PMC to Reframe Urban Street Design Guidelines For EV Charging Stations
PUNE The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to reframe the urban street design guidelines (USDG) with the state government saying in its recent electric vehicles’ (EV) policy that it will set up 500 EV charging stations in the city to urge citizens to use electric vehicles.
While the state has said it will set up 500 EV charging stations under the PMC, the PMC has given its nod to two private companies to provide e-bikes on rent in the city. Under the e-bike project, the respective companies will develop the infrastructure for the e-bikes including setting up 500 EV charging stations across the city while the PMC will provide space for these charging stations, as per the project proposal. The approved companies have prepared a rough list mentioning 500 locations which are on the cycle tracks.
Dr Kunal Khemnar, additional municipal commissioner, said, “Though it is the responsibility of the companies to set up charging stations for the e-bikes, they will have to take permission from the PMC and set up charging stations under our supervision.
The stations should not create obstacles in the path of pedestrians or cyclists. At present, we are developing roads as per the USDG which will provide obstacle-free footpaths for walking as well as cycling. But now we have to introduce e-bike charging stations in the USDG as we will have to provide charging stations either on footpaths or along the road. We have decided to frame a policy for electric vehicles for the long term.”
“Other than e-bikes, we will also have to reserve land for four-wheeler charging stations in the coming days as the central and state governments have decided to promote EVs in city areas,” Dr Khemnar said.
V G Kulkarni, chief superintendent of the road department, said, “As per the proposal, the companies require a minimum 87 square feet space along the roadside for two e-bikes and a maximum 3,030 square feet space for charging ten e-bikes. At present, the companies have identified 500 locations that were considered for the bicycle-sharing project as that is one of the components of the urban street design policy (USDP).”
“We cannot provide space for charging stations along roads which are less than 18 metre in width. Under the USDG, we have considered a cycle track along with the footpath as part of the road. Now we have to reframe the USDG and include e-bike charging stations and parking,” Kulkarni said.
The PMC approved the USDG in 2016 and decided to start work on prominent roads in the city but the actual works started in 2017. The aim of the USDG was to ensure that appropriate street types and design elements are implemented to create better streets for the citizens of Pune. Under the USDG, roads include components such as carriage ways, footpaths, cycle tracks, service roads, parking, storm water conservation and utility belts.
Source: hindustantimes
