing, monitoring performance and capability of these centres. i) Although the present PUC system is authorized by the State Governments, there is lack of control mechanisms like auditing/ inspecting for these PUC Centres. The criteria for authorising / registering a PUC Centre need to be augmented. j) The data collected in the inspection centre / PUC centre is not analysed to check the data validity and improvement in the system k) There is no organized industry for repair and maintenance of vehicles. There are number of roadside mechanics available that may or may not have adequate equipment and training for maintenance. As these mechanics are cheap and available next door, vehicle owners still use their services. Key recommendations/Suggestion for Implementation for I&C Regime A phased approach would be necessary to inspect all vehicles on safety and emissions performance. Significant investments, improvements in regulatory and management practices, increased capacity and capability would be prerequisites for the effectiveness for such a regime. Hence, a phased approach has been suggested for ensuring effective implementation of inspection and maintenance program. Thus, the following phasing is suggested: a) In the first phase, cities with significant transport vehicles (Metros) should introduce a modern Inspection and Certification regime b) In these cities, a modern inspection regime should be first introduced for commercial vehicles, and then subsequently to private vehicles. c) Within private vehicles, older vehicles (more than 9 years old) should be included in the regime earlier. And then it must be extended to newer fleet (3-9 year old) d) Both emissions and safety tests should be introduced simultaneously for commercial vehicles. e) For cities where the regime would be introduced later or for vehicle categories that are not being covered at the first instance, the current PUC and fitness testing regime should continue. Here the existing PUC regime should be strengthened by improving the efficacy of the tests carried out with improved instrumentation and test methodologies and a more effective auditing system. 35

f) While it would be ideal to have a large number of testing centres spread all over a city that could cater to the entire vehicle fleet so that vehicle owners are not inconvenienced, cost and investment considerations may make such an extended system unviable. The frequency of these tests should be based on the trade off between the cost implications for setting up the infrastructure for testing as also convenience to vehicle users. The principles on which the frequency of tests should be based are the following: Commercial vehicles with a higher utilization should be tested more often Older vehicles should be tested more frequently than newer vehicles Private vehicles including 2 wheelers to be included in I&M regime Initially, the focus should be on testing of commercial vehicles only. With gradual capacity building and increased number of integrated safety and emissions testing centres, the frequency and tests can then be extended to private vehicles and other category of vehicles including 2 wheelers. Policing and Enforcement Traffic policing comes both in form of (i) traffic police patrolling; and (ii) automatic traffic enforcement systems. Both are almost non-existent in India. Automatic traffic enforcement serves to automatically detect traffic violations and facilitate punishment of the offenders e.g. Speed enforcement systems. Such systems should be thoroughly thought out to take into account local conditions and challenges. Similar semi-automatic components could be used to detect/enforce other violations, e.g. wrong-way driving. Accordingly, key actions under enforcement could include: a) Establishment of dedicated fully equipped and trained mobile traffic police units. b) Development and piloting of semi-automatic traffic surveillance systems on high-risk transport corridors. c) Enforcement of drinking and driving laws using modern technology. d) Highway safety patrols. e) Enhancement of police budgets to provide for an adequate traffic police force in urban areas and rural highways. To increase enforcement levels of road safety laws, it is important that: a) The Police Department in each State develop a uniform policy about laws with regard to existing and applicable laws; b) Sensitise senior Police Officers towards road safety & enforcement; c) Each district & city is helped to draw up local plans using local data; d) State Police Academy institutions train middle level implementing officers; e) Monitor and evaluate all enforcement activities for effectiveness; f) Training of officers in modern traffic management; To achieve the above following actions would need to be done: a) b) c) d) Training of Police officials at all levels of traffic management; Revamp and standardise accident data collection across the country; Data recording system to be web based and available to policy makers and researchers; Introduce modern methods and technologies for speed control and prevention of drunk driving;

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Post Crash & Trauma Care Prevailing Problems in the Accident & Emergency Care Delivery in India At the site of Impact: There is lack of awareness about the Emergency Medical services (EMS) System. No standardized toll free national access number to call for emergency medical help, adequate number of First Responders/Ambulances are not there, there are no standardized protocols & medical directives for EMS In Transit to a definitive care health facility: Non availability of appropriate & safe transport for the injured patient in the form of road ambulances, air ambulances, etc., Existing ambulances are more like transport vehicles without consideration to the overall ambulance design, patient care, comfort & ergonomics, currently there is no National Ambulance Code in the country which specifies the minimum National Specifications for various types of Ambulances, viz ALS, BLS, First Responder, etc. , in-adequate care during transportation due to lack of trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) in the country & unskilled existing manpower At the Healthcare Facility a) Appropriate healthcare facilities are not available within reasonable distances b) Mismatch between the healthcare facility capacity resulting in overcrowding at the limited number of available facilities c) Deficient Infrastructure at the existing healthcare facilities d) Inadequately equipped healthcare facilities due to lack of National Standards and Guidelines e) Sub-optimal quality care at the existing health facilities due to inadequately skilled manpower f) Lack of standard written Protocols regarding the handling of a patient on his arrival at the healthcare facility g) Lack of accountability and monitoring mechanisms to ensure timely and optimal care Recommendations a) For Immediate Implementation: Review & Audit of the Existing Schemes: - The scope of National Highway Trauma Care Project (NHTCP) should be expanded to cover all the state and national highways. - National Highways Accident Relief Services Scheme (NHARSS) A periodic audit for the already supplied Ambulances & Cranes should be done with respect to their location, availability, utilization, efficacy, manpower, uptime, etc. All CRVs & Ambulances should be accessible by the National Medical Relief Toll Free Number (102), integrated under a National Highway Accident Relief Network and closely linked with the State EMS. The National Medical Relief Toll Free Number (102) should be well advertised by displaying prominent signage at every 2-5 kms. b) Incident Management System The specifications for the Ambulances, Patrol Cars and CRVs should be revised, updated and standardized to remove ambiguity and ensure uniformity in form and function. A periodic audit for the already awarded contracts should be done w.r.t. the quality of service being rendered, quality of vehicles being used as patrol cars, ambulance and cranes, 37

