Mobility and the Integrated Transport Service

AVToday: How did you start working on mobility in Auroville?

Chandresh: When I joined Auroville in 2006, I wanted to do a project for the community as a whole, and community transport seemed to be a good idea. We did a comprehensive survey on mobility in terms of vehicle use, traffic patterns, entry and exit points, etc. and came up with a project proposal. Unfortunately, the estimated cost, which was over a crore, was too high. The project was shelved.

A year later, we started working on electric vehicles to reduce the carbon footprint of Auroville. It was an attempt to see if we could design our own vehicles. But the industry was not ready, especially for batteries. Vehicles need sustained power over long durations, and the lead-acid batteries that were available were of poor quality and suitable only for small loads. We stopped manufacturing the electric two-wheelers – the Humvees – after a few years, but we did set up a service centre.

During that same time, two-wheeler safety was becoming an urgent concern. Several Aurovilians met with accidents on the road to Pondicherry, so we started a bus service. We wanted to charge a small amount to shuttle persons from the Visitor Center to Matrimandir as is done at most public places across India. The community bus and van fleets would have been slowly increased based on this revenue stream. But the Matrimandir Access Group thought that this was against the spiritual nature of Matrimandir. After eight years of running the community bus service to Pondicherry, we decided to stop it because there was little interest to financially support it from the community. Meanwhile, individual transport and its convenience made it near impossible to get any working groups or residents to bother supporting a study group or provide funding for community transport.

Min: Chandresh had also experimented with an online booking system for shared taxis in 2008. When we started the Shared Transport Service in January 2017 [see Auroville Today issue 332, March 2017] , I met him to discuss the idea. It had not worked in 2008, but we decided to give it another shot. The idea got enough traction and within six or seven months it had become financially viable. People were finding the service useful.

What led to the formation of the Integrated Transport Service?

Chandresh: The 50th Anniversary Team got in touch with me to ask if I could help with mobility during the Anniversary Week and the Prime Minister’s visit. I said I would be interested only if we could build something for the future of Auroville. I was not interested in using up some limited amount of money for a particular event alone. It was an attempt to bring directional changes to our community transport possibilities at this juncture of the 50th year.

Min: The 50th Team agreed, and we presented a comprehensive plan with a budget of Rs.1.9 crores. There were compelling possibilities of rethinking the entire mobility sector of Auroville. That’s how we got the budget. But then other community members were asked to submit their proposals and we reduced our budget to Rs.29 lakhs.

What is your focus now with the reduced budget?

Min: The original plan was to leverage all community transport assets using a common software platform. Irrespective of whether a bus belonged to SAIIER or the Visitor Centre, or which service bought a load carrier for their use, it would be available for common use on a reasonable fee structure. Thus, we would be able to schedule fleet assets for optimal usage. That plan is now on the back burner. We decided to start small with personal transport, that is, electric scooters because the funds released have been reduced drastically from the original request.

Are electric two–wheelers more viable now than in 2007?

Chandresh: Lithium-ion batteries have started becoming available and affordable. Many vehicles are being manufactured locally, so maintenance and replacement costs are lower. Also, we are not trying to design and manufacture any more, with all the regulatory hurdles involved. We are focusing on sales, service and charging. The other major change from 2007 is that all our power in Auroville is sourced from renewable sources. This means vehicle charging using mains power is also pollution-free, affordable and sustainable.

This individual-focused strategy seems to miss the big picture of mobility in Auroville. Are you satisfied with this small start?

Chandresh: There are two things to look at here. First, it might look like a small start, but even at this scale the project can have a major impact. In the pioneer days, everyone had a bicycle. Now everyone has a petrol two-wheeler. Some people have cars and guests are coming in and renting mopeds. These mopeds are never well-maintained and are highly polluting. So, even if we can shift individual use to electric scooters, the level of pollution – both air and noise – can be reduced substantially.

