惊声尖笑

A |     数百万名乘客、129对新人、无数张爆款照片杭州公交集团供图明天（8月19日）七夕节，杭州“中意巴士”1314路和WE1314路将迎来开通七周年的生日。七年，2000多个日夜。这辆从万松书院驶出的红绿白三色公交，早已不是一条简单的公交线路。它像一个流动的容器，装下了几百万人次的脚步、129对新人的“我愿意”，以及这座城市数不清的心动瞬间。

B | 7年成长为杭州热门线路TOP2从“现象级打卡”到“城市文化新地标”，中意巴士的七年，也是杭州公交从“客运”到“文旅”转型的七年。    The electric vehicle ecosystem in India is still at a very nascent stage, but the number of electric vehicles on Indian roads is on the rise every day.,Despite the growth, there are a lot of challenges that need to be addressed with regard to the EV infrastructure.,Road safety is one of the major concerns, as the country ranks first in terms of number of road accident deaths in the world. Last year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the Road Safety 2.0 program in India with an aim to introduce technology which would promote the 4Es of road safety i.e. Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency care.,In an interview with Sputnik, Akhilesh Srivastava, Project Head of the World Economic Forum’s Road Safety 2.0 program and Member of the NHEV Knowledge group, talked about measures to be taken to ensure road safety in India and discussed the challenges presented by the battery swapping policy in India.,Sputnik: According to government data, India ranks first in the number of road accident deaths in the world. As you lead the World Economic Forum’s initiative Road Safety 2.0 in India, what measures are required to reduce such fatalities?,Akhilesh Srivastava: With 11 percent of global road fatalities, India ranks worst in terms of the sheer number of road accident deaths in the world. The impact of road accidents on Indian GDP is nearly INR 2.5 trillion ($31.7 billion) i.e., over 1.85 percent of the GDP.,It is clear that old or conventional methods of road safety are not working and there is an urgent need for a new solution. The WEF-led Road Safety 2.0 is one such next-gen solution, where the power of technology is leveraged to save lives on roads.,A few of the measures have been enumerated in it are: the use of technology is the best way to quickly and effectively reduce accidents; сontinuous tracking driving behavior using IoT to generate Safe Driving Scores. The SDS can be used as a monitoring mechanism for incentivizing good driving behavior and reskilling the bad drivers; use of Safety measures like seat belt and helmet with sensors attached; use of AI with the integration of Traffic Lights; implementation of ITS-based penalty set up to penalize people; scaling awareness about the regulations among the people;,Sputnik: WEF’s Road Safety 2.0 talks about an approach to create a human-centric road ecosystem. Could you elaborate what sort of road ecosystem it aims to create?,Akhilesh Srivastava: Human-centric design is a method of product creation that places the requirements, desires, and abilities of users at the forefront of the process. Rather than expecting users to change and conform their behaviors to the product, it involves making design decisions based on how people can, need, and want to do tasks.,Moving on from existing to a human-centric road ecosystem will help the highway builders, manufacturing industry and the enforcement agencies tackle the needs of the people and then accordingly devise the road safety setup and create a human-centric road ecosystem.,For Example, the presence of air bags in the car is for the drivers and passengers' safety. Why only the front seat should have air bags, people in the back seats are equally vulnerable. As per the human-centric approach, the seat belt should be for all humans in the vehicle. All seats in private vehicles like cars and for all passengers in long-distance public transport buses.,Pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users should be given due space and weightage while framing the policies. In India, pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheelers constitute the majority but the roads and road rules, are made keeping in mind the bigger vehicles.,Sputnik: FASTags in India were adopted to make travel seamless on National Highways and Expressways. However, despite the complete roll-out we see long queues of vehicles at toll plazas and technical glitches being reported. How can an effective and glitch-free usage of FASTags be adopted?,Akhilesh Srivastava: FASTag has made travel hassle-free on highways and expressways in India. There are no queues. FASTag has made tolling very efficient and transparent. Last year’s toll collection was the highest ever at nearly INR 400 billion (Over $5 million),Apart from this, the FASTag has saved fuel wastage of worth over INR 200 billion ($2.5 million) which happened due to idling of vehicles at toll plazas. It also resulted in saving at least 50 million MT of carbon emission.,Sputnik: Regarding the electric vehicle segment, it is a well-known fact that in India it is at a very nascent stage. What are the major challenges that stakeholders are facing and how can they be tackled?,Akhilesh Srivastava: With 100 percent FDI available, new production centres, and a greater push to improve charging infrastructure, India's electric vehicle industry is gaining traction.,Other growth factors for the Indian EV industry include federal subsidies and policies supporting deeper discounts for Indian-made electric two-wheelers, as well as a boost for localized ACC battery storage manufacture.,Furthermore, in September 2021, the federal government authorized a production-linked incentive program for the automotive sector to stimulate the manufacture of electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In 2021, India sold over 300,000 electric vehicles.,Some of the challenges that exist but are being tackled by the stakeholders are: inadequate charging infrastructure; reliance on battery imports; reliance on imported components and parts, range anxiety among consumers; current high price of EVs; lack of options for high-performance EVs; inadequate electricity supply in parts of India; lack of quality maintenance and repair options.,Sputnik: You have links with the NHEV (National Highway for Electric Vehicle) programme. What initiatives are being taken under the programme to expand EV infrastructure?,Akhilesh Srivastava: Yes, I appreciate this question which talks about Electric Vehicles and being a member of the Knowledge group of NHEV, I wish similar kind of road safety in India, however, some additional concerns are to be kept in mind are:,• The EV is directly connected to a regular household power outlet. This mode is the simplest possible charging mode and does not support any communication between the EV and the charge point, hence it is prohibited in many countries due to safety concerns.,• The onboard charger converts AC to DC. It uses a special type of charging cable equipped with an in-cable control and protection device. This can be used for private charging, but its public use is subject to restrictions in many countries.,• Batteries are the key element. And we noticed a few cases of fire recently. There should be a proper set of technical and regulatory guidelines for the batteries, about its specifications, unique Id number of batteries, uniformity in the charging system, and even uniformity in batteries so that battery swapping can be done easily.,Tracking of batteries can give alerts about the health of batteries so that unsafe batteries can be removed timely.,Sputnik: Ever since the Finance Minister announced the battery swapping policy, it has been a much talked about topic across the segment. Do you think it can be realized?,Akhilesh Srivastava: I appreciate the announcement by Finance Minister about the battery swapping policy. A detailed policy for battery standardization, specifications, and safety protocols is being prepared.,We should think of the battery as a service for battery swapping. This will allow the setting up of battery stations on a mass level; a battery swapping policy will be brought in and interoperability standards will be formulated.,The private players should be encouraged to develop sustainable and innovative models for the battery as a service which will increase efficiency in the electric vehicle ecosystem. This will reduce the cost of Electric Vehicles and give impetus for electric vehicle growth in the coming years.,Sputnik: Electric vehicles are an alternative to petrol and diesel vehicles, and commonly seen as a way to reduce carbon emissions. However, the source of electricity remains non-renewable, so what roadmap has the NHEV adopted to generate electricity for the electric vehicles through renewable sources?,Akhilesh Srivastava: The transport sector accounts for 18 percent of total energy consumption in India. This translates to an estimated 94 million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE) energy.,If India were to follow the current trends of energy consumption, it would require an estimated 200 MTOE of energy supply annually, by the year 2030 to meet the demand of this sector. As of now, this demand is being met mostly through imported crude oil, which therefore makes this sector vulnerable to volatile international crude oil prices. Moreover, the sector also contributes an estimated 142 million tons of CO2 emissions annually.,Electric mobility presents a viable alternative in addressing these challenges, when packaged with innovative pricing solutions, appropriate technology and support infrastructure and thus, has been on the radar of the Government of India.,The point of renewability of electricity is being addressed too with renewable energies like solar energy, wind energy and other forms other renewable sources of energy. The growth of India in this has been spectacular and the country is ahead of many developed countries in this regard.,Want to know more? Check out our Koo & Telegram accounts!,Koo: https://www.kooapp.com/profile/sputniknews,Sputnik India: https://t.me/sputniknewsindia。

