January 22, 2008

New 'Nano' car highlights India's mass transit woes

The world's most affordable car is likely to result in millions of additional vehicles flooding India's strained thoroughfares, highlighting that nation's need to upgrade its substandard mass transit system, says Sinha, Purdue's Edgar B. and Hedwig M. Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering.

He will discuss his concerns during a keynote talk on Feb. 13 during the First Indo-U.S. Symposium on Advances in Mass Transit and Travel Behavior Research at the Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati, India.

"Buses and trains in India are highly overcrowded and sorely lacking in passenger comfort and convenience, a fact that could drive many riders to the Nano in years to come unless mass transit service is radically improved," Sinha says. "Improvements are essential to consider the needs of those segments of passengers who can afford to use mass transit or switch to motor scooters or small, inexpensive, private vehicles like the Nano."

Sinha also says India should consider ways to levy a tax from auto sales and use to help pay for improvements to mass transit and the transportation infrastructure that will, in part, be necessitated by the introduction of low-cost automobiles.

The Purdue engineer recently led a team of researchers who toured India to assess efforts to modernize the nation's highway system. The team concluded last year that India must address serious safety problems that result in more than 100,000 traffic fatalities annually, compared with about 40,000 in the United States, where traffic volume is far greater than in India.

Similar safety woes exist in China as well, Sinha says.

Information about next month's conference is available online at  https://www.iitg.ernet.in/mttbr/index.htm

Writer: Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu

Source: Kumares Sinha, (765) 494-2211, ksinha@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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