Incentive Schemes to Promote Sustainable Urban Transportation in India

The transport sector accounts for over 60 percent of global petroleum consumption and nearly a quarter of world carbon-dioxide emissions. It seems evident that if we are to address global climate challenges it will be necessary to ensure that the rapidly growing additional mobility needs in the developing world are met largely through sustainable public transport. In addition, while environmental considerations alone represent reason enough to incentivize public transport, access to reliable, safe and affordable mobility is likely to have significant impacts on poverty reduction and development in urban regions of developing countries. We propose an innovative project in partnership with a new metro rail network located in a satellite city of Delhi (Gurgaon) in India. The pilot will involve a quick evaluation of (i) Effectiveness of a set of innovative behavioral and financial incentive schemes designed to encourage the use of public transport (ii) Sensitivity to price of the urban poor, and (iii) Provide evidence on the effects of access to safe mobility on socio-economic outcomes within the urban poor, in particular for women.