The second thing to remember is that we are not going to stop with electric scooters. We are already working on plans for e-shuttles, point-to-point transport, and an integrated software platform.

Tell us a little bit more about these plans.

Min: We want to integrate different kinds of vehicles and different modes of use. Imagine that today you need an e-cycle (from Kinisi) to get to a performance, so you take that. But tomorrow you need an electric scooter because you’re going to Pondy to get something. And the day after, you have family visiting, so you need an electric car. We would like all of this to be available through a single online application. We are thinking of something like transport credits that you can use across any type of vehicle.

Chandresh: And the uses might be different. Some people might need to rent or lease a vehicle for extended periods, while others might simply need a pick-and-drop service. This service would be available using electric auto-rickshaws. And electric shuttles might take you to Pondicherry or Chennai.

Let’s come back to shuttles in a second. Where do bicycles fit into your picture?

Min: For us, bicycles are a no-brainer. They should be available either free or for an extremely low rental cost. The way I see it, bicycles are the default option that everyone has access to – residents, interns, guests. Only when they need a premium service, like an e-cycle, an e-scooter or an e-car, should they have to pay a rental. And that rental can very well be like the in-kind scheme that Kinisi has started.

Chandresh: There are three things that we can provide in kind to all residents – food, clothing and transportation. The community has the wherewithal to make this happen. We are doing this in a limited manner at the Solar Kitchen and at the Free Store. For transportation, we can make bicycles available for everyone. Every child should be given a bicycle.

Tell us about the shuttles …

Min: We are already in discussion with Smart City Pondicherry to see if we can start frequent e-shuttle services between the Ashram and Auroville. These shuttles will cater to tourists as well, so it might mean identifying some destinations on the shuttle route, such as temples, beaches or restaurants. These will be hop-on, hop-off services at frequent intervals, perhaps 20 to 30 minutes, so the service will be reliable and predictable.

Chandresh: Within Auroville, we plan to start shuttle services along the most-used roads – starting at Ganesh Bakery, through CSR, Town Hall, Matrimandir, Solar Kitchen and then to Kuilapalayam. We are still working on the details of how this might work. It will have to be small six or eight-seater vehicles operating at very frequent intervals for the service to be useful to residents.

Min: We are also exploring the idea of an electric shuttle to Chennai airport. With the Chennai Metro now functional, it’s super easy for people to get to the Chennai Central railway station or other parts of the city from the airport. We are trying to get a free parking slot at the airport. All things considered, a Rs.700 ticket from Auroville to Chennai airport should make the service viable.

There was an idea of making Auroville car-free by building a common car-parking from where people would have to take bicycles, shuttles or other electric vehicles to come into Auroville. Is that still on the cards?

Chandresh: Very much so. But we are going to start with the guests. We will always have lots of visitors from Bangalore, Chennai and other cities who will come in their cars. That we cannot stop. The plan is to build a parking space for all these visitors who will have to leave their vehicles and come into Auroville on electric transport. There might be multiple options, including e-auto rickshaws, e-shuttles, e-scooters and e-cycles. I have a feeling this will enhance their experience of Auroville rather than make it inconvenient. They will feel they are coming into a different and better space, unlike the cities they come from. Also, this is likely to create a substantial revenue stream for Auroville, which we might be able to use to fund other aspects of community transportation.

How has the community responded so far to your ideas and experiments?

Min: Very positive so far. What had stopped many people from moving to electric cars was the limited range of electric vehicles – the Humvees can go less than 25 kms on a single charge – the unreliable batteries and the difficulty in service and repairs. All this has changed. The new e-scooters can carry bigger loads, go longer distances and are easy to maintain. Going to Pondy was difficult using earlier models of electric vehicles, but now you can go to Pondy and back on the new e-scooters.