C | 1314路开通以来，在灵隐东站点，7年累计有120万人次在此上车；西泠桥“最美转角”，7年有45万人次乘坐WE1314路。

D | 今年“五一”小长假期间，1314路以5日累计12.25万人次位列杭州热门线路TOP2。杭州公交集团相关负责人透露，中意巴士的乘客中使用支付宝、银联等线上支付的占比高达69.72%，比常规线路高出约35个百分点。这条线路用最浪漫的方式，把年轻人重新拉回了公交车上。

E | 杭州作家“陌上花开”说：“杭州公交可能是全中国最懂浪漫的。”因为杭州不但有K155路（形似“KISS”），还有520路（“我爱你”），以及1314路（“一生一世”）。1314路不仅选了七夕节开通，路线上都藏着心思：往返于一公园与宋城景区，中间串起梁祝“十八相送”的长桥、白娘子的雷峰塔、缘定三生的三生石；WE1314路则往返白堤与南宋皇城遗址，沿途经过苏小小墓、北山街的秋水山庄、梁祝求学的万松书院。婚车里的“我愿意”，从1到1292020年10月25日，中意巴士迎来了第一对定制婚车的新人。

F | 彼时，这只是一个尝试。没有人想到，这个数字到今天会变成129对。“与传统迎亲婚车相比，公交婚车空间大，喜庆又热闹，独具个性又环保低碳。”杭州公交集团相关负责人说，“越来越多的杭州年轻情侣青睐将中意巴士作为婚车，讨一个吉利的彩头的同时，也能成为最幸福的‘显眼包’。”婚车司机金宗强师傅自1314路开通就负责这条线路。他见证过无数浪漫时刻，而这条线路也见证了他与同为公交工作人员的妻子的相守。金师傅说：“每一次为新人定制婚车，我们都会提前根据新人的要求布置车厢。能够亲眼见证这些幸福瞬间，让我深感这份工作的意义与价值。”每年4至5月、10至11月是最热门的婚车定制服务月份。这些数字的背后，是一对又一对新人把“我愿意”开进人生的下一站。