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Pandemic COVID-19, Reduced Usage of Public Transportation Systems and Urban Environmental Challenges: Few Evidences from India and West Bengal

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Environmental Management and Sustainability in India

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Abstract

Pandemic COVID-19 has left its footprint on every aspect of life. One of the worst affected fields is public transportation systems (PTS). So far, the country has observed three waves of corona and there was either full or partial restriction on usage of PTS. The restricted usage of PTS has increased citizen’s dependency on personalized vehicles. Although the physical environment improved a little during the lockdown and there has been much research related to it, this book chapter seeks to explore the hidden potentiality of deteriorating urban environmental quality due to people’s shifting modal choices towards private vehicles. Using secondary data collected from different official sources, present research tries to bring out the environmental demand of PTS, vulnerabilities of PTS due to the contagion effects of corona, the shifting choices of vehicle usage and the potential environmental crises due to the increased number of private vehicle use in the context of India as a whole and West Bengal in particular. It shows that the temporal improvement of the environment will not last for long; rather it may turn into viable environmental threat including increased air pollution, urban heat island, noise pollution, peak-hour traffic congestion, traffic fatalities and accident severity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Population dependent on motorized vehicles is called motor population.

  2. 2.

    Available at https://covid19.who.int/

  3. 3.

    Passenger-kilometre, also abbreviated as pkm, represents the unit of measurement of one kilometre travelled by one passenger. It is calculated as transport kilometres multiplied by the average number of passengers.

  4. 4.

    Available at https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,261

  5. 5.

    Indian Railways facilitate commuters by providing season ticket at much lower price than the usual fare for a certain distance. These are available in the form monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually.

  6. 6.

    A four-wheeled car with approximate 14 passengers.

  7. 7.

    A three-wheeled vehicle, comprising a motorcycle chassis with a capacity of 20 passengers.

  8. 8.

    A locally manufactured four-wheeled vehicle, made of wooden ramps and carries 20–25 passengers.

  9. 9.

    Three-wheeled autorickshaw offers seating of 10 passengers.

  10. 10.

    Available at http://www.kmrc.in/overview.php

  11. 11.

    A kind of tri-cycled e-rickshaw popular for its zero emission and low cost.

  12. 12.

    Available at https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update%2D%2D-28-september-2020

  13. 13.

    Available at https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/Guidelinesforhomequarantine.pdf

  14. 14.

    COVID-affected areas.

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  1. Department of Geography, Rampurhat College, Birbhum, West Bengal, India

    Bhaswati Mondal

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  1. Department of Geography, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, West Bengal, India

    Abhay Sankar Sahu

  2. Department of Geography, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India

    Nilanjana Das Chatterjee

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Mondal, B. (2023). Pandemic COVID-19, Reduced Usage of Public Transportation Systems and Urban Environmental Challenges: Few Evidences from India and West Bengal. In: Sahu, A.S., Das Chatterjee, N. (eds) Environmental Management and Sustainability in India. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31399-8_16

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