Urban Transport and

Automobile Air Pollution

in Mysuru, India
Azis Kemal Fauzie
DOS in Environmental Sciences, University of Mysore
 Introduction
• Background
• Air pollution has contributed to 3 million and 7 million deaths
worldwide in 2010 and 2012, respectively (WHO, 2017; 2013).
• Outdoor air pollution has become major problem in India since it
is No. 5 in the country to cause death (TERI, 2015).
• In India, CO2 emissions have increased from 208 million tons
during 2005 to 391 million tons during 2015 (CPCB, 2010).
• Vehicle population in India has increased from 310 thousand in
1951 to 210 million in 2015 (MRTH, 2017).
• Objectives
• To analyze the interconnecting impacts between population
growth, urban transport, and atmospheric air quality.
• To estimate the vehicular emission loads of both major
conventional and minor organic pollutants.
Vehicle growth in India

Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (2017)

Population status of Mysuru

Population number Population density

Source: Directorate of Census

Operations, Karnataka (2014);
MUDA (2016)
Projection
Estimation of vehicular PM emissions

where,
• subscripts i represent the location of study, j is the
respective vehicle category, and k is the respective
emitted compound
• Ei = daily emission in location i (g or mg).
• Nij = number of registered vehicle category j in location i.
• dj = distance traveled by respective vehicle category j
daily (km).
• fjk = emission factor of compound k for vehicle category j
(g/km or mg/km).
 Emission factors
Vehicle 2W 3W 4W Buses LCV HCV
Emission factors of classical compounds (g/km)
CO 2.82 2.89 1.60 5.83 2.02 12.65
HC 1.88 1.82 0.33 1.61 1.11 1.50
NOx 0.14 0.39 0.43 9.20 1.72 11.57
CO2 27.85 84.53 139.38 776.46 266.20 799.94
PM 0.03 0.16 0.04 0.93 0.49 1.60
Emission factors of organic compounds (mg/km)
Bzn 0.02 0.07 0.13 0.36 0.16 0.01
Btd 0.005 0.006 0.04 0.01 0.09 0.01
Fmd 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.08 0.04 0.08
Acd 0.01 0.03 0.002 0.03 0.005 0.01
TAd 0.12 0.63 0.08 0.76 0.08 0.11
PAH 0.56 0.99 0.13 1.55 3.75 4.28

Source: The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), 2008

• Vehicle categories:
• 2W (two wheelers)
• 3W (three wheelers)
• 4W (four wheelers)
• Buses
• LCV (light commercial vehicles)
• HCV (heavy commercial vehicles)

• Distance travelled:
Vehicle 2W 3W 4W Buses LCV HCV
km/day 17 92 35 274 173 158
 Number of registered vehicles
in Mysuru district

Year 2W 3W 4W Bus LCV HCV Total

2010 25 891 296 5 873 207 799 316 33 381
2011 41 376 689 7 096 193 1 402 1 187 51 943
2012 46 876 550 8 191 353 1 655 1 399 59 024
2013 51 092 543 7 770 259 1 463 1 403 62 530
2014 61 188 571 8 611 170 1 375 1 542 73 457
2015 64 573 818 8 896 134 1 847 1 446 77 714
Total 290 995 3 466 46 437 1 315 8 541 7 293 358 049

Source: Road Transport Office (RTO), Mysuru

Share of vehicles per types

Personalized vehicles (2Ws and 4Ws) dominate the major share.

Residents are less dependent on public transport (buses).
Distribution of vehicles per taluks

Vehicles are distributed mainly in urban area of Mysuru city.

 Air Quality Standards (mg/m3)
Air Time weighted CPCB WHO
Pollutants average 1994 2009 2000 2005
SO2 Annual 60 50 50
24 hours 80 80 125 20
10 minutes 500 500
NO2 Annual 60 40 40 40
24 hours 80 80
1 hour 200 200
SPM Annual 140
24 hours 200
RSPM/PM10 Annual 60 60 30 20
24 hours 100 100 100 50
PM2.5 Annual 40 20 10
24 hours 60 25
Ozone 8 hours 100 120 100
1 hour 180 200
SO2:

NO2:
PM:

PM10: PM increases by post-monsoon and winter season

Monthly variation
Emission load in Mysuru district (2015)
Vehicle 2W 3W 4W Buses LCV HCV
Emissions of classical compounds (tons per day)
CO 14.2 0.9 2.6 2.1 3.0 14.5
HC 9.4 0.6 0.5 0.6 1.6 1.7
NOx 0.7 0.1 0.7 3.3 2.5 13.3
CO2 139.9 26.9 223.4 279.8 392.4 919.1
PM 0.2 0.05 0.07 0.3 0.7 1.8
Emissions of organic compounds (grams per day)
Bzn 121 22 216 130 229 14
Btd 27 2 61 5 139 14
Fmd 95 8 28 28 64 88
Acd 54 10 4 10 8 11
TAd 609 201 123 275 117 127
PAH 2 802 316 206 559 5 537 4 922
 Daily emissions of air pollutants
2-stroke 2Ws emit more CO & HC than 4-stroke

Mg/day kg/day
Diesel HCVs are the main contributor carcinogenic, genotoxic,
of NOx & PM and immunotoxic
 Share of air pollution
by different types of vehicles at different taluks

highest emission load

highest emission contributor
 Composition of emitted pollutants
in Mysuru district

classical pollutants organic pollutants

partial burning
unburned fuels carbon black also includes formaldehyde
fuel combustion and acetaldehyde
Comparison to other Indian cities

metric tons (Mg) /day

including CO2, Bengaluru received 48 Gg pollutants per day (2015)

Mysuru received 2 Gg pollutants per day
 Conclusion
• Air quality status of Mysuru is still in the safe level for SO2 and
NO2. PM sometimes exceeded the standard limit.
• It is recommended to apply a stricter PM air quality standard
and to include more toxic organic and inorganic pollutants to
the standard list.
• Diesel commercial vehicles are the biggest contributor to the
emissions of pollutants to the ambient air.
• There is an ever increasing use of personalized vehicles (2Ws
and 4Ws) among the city residents.
• It is recommended to consider the phasing out of the 2-stroke
engine vehicles and to encourage the use of public transport.
• Immediate proper planning in the transportation system and
reduction of air pollution emission should be taken to avoid
the further effects on the health status of the residents.
 THANK YOU
• References
• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), 2010; 2011
• Census of India, 2011
• Fauzie & Venkataramana, 2016
• Goyal et al., 2007; 2013
• Harish, 2012; 2013
• Kumari et al., 2013
• Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 2017
• Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA), 2016
• Prabhuraj et al., 2013
• Ramachandra & Shwetmala, 2009
• The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), 2008
• The Energy Research Institute (TERI), 2015
• Udayashankara et al., 2015
• World Health Organization (WHO), 2000; 2006; 2013; 2017