Day 2 London: Electric Buses and Smart Cities

Alongwith Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra, Trsnsport Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyaya, CP Surajit Prokayasthya, we went to TfW (Transportation for London) and had a detailed briefing from five detailed presentations. There were many things that struck me as doable in Kolkata/ West Bengal context. Some are:
* Congestion tax and its rationale
* Using raised islands used normally for traffic management as paths across which pedestrians cross any which way
* Use of contactless debit cards for bus-train-ferry tickets (I thought we could speak to banks and make use of it in Eco Park, Wax Museum etc)
* Command and Control systems in operation: this is essentially co-location of Police, Bus/ Traffic and Fire / Disaster Management personnel in one hall, monitoring CCTV feeds to take floor co-ordinated corrective actions. This is used in many smart cities across the world.
* Regular information pushing through twitter etc. In the Control Centre, I even saw a "Twitter Desk"
* Rising importance of cycles and public transport: Public cycle use was rising
* Pedestrianisation of Core: Several locations in the core central London, streets were made walking-friendly and general ambiance was improved, This resulted in fewer streets available to cars and so forcing people to use public transport.
* And the startling fact: Results compiled by TfW showed that most people travel (in London) for leisure / entertainment (27%) and shopping (27%) rather than commute (15%) or travel on duty (7%)

Command & Control Console at TfW, London

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We intend to buy, from CIL's CSR funds, three electric buses for New Town on pilot basis. We have already engaged Ernst and Young to draw up bid documents / RFP-RFQs. We rode today an electric bus for a short while to see how it performed on road. A picture:

L-R: Alapan, me, Scott (Br Dy High Commissioner), MD, Optare

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