Chandresh: Many units are interested. News & Notes has already bought two e-scooters for their delivery. The Gas Service is interested because the new e-scooters can easily take two LPG cylinders – one in front and another at the back. Restaurants like Tanto can also modify the e-scooters for their specific needs. Ultimately, for a unit, operating costs are really important, so electric vehicles make a lot of sense. In Auroville, electricity is offered in-kind, which is essentially free. The other big advantage that unit stewards see is that they don’t have to worry about petrol quality, stolen fuel, incorrect bills and other such distractions from their core operations. It is also possible to place GPS trackers on the vehicles. A Rs. 300 sim card and a Rs.1700 tracker will let a unit holder see the route, position and speed of every vehicle during its routine operations.

Min: For commercial units, we would like them to subsidize the rental of e-scooters for their interns and volunteers, so that they don’t rent low-cost mopeds. We have had some good conversations with some of the units.

What are some of the challenges you are facing?

Chandresh: The biggest challenge is finding alignment among all the different players in the mobility sector of Auroville. We had come up with a concept paper on a “Mobility Trust.” The idea was to create a sector-based grouping of units to promote collaboration specific to the mobility segment. Anyone who operates or offers some kind of a transport vehicle or service would be a part of the new trust, and the unit holders would jointly be trustees of the new “Mobility Trust.” Any new initiative would be taken up with the joint decision of the trustees. We shared this concept with the FAMC and others, but unfortunately it was not well received.

Why?

Min: Well, the requirement of being a part of a unified trust is that everyone would have to be financially transparent. We want the surplus from some units to cross-subsidise other transport services. For example, we could run a free drop-and-pickup service for children to go to the swimming pool. I think this need for transparency is probably the reason why the idea is not being accepted. We are forgetting that transportation is a service, not a commercial activity.

Many people are curious about the MOU with Mahindra Electric. Some are skeptical about collaborating with a corporation. Can you tell us what the MOU is about?

Chandresh: It’s the usual suspicion of selling out to a corporation. Actually, this is an attempt at a four-way collaboration between Auroville, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Mahindra Electric and Smart City Pondicherry. IISc will help with smart chargers and sensors, Mahindra will provide access to vehicles for research and pilot testing, and Smart City Pondicherry will provide the context for mass transit experiments. As for ITS, we want to create an integrated mobility platform that combines different modes of transport and different models of usage and adoption.

What are your concrete plans for the next year?

Chandresh: Three things – facilitate the transition to personal electric vehicles, start the point-to-services with e-auto rickshaws and start the shuttle services to Pondicherry. For personal vehicles, we already have our first charging station and service center opposite the Solar Kitchen. We will expand the network of charging to cover more parts of Auroville, especially those frequented by guests. Kinisi is a part of this movement and we consider them as our partners in this transition.

The next visible thing you will see will probably be the e-auto rickshaws. This is interesting not only because of the service they will provide, but also because of the jobs they will create. Our first priority is to try to employ women drivers from the bioregion, most likely through women’s self-help groups. Perhaps we can also provide jobs to existing taxi drivers whose jobs might be affected.

Min: The taxi sector is changing very rapidly. Ola and Uber are coming in. And you can now share a ride to Chennai on BlaBlaCar for just Rs.300. I don’t think the Rs.2500 taxi trip to Chennai will last very long.

Do you have the people to make all this happen?

Min: We have a good team. Laxman is great with two-wheelers and has a lot of on-ground experience. Vijay is an excellent project manager and Krishna has extensive taxi service experience. Also, we are slowly expanding the team.

When you think about mobility, what is your larger vision?

Chandresh: We have to move from the individual to the collective. That’s why it’s so important to work on the idea of the e-shuttles, the e-autos and other sustainable means of collective transportation. The other idea that really drives me is the research possibility. For example, Auroville can create the platform and systems to track real-time vehicle pollution data and make the solution available to other urban centers of the world. In other words, we would also like to see mobility become a recognised priority area for funding, grants and research in Auroville.

Min: Worldwide, the trend is to move from individual ownership to shared services. I hope we will see that shift in Auroville.