their utilization, linkages, uptime etc. To ensure they are meeting with the T&C of the contract in spirit. NHAI should institutionalize this activity by establishing an IMS monitoring unit staffed by skilled manpower. This scheme should be rapidly extended to cover the entire length of the National & State Highways. The response time of 30 minutes for the Ambulances, Cranes, etc. to reach the site needs to be reduced to 10 minutes. To ensure this, a close liaison with the corresponding States EMS Network is a must. c) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System National Framework for the EMS System with the aim of providing effective and economical emergency care should be developed so as to maintain uniformity and continuity across the county This framework should specify the broad specifications, guidelines and protocols for the various components of EMS System viz. Ambulances, Trauma Centres, Emergency Departments, Emergency Medical Technicians, Communication, Dispatch Centers, Command & Control Posts, etc. All the States should develop their respective EMS Systems within this predefined framework; All police officers, drivers, teachers and paramedical personnel should be trained in basic first aid practices. Ten institutions should be identified in the country to conduct such programmes based on uniform methodologies. d) Short term Measures (one two years for realization) Short term EMS programmes of 4-5 days duration should be developed in select institutions for CMOs and nurses working in emergency rooms. Enunciate a National Accident Relief Policy & a National Trauma System Plan Deployment of a Pan-India Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Care Network to ensure a primary crash response time of 8 10 mins. This network should be adequately supported by a unified toll free number, seamless communication, centralized dispatch, medical direction, triage protocols & crash rescue units. To verify & designate the existing healthcare facilities along the Highways and upgrade those found deficient to minimum defined levels & to plan for new facilities where there is a deficit so as to ensure the availability of one emergency care facility at every 50km along the national highways. Capacity building and regular training in EMS to all involved in trauma care supplemented by training in First Aid to the public Encourage research & development into post-crash response by identifying and funding 5 major health care institutions of excellence in the country. e) Long Term Measures (three five years for realization) All district hospitals and community health centres across the country should be developed as integrated trauma care centres with appropriate manpower and facilities. Augmentation in capacity and resources of available Medical establishments Setting up of Regional Referral Trauma Centres in tertiary hospitals across the country. Plan for rehabilitation centres for the trauma care victims 38

Standardize minimum national specifications for various types of Emergency Response Vehicles viz. First Responders, Patient Transport Ambulances, BLS Ambulances & ALS Ambulances, Crash Rescue Vehicles, Dispatch Centres, Command & Control Centres, etc. so as to bring homogeneity in the system across the country. Assured essential emergency care to all citizens of India.
Human Resource Development

India has a very little research activity in the area of traffic safety. It will take many years for India to catch up with countries like Brazil and China if action is initiated in the 12th FYP. The following initiatives are recommended: a) Establish eight multidisciplinary centres of excellence in the area of road traffic safety in existing institutions of repute. b) Establish at least four injury research centres in medical institutions to focus on details of road traffic injury. c) Create job opportunities at MTech and PhD levels in Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), NHAI and other road building agencies in Road Safety Units specially created for the purpose. d) MoRTH should establish a fund for providing 50 fellowships for in-service professionals to attend international short term courses of repute in the area of road safety. e) MoRTH should establish a professional agency for collection and analysis road traffic accident data in collaboration with NCRB. f) MoRTH should sponsor an annual conference of traffic safety in collaboration with an academic institution. International state of knowledge in road traffic safety Legislation and enforcement In general, the deterrent effect of a law is determined in part by the severity and swiftness of the penalty for disobeying it, but a key factor is the perceived likelihood of being detected and sanctioned. Laws against drinking and driving are effective when combined with active enforcement and the support of the community. Policing methods and enforcement techniques have to be optimized for India to be effective at much lower expenditure levels. Education campaigns and driver education Road-safety campaigns often aim to improve road-user behaviour by increasing knowledge and by changing attitudes. Campaigns should be used to put important questions on the agenda, and campaigns aimed at changing road-user behaviour should be focused on clearly defined behaviours and should by preference fortify other measures such as new legislation and/or police enforcement. Vehicle factors Vehicles conforming to EU or USA crashworthiness standards provide significant safety benefits to occupants and the effectiveness of the following measures have been evaluated. Improvements in vehicle crashworthiness and restraint use have contributed to a major reduction in occupant fatality rates. 39

