This paper presents a picture of motorization and urban air pollution in India, with Delhi as the... more This paper presents a picture of motorization and urban air pollution in India, with Delhi as the focus, and discusses implementation issues related to current and proposed transport emission prevention and control policies. Based on this discussion, it makes suggestions for effective policy analysis and implementation with regard to this issue in the Indian and less-industrialized country contexts. For the covering abstract see ITRD E108910.
The development and implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies to manage e... more The development and implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies to manage e‐waste provide multilevel governance frameworks for achieving greater material circularity. However, the roles and responsibilities that are allocated to various stakeholders under these policies, which are crucial for program effectiveness, often vary across jurisdictions, and consensus is lacking about the best types of relationships and collaboration that should govern municipalities' contributions to EPR programs. Against this backdrop, and since this issue is poorly researched, we conducted an empirical investigation to identify the main drivers and barriers influencing municipalities' collaboration with an e‐waste EPR program in a Canadian province where municipalities are free to decide whether or not to engage with the program. Based on our study, we explore policy implications for similar programs in other jurisdictions, and propose questions for further research. Our fi...
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
The steady growth in light truck use and ownership in Canada is a cause for concern because it po... more The steady growth in light truck use and ownership in Canada is a cause for concern because it poses significant negative externalities in the form of higher fatalities, increased congestion, impacts on the environment, and infrastructure wear and tear. Understanding why drivers choose to use these vehicles is important for policymakers interested in decreasing their use. Using data from 2,203 vehicle owners in the Montreal metropolitan area, this study uses a factor-cluster analysis approach to generate five distinct groups of drivers: a uto-dependent families, pragmatic drivers, established drivers, physically active workers, and urban drivers. Identifying these unique groups can be a useful step for policymakers interested in reducing light truck ownership by influencing vehicle choice changes, mode shifts, and land use changes. Findings from this study can help transport policymakers better understand the nuanced factors that influence the choice of a light truck on Montreal’s r...
The benefits of nonmotorized modes are discussed by quantifying the "bicycle equivalents&quo... more The benefits of nonmotorized modes are discussed by quantifying the "bicycle equivalents" for motorized modes in terms of parameters such as resource and energy consumption, air emissions, land use, and accident risk. The current status of nonmotorized transportation (NMT) in the United States is described, and factors contributing to its low usage--even over short distances--are explored. The potential for NMT over these distances is demonstrated, and implications are drawn for NMT policy and for transportation investment decisions to achieve a balanced and integrated NMT-inclusive urban transportation system.
Demand-side initiatives to alter food choices have been repeatedly identified as important tools ... more Demand-side initiatives to alter food choices have been repeatedly identified as important tools in reducing the environmental and resource use impacts of our global food systems, and effective strategies to identify and motivate key dietary changes are needed. The environmental and resource use impacts of the most common meals served in the undergraduate residence cafeterias at McGill University in Montreal are evaluated and presented, to inform sustainable food choices in an easy to use manner. The life-cycle land and water use, and greenhouse gas emissions for the 19 most-used ingredients are calculated and compared for different iterations of two typical meals using these ingredients, accounting for multiple origins, methods of production of ingredients, and meal types. These three metrics are kept distinct to better communicate trade-offs and inform decision-making. Overall, meals containing beef and cheese have 2–12 times higher associated water, land use and greenhouse gas emissions impacts than meals with other protein sources and drive impacts more than provenance or production methods assessed. The impacts of eggs and chicken are comparable to or lower than those of many plant-based ingredients. This suggests that the adoption of a lacto-vegetarian diet has an unclear environmental benefit; eating chicken instead of cheese would be more beneficial in some cases. For some ingredients, impacts vary greatly depending on their provenance, independent of transport. There are also substantial trade-offs between the metrics for greenhouse vegetables, but these trade-offs are minimized in milder climates. Given this high context dependence, greater transparency is needed in supply chains at the consumer level, to improve the reliability of food sustainability metrics.
