There is a crisis of traffic congestion in Indian cities. Congestion slows down economic activity, and wastes time and energy. In the coming decades, as our cities become more affluent, more people will use more and bigger cars for their daily commute. Cars provide greater comfort and safety compared to two-wheelers, but also exacerbate the congestion problem. This problem needs to be addressed urgently. In this talk, we will consider two approaches to reduce congestion: product innovation and policy intervention. First, we will discuss an innovative electric microcar called Robin that has the length and width of a motorbike, but provides the safety and comfort of a small car. We will discuss its design features and tradeoffs, and how it could reduce congestion by being a substitute for a car. Second, we will propose a novel congestion pricing scheme that accounts for vehicle size and thereby incentivizes the use of smaller vehicles. This scheme can be used to charge vehicles for both driving and parking within the city. We will discuss a few variants of the basic scheme, and list several open questions to investigate. This talk will illustrate how a combination of technological progress, product innovation and policy intervention can help solve serious societal problems.

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/91587434491?pwd=dpAmg4mbvslxaSYYV4HVcvO6ZhCd77.1

Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Time: 1:30 PM IST
Venue: AC01-LR-106
For details: ashoka-cdlds@ashoka.edu.in or call: +91-9136857558