Environmental and infrastructure factors The road environment and infrastructure must be adapted to the limitations of the road user. Traffic-calming techniques, use of roundabouts, and provision of bicycle facilities in urban areas provide significant safety benefits. Limited-access highways with appropriate shoulder and median designs provide significant safety benefits on long-distance through roads. Though improvements in road design seem have some beneficial effects on crash rates, increases in speed and exposure can offset some of these benefits. Road designs that control speeds seem to be the most effective crash control measure. A great deal of additional work needs to be done on rural and urban road and infrastructure design suitable for mixed traffic to make the environment safer for vulnerable road users. This would require special guidelines and standards for design of, (a) roundabouts, (b) service lanes along all intercity highways, and (c) traffic calming on urban roads and highways passing through settlements. Institutional arrangements It is essential to establish a lead agency (and associated coordination mechanisms) on road safety involving partners from a range of sectors through. The lead agency and related secretariat should be independent of the road building agency. A national strategy (at a cabinet or ministerial level) should be coordinated by the lead agency through: confirming long-term investment priorities, specifying agency responsibilities and accountabilities for development and implementation of core work programmes. Data collection systems are necessary to provide baseline data and monitor progress in reducing road traffic injuries and fatalities and other important indicators such as cost, etc. The data collection systems may follow IRTAD guidelines. It is essential to establish specialist road safety research centres to monitor and improve the safety of the road network by providing interdisciplinary in-depth research studies. Summary Recommendations The overall goal for the Decade of Action for Road Safety will be to halt or reverse the rising trend in road traffic fatalities around the world through (a) Setting ambitious target for reduction of road fatalities by 2020; (b) Strengthening the architecture for Road Safety; (c) Increasing the level of funding for road safety; (d) increasing human capacity to address road safety; (e) Providing technical support to countries using successful experiences from others; (f) Improving the quality of data collection at the national, regional and global levels; and (g) Monitoring progress on a number of predetermined indicators at the national, regional and global levels. a) Institutional requirements Implement on an urgent basis the key recommendation of the Sundar Committee Report concerning the creation of National Road Safety & Traffic Management Board with the legal authority to promote and sustain improved road safety India, reflect international good practice and provide an informed basis for effective action. Strengthen related vertical coordination arrangements at the national level across Ministries with similar mechanisms at the State level.

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b) Awareness, education and driver training There is a whole range of awareness which is required to be brought into the system, so that systemic problems get connected. Awareness should be spread using all modes of communication: TV, Newspapers, Radio, etc. Education of Officials in the System: NHAI, PWD and Police Department, Consultants/Designers, NGOs and Corporates Framework for managing and monitoring driving training at State and Regional level. Training and licensing the trainers. ITIs to be involved in driver training. MoRTH provides a scheme for setting up IDTR/DTI at state level. Before they start imparting driving training in driving schools, they should attend TRAINERS TRAINING in IDTRs/RSIs. To ensure that the needs are met driver training schools should be encouraged to come up in the PPP mode. c) Data systems Set minimal road death and injury data reporting requirements in accordance with standards set by the International Accident Database Group (IRTAD) for national level data. Web based data systems should be established and be operational in the 12th Plan period. Strengthen road death and injury data matching capacity across the transport and health sectors at National, State and District levels. MoRTH should establish a professional agency for collection and analysis road traffic accident data in collaboration with NCRB. d) Enforcement Promote the development and implementation of general deterrence based traffic safety enforcement programs, combined with intensive social marketing programs, targeting highrisk safety behaviors at the National, State and District levels. Establish dedicated highway safety patrol capacity on strategic high-risk roads at the National, State and District levels. Participate in the International Road Policing Organization (RoadPOL) to strengthen leadership capacity in road policing and accelerate the transfer of international best practice. Establishment of dedicated fully equipped and trained mobile traffic police units. Development and piloting of semi-automatic traffic surveillance systems on high-risk transport corridors. Implement recommendations regarding penalties as suggested by the Sundar Committee on amendment of the MVA. Increase capacity, knowledge and skills of police agencies with regard to visible, random, uniform enforcement practices; e) Urban and highway safety Promote the development and implementation of Safe System road design principles and standards that subordinate mobility requirements to safety requirements, rather than vice versa, to put the priority on enhancing the protective quality of the road network for all road users. Set and manage speed limits in accordance with the protective quality of the road environment provided rather than the desired speed behavior of road users. 41