Public transport ridership retention is a challenge for many cities. To develop comprehensive str... more Public transport ridership retention is a challenge for many cities. To develop comprehensive strategies aimed at retaining riders, it is necessary to understand the aspects of public transport that influence users to become loyal to the system. This paper analyses relevant literature regarding the causes of satisfaction and loyalty in public transport. We find that the service factors most associated with satisfaction are on-board cleanliness and comfort, courteous and helpful behaviour from operators, safety, as well as punctuality and frequency of service. On the other hand, loyalty is associated with users' perceptions of value for money, on-board safety and cleanliness, interactions with personnel and the image and commitment to public transport that users feels. Furthermore, the results elucidate that the concept of loyalty is best defined based on users' intentions to continue using the service, their willingness to recommend it to others, their overall satisfaction, but also and most importantly, their image of and involvement with public transport. Public transport users who have a positive image of the agency and consider public transport an integral component of city life are more likely to demonstrate loyalty and act like ambassadors for public transport agencies.
Table of Contents iv List of Tables ix List of Figures x Glossary xiii Dedication xvii 2.5.3 Regi... more Table of Contents iv List of Tables ix List of Figures x Glossary xiii Dedication xvii 2.5.3 Regional Acidification and Tropospheric Ozone 2.5.4 Other Impacts of Motor Vehicle Activity and Urbanization 2.6 Summary and Conclusions
Urban public transit must fulfill many criteria in order to be successful. In addition to being a... more Urban public transit must fulfill many criteria in order to be successful. In addition to being attractive and convenient from a rider's point of view, public transit agencies also require a level of financial viability, as well as providing a necessary public good in the form of transport, particularly for individuals without automobile access. Nevertheless, whether transit agencies are able to provide good quality service from multiple perspectives that is also affordable is an underexplored topic. In this study, we investigate the ability of public transit agencies in large North American cities to provide quality transit service from different perspectives and whether this service is affordable to minimum wage earners. To ascertain how transit agencies are performing, we construct key indices to capture the perspectives of transit riders, society at large, and transit agencies themselves. Moreover, we assess the level of affordability for the different agencies by determining the number of minimum wage hours required to earn a monthly transit fare. We find that agencies vary widely in terms of affordability and service levels. In particular, there is a key trade-off between service quality and affordability, so that agencies in Montreal and San Francisco, provide relatively good service at an affordable level, while some agencies, such as those in Toronto and New York, while providing excellent service, are more expensive for minimum wage earners. Our assessment provides a useful framework for transport planners to evaluate and compare transit performance.
The rapid growth in motor vehicle ownership and activity in India is causing a wide range of seri... more The rapid growth in motor vehicle ownership and activity in India is causing a wide range of serious health, environmental, socio-economic, and resource use impacts, even as it provides mobility to millions, and contributes to employment and the economy. The loss of accessibility for pedestrians is one of the most important of these negative impacts, which remains neglected by policy. Urban transport planning is fundamentally about moral and political choices – about what kind of cities we want for ourselves and our future generations, whether urban space is primarily for people or motor vehicles, and what we owe each other. While motor vehicles play a vitally important role, as do planning and infrastructure for them, and technological measures to mitigate their impacts, an urban transport policy that focuses on these measures to the exclusion of infrastructure for walking and other non-motorised modes is likely to prove futile, even counter-productive. There is, therefore, an urge...
www.adb.org/knowledgeshowcases The Knowledge Showcases highlight innovative ideas from ADB techni... more www.adb.org/knowledgeshowcases The Knowledge Showcases highlight innovative ideas from ADB technical assistance and other knowledge products to promote further discussion and research. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of ADB or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. Restoring Pedestrian Accessibility in Indian Cities
Owing to its scope, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission is an excellent window fo... more Owing to its scope, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission is an excellent window for understanding the evolution of urban governance in India, despite its closing in 2014. The JNNURM’s aspirations were belied by its realities of progressive centralisation, degraded local capacities, commercially-oriented infrastructure development, and intercity and intra-city inequalities. We identify and discuss three signatures that shaped its conceptualisation, operationalisation, and outcomes: flexible networks of policy actors and advisors; mobile policy ideas, best practices, and norms; and the pervasive role of consultancies. These signatures appear to endure, to varying degrees, in new urban programmes, with potentially far-reaching ramifications for urban governance.
