Volvo Buses
INDIA
Winners of the 3rd Edition of Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award were announced at the Volvo Nobel Memorial Seminar 2013 in Bangalore today. ArriveSAFE and Mumbai Environmental Social Network shared the top honours. ECOCABS was declared runner up for a unique initiative that combined sustainable mobility and social empowerment. The Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) and EMBARQ India were given Special Recognitions for their work in the area of sustainable mobility.
The Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award was instituted in 2011 by Volvo Buses in India with the aim to recognise outstanding efforts in the broad area of sustainable mobility. The entries for the 3rd Edition of the award attracted entries from a cross section of stakeholders comprising citizen groups, consultancies, institutions and student groups. Importantly, the entries addressed multitude of problems in the area of sustainable mobility and presented solutions that were aimed improving the quality of life for people.
Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award 2013 - Winners
The winning entries for this year were To Reduce the Number of Road Crashes Due to Drunken Driving taken by ArriveSAFE and Making Bus Stops in Mumbai Intelligent and Informative for Passengers by Mumbai Environmental Social Network.
ArriveSAFE’s entry is aimed at reducing the number of road crashes due to drunken driving in the North Indian States of Punjab and Haryana. These states earn a handsome revenue through the sale of liquor. ArriveSAFE will be partnering with government bodies to make a road map for effective enforcement to check drunken driving, develop content for educational awareness purpose and guide the enforcement agencies on how to conduct awareness campaigns for the public.
Making Bus Stops in Mumbai Intelligent and Informative for Passenger is an initiative by the Mumbai Environmental Social Network (MESN) to improve the bus system and increase its ridership. They have successfully installed route maps for the Kalanagar Junction in Mumbai, which the passengers found extremely informative and useful. MESN also plans to install similar bus route maps at railway stations, so that passengers can know of the destinations served by buses from that particular railway station. Apart from these, MESN is examining if it is possible to go beyond and see how real time arrival of information on the next bus can be provided at the bus stop and in the users’ mobile phone.
ECOCABS, the runner up of VSMA 2013, is an endeavour to promote cycle rickshaws as an affordable means of sustainable urban transport especially for shorter distances. It also focuses on strengthening the existing unorganized network of cycle rickshaws. The organization has implemented a couple of successful projects over the past couple of years. The team is now working on a project that will be a feeder system for the Gurgaon Rapid Metro, under which cycle rickshaws will be facilitated with a ‘dial-a-rickshaw’ facility at each of the six metro stations proposed at Gurgaon followed by its linkage with Resident Welfare Association to provide door-to-door service. Along with this, research and development activities are in the pipeline to develop low cost GPS devices for rickshaws that costs less than 1000/- in order to provide real time tracking of cycle rickshaw in the future.
Real-time Bus Arrival Information System & Delhi Transit Bus Info Application by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) Ltd received Special Recognition for their aim to provide users with relevant information through the latest web and mobile based technologies on bus operations & schedules and to give people the opportunity to plan their journey. The application has been launched on web as well as on Android platform. Going further the application will be extended to other platforms like iOS, Blackberry, Symbian, making the information retrieval system and the entire experience of a bus journey easier and faster. DIMTS plans to give the commuters an option to add a future desired trip and a mobile application that will alert them whenever a bus is approaching their bus stop. Also planned is a feature to provide the current occupancy levels of a bus.
Towards a Walkable and Sustainable Bengaluru a Safe Access Project for Indiranagar Metro Station by EMBARQ India also received special recognition. The Indiranagar metro station area is a predominantly residential neighbourhood with a high concentration of commercial activities along the main Roads. This project aims to develop safe access, by walk and cycle, to metro stations from a distance of 500 metres and ensure safe and easy integration to metro passengers with other public transport and intermediate public transport modes. The team will provide assistance & technical support to DULT (Directorate of Urban Land Transport) to complete SAPs (Safe Access Projects) which includes review of consultants and quality control during project execution.
Akash Passey, Senior Vice President – Business Region International, Volvo Bus Corporation and Chairman of the Board of Volvo Buses in India, said, “It’s truly heartening to see the number of individuals and groups that are making an effort to make our cities a better place to live in. These are people often working in the background, making special efforts and we are glad to be able to recognize them through the Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award. Sustainable Mobility is intrinsic to the concepts and solutions that Volvo Buses offers and we know that this vision can best be fulfilled through collaboration. I am glad we can participate with people with passion, faith and belief in the future. My congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s edition of the Awards.”
Manish Sahi, Managing Director of Volvo Buses in India said, “It is heartening to note that the efforts in the area of sustainable mobility are not just limited to the bigger cities. This year we received entries like BRTS, pedestrian safety, cycling, urban planning, etc. from stakeholders working in tier 2 cities. Volvo Buses is committed to promoting sustainable mobility across India and this award will help in nurturing more & more ideas from various stakeholders.”
The entries were assessed by a jury consisting of subject matter experts from diverse areas. The jury for the Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award 2013 were Prof. Geetam Tiwari, MoUD Chair and Professor for Transport Planning Department of Civil Engineering, IIT-Delhi; Vinay Rao, Independent Advisor on Climate Change and Sustainability; Madhav Pai, Director of EMBARQ India & Prof. Edward Jobson, Environment Director, Volvo Bus Corporation. Shri. MK Shankaralinge Gowda, Principal Secretary, Horticulture Department, Government of Karnataka was the Chairman of the Jury. The Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award carries a reward money of INR 7, 00, 000 for the Winner and INR 3, 00,000 for the Runner Up. The winners of this year’s award shared the prize money.
The 3rd Edition of the award witnessed greater participation and record number of projects were submitted to the jury for evaluation..
November 7th, 2013
For further information, please contact...
Sridhar Chari,
sridhar.chari@volvo.com
Meetali Saxena
+91 9629221540
meetali.saxena@bm.com
About Volvo Buses in India
Volvo Buses has been in India since 2001 and has built a leading experience when it comes to high-performing bus applications. Volvo Buses has been driving the change in the industry introducing various firsts in India – including the true bus chassis concept, the low floor city bus concept, the multi-axle coaches, among a host of other technologies & concepts. This, coupled with its state-of-the-art factory and overall profile of being a complete transport solutions provider, Volvo Buses is closely entwined with the progress in the Bus Industry. Volvo coaches today connect major cities across India, besides in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Volvo city buses operate in 13 cities in the country and have played a key role in Driving Quality of Life for millions of people. Volvo Buses in India has the widest range of high-performing buses. Globally, Volvo Bus is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of large buses and coaches. It is the first company in the world to commercially introduce hybrid buses and has sold over 1,000 buses with this technology in 21 countries, backed by its core values of safety, quality and care for the environment.