Participate in the International Road Assessment Programme (IRAP) and develop and establish a related India RAP initiative to undertake systematic and sustained assessments of road network safety performance. Development of pilot fully access controlled freeway system and adjacent structured road networks. Provide service roads along all 4 and 6-lane highways. Implement most effective physical engineering countermeasures to improve road safety on around 30% of the on the existing national and state highway network, such as (countermeasures below are indicative only and should be selected through research efforts under section 5 below; research should also select highways, establish typical standards, layouts, criteria and cost-benefits) Speed control and reduction of exposure of vulnerable road users to the through traffic in built up areas; Centerline and shoulder rumble strips, which have shown to be low cost and highly effective for the reduction of run-off-the road crashes. Introduce traffic calming measures where necessary. 1% of cess money be earmarked for engineering aspects of road safety which should be utilised for research, pilot projects for show casing, before and after studies and safety audits Cost cutting approach in road development be abandoned and forgiving highways be planned and provided More Expressways be planned rather than upgrading existing 4- lane highways. Focus be on VRUs Special attention be given to the stretches passing through linear settlements (built up areas) for conflict removal and by control of speeds; Incorporate road safety audits in the planning, design, construction and operation of the highways f) Vehicle safety At present the introduction of new safety standards is dependent of testing facilities available in the country including those at NATRIP. Since the vehicles produced in the next few years will be present on the road for about two decades, it is essential that the provision of testing facilities and introduction of new standards should be expedited. Impact standards for vehicles should be implemented on an early basis. Since a vast majority of those injured and killed comprise of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists, India should take the lead in introduction of pedestrian impact standards for all vehicles. Special attention should be given to evaluating modern generation ITS and active safety systems for applicability in India. India should set up a NCAP India Programme. In the first phase, cities with significant transport vehicles (Metros) should introduce a modern Inspection and Certification regime A modern inspection regime should be first introduced for commercial vehicles, and then subsequently to private vehicles. Within private vehicles, older vehicles (more than 9 years old) should be included in the regime earlier. And then it must be extended to newer fleet (3-9 year old) Both emissions and safety tests should be introduced simultaneously for commercial vehicles.

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g) Pre-hospital and medical Care Highway Rescue Standards and Guidelines Identification of corridors for Highway Rescue systems Implementation of Highway Rescue systems Enunciate a National Accident Relief Policy & a National Trauma System Plan Deployment of a Pan-India Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Care Network to ensure a primary crash response time of 8 10 mins. This network should be adequately supported by a unified toll free number, seamless communication, centralized dispatch, medical direction, triage protocols & crash rescue units. To verify & designate the existing healthcare facilities along the Highways and upgrade those found deficient to minimum defined levels & to plan for new facilities where there is a deficit so as to ensure the availability of one emergency care facility at every 50km along the national highways. Plan for seamless networking amongst health facilities, rescue services, existing fleet of ambulances, etc. Capacity building and regular training in EMS to all involved in trauma care supplemented by training in First Aid to the public Encourage research & development into post-crash response Establish minimum standards, guidelines and protocols for emergency and in hospital care. h) Long Term Measures (three five years for realization) Assured essential emergency care to all citizens of India Augmentation in capacity and resources of available Medical establishments Setting up of Regional Referral Trauma Centres in tertiary hospitals across the country. Plan for rehabilitation centres for the trauma care victims Standardize minimum national specifications for various types of Emergency Response Vehicles viz. First Responders, Patient Transport Ambulances, BLS Ambulances & ALS Ambulances, Crash Rescue Vehicles, Dispatch Centres, Command & Control Centres, etc. so as to bring homogeneity in the system across the country. i) Research infrastructure Establish 8 multidisciplinary centres of excellence in the area of road traffic safety in existing institutions of repute. The Centres so established must encompass all the disciplines associated with traffic safety; Establish at least 4 injury research centres in medical institutions to focus on road traffic injury. Create job opportunities at MTech and PhD levels in MoRTH, NHAI and other road building agencies in Road Safety Units specially created for the purpose. MoRTH should establish a fund for providing 50 fellowships for in-service professionals to attend international short term courses of repute in the area of road safety. MoRTH should establish a professional agency for collection and analysis road traffic accident data in collaboration with NCRB. MoRTH should sponsor an annual conference of traffic safety in collaboration with an academic institution.

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Summary Highlights and Recommendations of Report of the Sub Group on Strengthening of Road Transport Division under the Working Group Year Plan (2012-2017)

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Background With the growth in automotive industry, it is essential to arrive at a vibrant and resonant structure in the ministry, which would lay down policies and procedures for effective implementation of various Acts related to Road Transport and Traffic Management. Advances in technology in vehicle designs, traffic management as well as road infrastructure would call for amendments in existing provisions under Motor Vehicle Act and the rules there under. Keeping in view our national priorities and governmental set-up, a workable solution is therefore proposed, which will enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the Division. The subgroup also kept in view other initiatives like proposed formulation of National Automotive Board (NAB) by Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), which would synergize with some of the active roles of RT Division. It is expected that NAB (after NATRiP) will function as an umbrella body. Road Transport Division- Roles and Responsibilities MoRTH is entrusted primarily with the functions of construction and maintenance of National Highways (NH), administration of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, Carriage by Road Act 2007, Road Transport Corporation Act 1950, formulation of broad policies relating to road transport, environmental issues, automotive norms etc. and making arrangement for movement of vehicular traffic with neighboring countries. The objective of the Ministry is formulation / implementation of policies for Road Transport, development and maintenance of National Highways and Transport Research to lay stress on the increased and safe mobility of the road transport system in the country. The Ministry formulates and administers policies for Road Transport, National Highways and Transport Research with a view to increasing the mobility and efficiency of the road transport system in the country, in consultation with other Central Ministries / Departments, State Governments / UT Administrations, organizations and individuals. Other activities of the Ministry include: Nodal Ministry for Road sector for guiding different states for construction and maintenance of quality roads by issuing technical circulars related to different aspects of Highway Engineering and Practice. Preparation of specification for road and bridge works, standard drawings for various types of bridges, culverts and junctions. Actively involved with Multilateral/Bilateral Organizations like World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Exim Bank Japan to access financial/technical assistance for road transport sector. Interactions with organizations like ESCAP, BIMSTEC etc. for active co-operation in the field of developing Highway linkages like Asian Highways. Administrative responsibilities for its Associated Offices (such as NHAI, NITHE etc). Participation in the technical deliberations on harmonization automotive regulations held under WP.29, which is a world body under Transport Division of UN-ECE. Administering the 1998 Agreement under WP.29 The Ministrys prime thrust for Research and Development (R&D) in the road sector is to build a sustainable road infrastructure comparable to the best in the world. 45