This paper presents a picture of motorization and urban air pollution in India, with Delhi as the... more This paper presents a picture of motorization and urban air pollution in India, with Delhi as the focus, and discusses implementation issues related to current and proposed transport emission prevention and control policies. Based on this discussion, it makes suggestions for effective policy analysis and implementation with regard to this issue in the Indian and less-industrialized country contexts. For the covering abstract see ITRD E108910.
The development and implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies to manage e... more The development and implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies to manage e‐waste provide multilevel governance frameworks for achieving greater material circularity. However, the roles and responsibilities that are allocated to various stakeholders under these policies, which are crucial for program effectiveness, often vary across jurisdictions, and consensus is lacking about the best types of relationships and collaboration that should govern municipalities' contributions to EPR programs. Against this backdrop, and since this issue is poorly researched, we conducted an empirical investigation to identify the main drivers and barriers influencing municipalities' collaboration with an e‐waste EPR program in a Canadian province where municipalities are free to decide whether or not to engage with the program. Based on our study, we explore policy implications for similar programs in other jurisdictions, and propose questions for further research. Our fi...
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
The steady growth in light truck use and ownership in Canada is a cause for concern because it po... more The steady growth in light truck use and ownership in Canada is a cause for concern because it poses significant negative externalities in the form of higher fatalities, increased congestion, impacts on the environment, and infrastructure wear and tear. Understanding why drivers choose to use these vehicles is important for policymakers interested in decreasing their use. Using data from 2,203 vehicle owners in the Montreal metropolitan area, this study uses a factor-cluster analysis approach to generate five distinct groups of drivers: a uto-dependent families, pragmatic drivers, established drivers, physically active workers, and urban drivers. Identifying these unique groups can be a useful step for policymakers interested in reducing light truck ownership by influencing vehicle choice changes, mode shifts, and land use changes. Findings from this study can help transport policymakers better understand the nuanced factors that influence the choice of a light truck on Montreal’s r...
The benefits of nonmotorized modes are discussed by quantifying the "bicycle equivalents&quo... more The benefits of nonmotorized modes are discussed by quantifying the "bicycle equivalents" for motorized modes in terms of parameters such as resource and energy consumption, air emissions, land use, and accident risk. The current status of nonmotorized transportation (NMT) in the United States is described, and factors contributing to its low usage--even over short distances--are explored. The potential for NMT over these distances is demonstrated, and implications are drawn for NMT policy and for transportation investment decisions to achieve a balanced and integrated NMT-inclusive urban transportation system.
Demand-side initiatives to alter food choices have been repeatedly identified as important tools ... more Demand-side initiatives to alter food choices have been repeatedly identified as important tools in reducing the environmental and resource use impacts of our global food systems, and effective strategies to identify and motivate key dietary changes are needed. The environmental and resource use impacts of the most common meals served in the undergraduate residence cafeterias at McGill University in Montreal are evaluated and presented, to inform sustainable food choices in an easy to use manner. The life-cycle land and water use, and greenhouse gas emissions for the 19 most-used ingredients are calculated and compared for different iterations of two typical meals using these ingredients, accounting for multiple origins, methods of production of ingredients, and meal types. These three metrics are kept distinct to better communicate trade-offs and inform decision-making. Overall, meals containing beef and cheese have 2–12 times higher associated water, land use and greenhouse gas emissions impacts than meals with other protein sources and drive impacts more than provenance or production methods assessed. The impacts of eggs and chicken are comparable to or lower than those of many plant-based ingredients. This suggests that the adoption of a lacto-vegetarian diet has an unclear environmental benefit; eating chicken instead of cheese would be more beneficial in some cases. For some ingredients, impacts vary greatly depending on their provenance, independent of transport. There are also substantial trade-offs between the metrics for greenhouse vegetables, but these trade-offs are minimized in milder climates. Given this high context dependence, greater transparency is needed in supply chains at the consumer level, to improve the reliability of food sustainability metrics.
