According to a recent survey conducted by World Health Organization (WHO), Delhi has the highest concentrations of particulate matter measuring less than 10 and 2.5 microns in the world. These particles can be particularly dangerous because they can lodge deeply in the lungs and cause inflammation, infection and lead to diseases including cancer. One of the major sources of these particles and other harmful fumes is vehicular emission.
Of all the commuters in Delhi (baring people who travel on foot and bicycle), 42 percent use buses, 25 percent use metro, 25 percent use private vehicles and 8 percent use auto-rickshaws. Even with higher ridership, buses contribute to just 20 percent of vehicular CO2 emissions, while private vehicles contribute to a staggering 60 percent. Also, buses constitute only 40 percent of road traffic while the rest 60 percent traffic comprises of private vehicles and auto-rickshaws. It is worth mentioning that Delhi metro has shared considerable burden on public transport, but given its restricted reach and limited capacity buses will still serve a larger proportion of population going forward. It is evident that buses can solve Delhi?s pollution and traffic problems.
Air pollution in India is responsible for 12.5 percent of death in the country.
Air pollution kills an average of 8.5 out of every 10,000 children in India before they turn five.
The risk is higher for girls as 9.6 out of 10,000 girls die before they turn five.
To fight pollution, Delhi government recently came up with a plan to allow vehicles with either odd or even registration numbers to ply on a given day. This is expected to push more people towards using buses. However, Delhi does not have enough buses to cater to this increased demand. Buses constitute less than one percent of all registered vehicles in Delhi, while 31 percent are cars and jeeps, and a whopping 64 percent are motorcycles and scooters. The number of buses has decreased from 61,000 in 2010-11 to 32,500 in 2014-15 bringing down the ratio of buses for every one lakh resident in Delhi to just 25 today. For a quick comparison, China has 670 buses per lakh resident.
" />According to a recent survey conducted by World Health Organization (WHO), Delhi has the highest concentrations of particulate matter measuring less than 10 and 2.5 microns in the world. These particles can be particularly dangerous because they can lodge deeply in the lungs and cause inflammation, infection and lead to diseases including cancer. One of the major sources of these particles and other harmful fumes is vehicular emission.
Of all the commuters in Delhi (baring people who travel on foot and bicycle), 42 percent use buses, 25 percent use metro, 25 percent use private vehicles and 8 percent use auto-rickshaws. Even with higher ridership, buses contribute to just 20 percent of vehicular CO2 emissions, while private vehicles contribute to a staggering 60 percent. Also, buses constitute only 40 percent of road traffic while the rest 60 percent traffic comprises of private vehicles and auto-rickshaws. It is worth mentioning that Delhi metro has shared considerable burden on public transport, but given its restricted reach and limited capacity buses will still serve a larger proportion of population going forward. It is evident that buses can solve Delhi?s pollution and traffic problems.
Air pollution in India is responsible for 12.5 percent of death in the country.
Air pollution kills an average of 8.5 out of every 10,000 children in India before they turn five.
The risk is higher for girls as 9.6 out of 10,000 girls die before they turn five.
To fight pollution, Delhi government recently came up with a plan to allow vehicles with either odd or even registration numbers to ply on a given day. This is expected to push more people towards using buses. However, Delhi does not have enough buses to cater to this increased demand. Buses constitute less than one percent of all registered vehicles in Delhi, while 31 percent are cars and jeeps, and a whopping 64 percent are motorcycles and scooters. The number of buses has decreased from 61,000 in 2010-11 to 32,500 in 2014-15 bringing down the ratio of buses for every one lakh resident in Delhi to just 25 today. For a quick comparison, China has 670 buses per lakh resident.
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