Road Safety The Ministry recognizes the need for improving the countrys road safety scenario. There are four aspects of road safety, viz. Engineering, Enforcement, Education and emergency handling which are otherwise known as four Es. The engineering related aspects are being taken care of at the design stage of the National Highways itself. The Enforcement aspect as well as emergency handling aspect of the Road Safety is vested with the Respective States / Union Territories. The Education aspect of Road Safety is taken care of through campaigns in print and electronic media, with the involvement of Non Government Organizations (NGOs). Vehicle related aspects are handled by testing and approving agencies which are authorized under Central Motor Vehicles Rules. Ministry Organization & Structure The Ministry is headed by Honble Minister of Cabinet rank. The Ministry has also two Honble Ministers of State. Secretary (RT&H) is assisted by Director General (Road Development) & Special Secretary, Joint Secretary/s (Transport & Administration), Joint Secretary (Highways), Joint Secretary (Land Acquisition and international cooperation) and a number of Chief Engineers, officers at the level of Directors, Deputy Secretaries and other Secretariat and technical officers. The Finance Wing of the Ministry is headed by Additional Secretary & Financial Adviser (AS&FA), to provide guidance s in formulating and processing of all policies and other proposals having financial implications. AS&FA is assisted by Director (Finance), Assistant Financial Adviser and Under Secretary (Budget) and other Secretariat Officers and staff. The accounts side of the Ministry is headed by a Chief Controller of Accounts who is inter-alia, responsible for accounting, payment, budget, internal audit and cash management. Adviser (Transport Research) renders necessary data support to various Wings of the Ministry for policy planning, transport coordination, economic & statistical analysis on various modes of transport with which the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. The departmental wings of MoRTH along with the various agencies under its administration and are presented below in a graphical form.

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Current position of strength in Transport wing is as detailed below:

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Transport Wing Road Transport Division of the Ministry is concerned with the formulation of broad policies relating to regulation of road transport in the country, besides making arrangements for movement of vehicular traffic with the neighboring countries. The Division frames policies and undertakes activities for improving road safety, vehicular emissions so as to minimize road accidents. The important schemes formulated and managed by the Road Safety Cell of the Division include publicity programmes, grants-in-aid to Non Government Organizations (NGOs) for organizing road safety awareness programmes, National Highways Accident Relief Service Scheme (NHARSS), refresher training to heavy vehicle drivers in unorganized sector, etc. Improving the road safety scenario in the country is one of the most important and challenging activities of the Road Transport Division. The following Acts / Rules, which embody the policy relating to motor vehicles and State Road Transport Corporations (SRTCs), are administered by the Road Transport Division of the Ministry. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 Road Transport Corporations Act, 1950 Carriage by Road Act, 2007 This wing also deals with matters relating to Road Transport such as: Motor vehicles legislation Taxation of motor vehicles Compulsory insurance of motor vehicles Promotion of transport co-operatives in the field of motor transport. Formulate and oversee road safety standards in the form of a National Policy on Road Safety and by preparing and implementing the Annual Road Safety Plan Collect, compile and analyze road accident statistics and takes steps for developing a Road Safety Culture in the country by involving the members of public and organizing various awareness campaigns Providing grants-in-aid to Non-Governmental Organizations in accordance with the laid down guidelines Besides formulating policies for the Road Transport Sector, the Division is also responsible for administering certain central sector schemes. These schemes relate to Human Resources Development involving training programmes for the State Transport Department personnel, drivers of heavy commercial vehicles in the unorganized sector, publicity measures and awareness campaigns on road safety, providing road safety and pollution testing equipments to the States / Union Territories, National Highway Accident Relief Service Scheme, National Database / Computerization in road transport sector, strengthening of public transport system, setting up of Inspection & Certification Centers, Model Driving Training Schools, creation of National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board. Role of State Transport Authorities The Motor Vehicles Act 1988, administered by MoRT&H, is the principal legislation to regulate road transport in the country. However, the Central Government has no machinery of 48