Public transport ridership retention is a challenge for many cities. To develop comprehensive str... more Public transport ridership retention is a challenge for many cities. To develop comprehensive strategies aimed at retaining riders, it is necessary to understand the aspects of public transport that influence users to become loyal to the system. This paper analyses relevant literature regarding the causes of satisfaction and loyalty in public transport. We find that the service factors most associated with satisfaction are on-board cleanliness and comfort, courteous and helpful behaviour from operators, safety, as well as punctuality and frequency of service. On the other hand, loyalty is associated with users' perceptions of value for money, on-board safety and cleanliness, interactions with personnel and the image and commitment to public transport that users feels. Furthermore, the results elucidate that the concept of loyalty is best defined based on users' intentions to continue using the service, their willingness to recommend it to others, their overall satisfaction, but also and most importantly, their image of and involvement with public transport. Public transport users who have a positive image of the agency and consider public transport an integral component of city life are more likely to demonstrate loyalty and act like ambassadors for public transport agencies.
Table of Contents iv List of Tables ix List of Figures x Glossary xiii Dedication xvii 2.5.3 Regi... more Table of Contents iv List of Tables ix List of Figures x Glossary xiii Dedication xvii 2.5.3 Regional Acidification and Tropospheric Ozone 2.5.4 Other Impacts of Motor Vehicle Activity and Urbanization 2.6 Summary and Conclusions
Urban public transit must fulfill many criteria in order to be successful. In addition to being a... more Urban public transit must fulfill many criteria in order to be successful. In addition to being attractive and convenient from a rider's point of view, public transit agencies also require a level of financial viability, as well as providing a necessary public good in the form of transport, particularly for individuals without automobile access. Nevertheless, whether transit agencies are able to provide good quality service from multiple perspectives that is also affordable is an underexplored topic. In this study, we investigate the ability of public transit agencies in large North American cities to provide quality transit service from different perspectives and whether this service is affordable to minimum wage earners. To ascertain how transit agencies are performing, we construct key indices to capture the perspectives of transit riders, society at large, and transit agencies themselves. Moreover, we assess the level of affordability for the different agencies by determining the number of minimum wage hours required to earn a monthly transit fare. We find that agencies vary widely in terms of affordability and service levels. In particular, there is a key trade-off between service quality and affordability, so that agencies in Montreal and San Francisco, provide relatively good service at an affordable level, while some agencies, such as those in Toronto and New York, while providing excellent service, are more expensive for minimum wage earners. Our assessment provides a useful framework for transport planners to evaluate and compare transit performance.
The rapid growth in motor vehicle ownership and activity in India is causing a wide range of seri... more The rapid growth in motor vehicle ownership and activity in India is causing a wide range of serious health, environmental, socio-economic, and resource use impacts, even as it provides mobility to millions, and contributes to employment and the economy. The loss of accessibility for pedestrians is one of the most important of these negative impacts, which remains neglected by policy. Urban transport planning is fundamentally about moral and political choices – about what kind of cities we want for ourselves and our future generations, whether urban space is primarily for people or motor vehicles, and what we owe each other. While motor vehicles play a vitally important role, as do planning and infrastructure for them, and technological measures to mitigate their impacts, an urban transport policy that focuses on these measures to the exclusion of infrastructure for walking and other non-motorised modes is likely to prove futile, even counter-productive. There is, therefore, an urge...
www.adb.org/knowledgeshowcases The Knowledge Showcases highlight innovative ideas from ADB techni... more www.adb.org/knowledgeshowcases The Knowledge Showcases highlight innovative ideas from ADB technical assistance and other knowledge products to promote further discussion and research. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of ADB or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. Restoring Pedestrian Accessibility in Indian Cities
Owing to its scope, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission is an excellent window fo... more Owing to its scope, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission is an excellent window for understanding the evolution of urban governance in India, despite its closing in 2014. The JNNURM’s aspirations were belied by its realities of progressive centralisation, degraded local capacities, commercially-oriented infrastructure development, and intercity and intra-city inequalities. We identify and discuss three signatures that shaped its conceptualisation, operationalisation, and outcomes: flexible networks of policy actors and advisors; mobile policy ideas, best practices, and norms; and the pervasive role of consultancies. These signatures appear to endure, to varying degrees, in new urban programmes, with potentially far-reaching ramifications for urban governance.
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Papers by Madhav Badami