its own to enforce the provisions of law. Besides, the Road Transport being in Concurrent List of the Constitution of India, the States are also empowered to make legislation on issues concerning road transport sector. The Provisions of law relating to licensing, registration, permit, tax, drivers training are implemented by the Regional Transport Offices all across the country. There are around one thousand RTOs in the country, set up by various State Governments. Quite often various RTOs interpret the law as per their own understanding, which may give rise to public grievances. It is highly desirable that the rules and regulations framed at the central level apply uniformly throughout the country to bring public satisfaction. Therefore, there is need to have an expert body, which can oversee the activities of the RTOs and guide them appropriately for the sake of uniformity throughout the country. Changing scenario and existing gaps Changing scenario in near future In a view of establishing robust system based on the international practices in the areas of networking, driving licensing, formulating test standards for drivers and instructors, settingup tests centers, inspection and maintenance programme, traffic control and monitoring systems, highways etc. following functions are required to be strengthened. 1. Information Technology: Introduction and an effective implementation of Information Technology in Road Transport Sector are essential. Modernization of all Road Transport Offices, Transport Commissioners Offices, Traffic Control Authorities and related agencies across the country is required. 2. Driver Licensing System: Effective control of driving licenses and standardization of driving test procedures and assessment system for various categories of vehicles would be necessary. Adequate skill levels should be ensured for drivers training, driving instructors and trainers. 3. Vehicle Registration System: Vehicle registration related procedures and control of records should to have seamless operations. On line fees transactions towards taxes, transfer of motor vehicles, permits, renewals of permits, etc. should be established across the country. 4. Control of in-use vehicle: Establishment of Inspection and Certification (I&C) system for various categories of vehicles, inspection test procedures and mechanism for de-registration of vehicles and End of Life would be necessary. Undertaking technical investigations of safety concerns and sharing of data to the concerned authorities for accident analysis would be required. 5. Vehicle regulations, approval and international harmonization: Indias participation in WP. 29 and its technical committees are expected to increase substantially. Existing mechanism of rule making should be strengthened so that it is vibrant and dynamic in nature on the global scenario. There are multiple test centers emerging for testing and approval of vehicles. There is a need to bring legal and technical coordination and accreditation of all such centers. 6. Highways: For sustainable inter-city mobility, more and more technology solutions would emerge, such as ITS. Establishment of Traffic Control / Monitoring System including weighing in motion facilities on golden quadrilateral highway network to begin with. Networking for dissemination on real time traffic related information and advising operators for safe journey. 49

Existing gaps and identified actions India is witnessing a surge in growth of motor vehicle population driven by sustained high economic growth and expansion and improvement in the road network. This calls for strengthening of the various wings/divisions of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. There appears to be considerable gap between the expected roles and actual capacity of the Ministry. The Table 1 below captures these gaps. Table 1 Sr. No. 1 Area/ function Driving licenses are handled at the state level. There is a need to establish policies and standardize procedures at central level for effective implementation and coordinate the same Gap/ difficulties/ specific actions required Country-wide implementation of standardized electronic DL should be done in next 3 years. Format of data on smart cards should also be standardized to the extent possible. Unique Numbering system is required for Driving Licenses Centralized data base creation should be completed. Migration of existing data base to electronic data base should be done over a period of 5 years as otherwise we are not going to realize benefits of the system. Budget provision should be made for this purpose. Control of traffic violations and implementing Driver penalty scheme should be integrated with disqualification criteria of driving licenses Incentives for good/ safe driving may be considered Control and monitoring of vehicle related crimes should be carried out. Policies should be established to reduce the current rates. Spurious/ bogus/ duplicate DLs should be controlled Interstate transfer procedures should be simplified. State authorities do not have adequate infrastructure and capability for effective evaluation of driver skills. Automated test tracks may be established for this purpose with the long term objective of conducting driving tests on road as is done internationally. Budget provisions should be made. Rationalization of Driving License categories and authorization on the basis of specific skill levels for that category should be introduced (e.g. Ambulance, long and special trailers, construction equipment vehicles, etc) To reduce duplication of efforts, telescoping of learners license and driving licenses should be done States have their own specific rules especially for issuance of permits for passenger vehicles. There is a need for standardization. There should be portability of Registration number. Inter-state transfer of registration should be 50

Vehicle control vehicles permits

of and

registration, transport grant of

Driving schools, their operations, curriculum and approval procedures

In-use vehicle maintenance and safety

Vehicle Type Approval is currently carried out by notified test agencies

dispensed with after introduction of electronic data base. Policy/ procedure for scrapping old vehicles after de-registration should be formulated All existing vehicle registrations should migrate to electronic registration in next 5 years. Provisions related to hire purchase agreements to be restricted to banks and finance companies registered with RBI and services of RTOs (providing data, issuance of NoC, etc.) may be made chargeable State government should be empowered to establish schemes for running efficient public transport. Procedural changes should be carried out in provisions related to offenses and penalties to encourage safety on road and to act as deterrent to unsafe driving Guidelines are required for establishing advanced technology driving schools and their curriculum Accreditation procedures and monitoring of DSs to be established Audit mechanism for trainers capabilities, DSs, performance/ compliance, etc should be established DSs should be made accountable for driver skills Establishing I & C centres and test procedures. In order to cover all the states (up to district level) budget provisions should be made. All vehicles, including non-transport vehicles should be covered under the fitness requirements in next 5 years Mechanism should be established for approval/ accreditation and control of these centers and centralized data collection and analysis of all the centers Policies and mechanism related to control of aftermarket spares through deployment of Conformity of Production of vehicles and components. Establishing policies and procedures related to end of life of vehicles Lane discipline should be strictly enforced. Overloading should be stopped. Road signs/ lane markings should be harmonized with international practices and updated from time to time. Coordination of different test agencies should be done Providing guidance in interpretation of rules/ regulations/ standards Procedures and mechanism for Accreditation of test agencies should be established 51

All matter related to Vehicle Regulations and international harmonization are handled by AISC/ SCOE/ CMVR-TSC/ WP.29 standing committee etc.

Accident data and analysis should be done on scientific base. This data should be used by relevant stake holders

Establishing central data base related to TA and CoP of vehicles Establish mechanism for monitoring and control of Fuel Efficiency of vehicles Technical support wing is required for controlling all these activities. This wing should also invite participation of experts from the field. Currently ARAI is handling all these committees. Specific budget provisions should be made for this purpose Under WP.29, India is a signatory to 1998 agreement. Also 1958 agreement is under discussion. Administrative mechanism is required for effective operations in both protecting Indian interests while these international regulations are formulated and for implementation of them in India. For participation in international committees, technical expertise and research grants are required Policies and procedures for data collection should be standardized and implemented Coordination of all such centers would be necessary Existing wing in the ministry should be strengthened

In order to undertake several activities listed above and to bridge the identified gaps, there needs to be adequate infrastructure in the Ministry. The Ministry should be well equipped with the tools and techniques for data collection, statistical/ scientific analysis and evolving action plans to discharge its functions. Apart from strengthening the human resource availability in the ministry, some assignments should be outsourced on a case to case basis as and when required. It is also noted that Department of Heavy Industry has proposed formulation of National Automotive Board (NAB) and some of the above identified gaps are expected to be covered under NAB. It is envisaged that NAB will act as an umbrella Organization for issues related to auto sector and would be the repository of technical and domain knowledge. This proposal is in advance stage of approval. NAB will not only coordinate, monitor the working and plan the future growth of various automotive testing centers but will also take up collaborative automotive research and development activities, spear head new initiatives for the automotive sector currently developed by DHI and also provide technical expertise, advice and support to various departments in govt. of India. Working Group examined these aspects and concluded that in following activities (as enumerated in the Table 1 above), Road Transport Department could work in coordination with the proposed NAB in respect of the following activities: . In-use Vehicle Compliance Section Vehicle Type Approval Section Vehicle Regulations/International Harmonization Section Accident Analysis and Data Section 52

It was also concluded that the activities related to Driving Licenses, Vehicle Registration and Driving Standards and regulatory functions being the core activities of Road Transport Division, there is a need to strengthen these functions. Working Group therefore recommends that Government may take appropriate decision while arriving at final structure of the Road Transport Department Proposed Structure 1. Primary Considerations Sub-group felt that various activities enumerated in Chapter 3 would be associated with technical and specialized skills, which would not be easily available within the ministry itself. In the existing set up, it would be rather difficult build up a dedicated technical cadre to man the proposed sections. It is therefore recommended to take following two-fold approach: Strengthening manpower and skill levels: 1. Pool the resources from industry, research associations, management schools, state transport authorities, etc. Such resource persons/ domain experts may be engaged for a short period of 2 to 3 years, depending on the requirement. Necessary expertise may also be drawn from proposed umbrella organization like NAB at appropriate time. 2. Enhance and strengthen existing structure of the ministry to take up additional responsibilities related to policy matters and administrative procedures within the ministerial framework. Enhancing roles and responsibilities: 1. Motor Vehicle Act and provisions under CMVR lay down roles, responsibilities and authorities of States. The state transport authorities shall continue to function as per the specified requirements. Strengthening of structure in the ministry is not intended at shifting these responsibilities to the central ministry. It intends at enhancing the roles and responsibilities of central ministry in order to provide effective policy matters and better coordination. 2. Road Transport Wing can coordinate and help the RTAs all across the country by evolving standardized processes intended at enhancing efficiency and also to serve better the final customer, viz. vehicle owner, driving license holder, etc. The Road Transport Wing can also look at the best practices followed in specific states and standardize them for the benefit of all. 2. Proposed Organization Structure In order to address the above requirement, it is proposed to have following structure.

Each one of the Expert Groups is expected to have following generic structure. Exact strength and reporting details should be worked out based on policies and procedures of the ministry. Under NATRiP project, Accident Data Collection and analysis is a part of project scope. NAB 53

will therefore fully support this activity, wherein the Accident Data and Analysis Centre has been already set up at Rae Bareilly (UP). Road Transport Wing should also be actively working with this center. Generic structure for each of the Expert Group is proposed as under. Considering the existing structure in the ministry, it is suggested that first 2 Expert Groups (namely Vehicle Licensing and Driving Standards) could operate under direct control of one Joint Secretary. Remaining 4 Expert Groups (namely In-use vehicle compliance, Vehicle Type approval, Vehicle Regulations/ International Harmonization and Accident Data and Transport Research) could operate under second Joint Secretary. If necessary, additional position for 3rd Joint Secretary could be also created in the ministry. These groups are expected to closely work with National Automotive Board (NAB) in order to synergize and to avoid duplication of activities.

Proposed Organograms of Expert Groups 1 and 2

Proposed Organogram of Expert Groups 3, 4, 5 and 6 54

3.

Functions and responsibilities of 6 Expert Groups

Driving and Vehicle Licensing Functions o National level data capture and management. Migration of existing database to electronic data base o Streamlining of procedures related to issuance of Learners License and Driving License, interstate vehicle transfer, smart cards, etc. o Establish Rules and regulations related to traffic violations, driver penalty scheme Expected Manpower: Resource persons- 5-6 Expected annual funds: Rs. 5 Crore towards data management and system integration, consultancy, training Driving Standards Functions o Establish curriculum, rules, regulations for driving licensing tests (Vehicle category wise) o Establish mechanism for accreditation of driving schools, their audits and continual compliance. Maintain central data. o Establish policies and procedures to promote mobility to physically challenged Expected Manpower: Resource persons- 5-7 Expected annual funds: Funds of Rs. 14 crore per Institute (Tier 1 category) should be planned. During year 2011-12, 10 Institutes are already sanctioned. Provision should be made for other areas/ states in the next 5 year plan. Tier 2 category institutes should be built on the basis of PPP. In -use Vehicle Compliance Functions o Establishing I & C centres across the country. Establish the mechanism for annual fitness check for all type of vehicles (including non-transport vehicles) o Control and approval of I & M centers, maintain data of in-use vehicles o Establishing, monitoring and supervision test standards o Establish policies and mechanism related to control of aftermarket spares through deployment of Conformity of Production of vehicles and components. o Establishing policies and procedures related to end of life of vehicles Expected Manpower: Resource persons- 4-6 Expected annual funds: Nation-wide I&C centers should be established. Separate proposal is already given to the Ministry. Budget of Rs. 148 Crores for establishing 10 numbers of model centers is already allocated. Nation-wide centres could be established on the principle of BOOT/ PPP. (Capital and infrastructure Cost of 1 automated center having 4 test lanes would be approximately 5 to 8 crores). Vehicle Type Approval Section Functions o Co-ordination of test agencies authorized under CMVR. 55

o Maintain central data base records of TA and CoP for linkage with vehicle registration o Providing guidance in interpretation of rules/ regulations/ standards o Coordination with other ministries in the matters related to components and vehicle approvals The above functions are expected to be covered within the contours of NAB, which will coordinate and monitor the functioning of the existing and upcoming automotive centers under DHI and will also carry out bench marking of testing procedures, adoption of best practices and standardization of processes amongst the various centers along with their audits. Under CMVR, other test centers are also authorized to test and approve motor vehicles. Road Transport Department is required to establish coordination of such centres. It is proposed that Governing Council Member from DRT on NAB could head the vertical related to the domain of work of DRT (i.e. regulations development, issue of type approval certificates, etc.) Expected Manpower: Resource persons- 3-5 Expected annual funds: 8-10 crores funds should be available in order to undertake feasibility projects and advanced studies before implementing new mandatory requirement. Benefit-cost analysis studies should also be undertaken. Correlation projects should be initiated between the test agencies for establishing mandatory test procedures. Vehicle Regulations and International Harmonization Functions o Technical support wing for controlling functions related to formulation of safety, emission and other standards at national level and its representation at international level o Provide administrative mechanism in the matters of international agreements related to vehicle regulations o Establish administrative mechanism for effective operations under UN-ECE WP.29 agreements o Technical support wing for controlling functions related to formulation of safety, emission and other standards on international regulation formulation to protect Indian interests o Facilitate participation in international committees by providing technical expertise and research grants As explained in Para 3.4 above, DRT representative on NAB could coordinate the function with support from technical experts. NAB is expected to provide regular institutional support for regulation development, international harmonization of regulations, etc. For this purpose NAB shall extend support to MoRTH, which is the regulator for automotive sector in India. Expected Manpower: Resource persons- 5-7 Expected annual funds: 8-10 crores funds should be available in order to undertake Study projects on safety and emission standards, their feasibility and relevance to India. Some areas in which immediate work is required are- Adequacy of Front vision for heavy vehicles, standardization of bus body designs, standardization of agriculture and automotive trailers, benefit-cost analysis of new technology like Electronic Stability Control, ABS, rear impact of vehicles). 2 Crore funds are additionally required for supporting international participation in the world forum. 56

Summary and Recommendations Summary As per the Terms of Reference, Sub-Group examined the existing set up of Road Transport Division in light of the growing challenges in Motor Vehicle Legislation and Road Transport Sector. Sub-group also analyzed the existing gaps and expected roles and responsibilities of the RT Division in the light of international practices prevalent in countries like U.K. With the growth in automotive industry, it is essential to arrive at a vibrant and resonant structure in the ministry, which would lay down policies and procedures for effective implementation of various Acts related to Road Transport and Traffic Management. Advances in technology in vehicle designs, traffic management as well as road infrastructure would call for amendments in existing provisions under Motor Vehicle Act and the rules there under. Keeping in view our national priorities and governmental set-up, a workable solution is therefore proposed, which will enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the Division. The sub-group also kept in view other initiatives like proposed formulation of National Automotive Board (NAB), which would synergize with some of the active roles of RT Division. Recommendations The sub-group summarizes its recommendations as under: 1. Strengthen the existing roles and responsibilities within ministry by taking support from external domain experts and creating additional posts within the ministry as per the structure proposed in Chapter 4 (Para 2) 2. To create 6 Expert Groups/ bodies on: Driving and vehicle licensing Driving standards In-use Vehicle Compliance Vehicle Type Approval Vehicle Regulations/International Harmonization Accident Analysis and Data 3. To make adequate budget provisions to cover the expenses towards Additional human resources R&D activities Special studies Modernization and management of nation-wide data International participation in harmonization of automotive regulations

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