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GUWAHATI, July 20, 2026: A joint research team from IIT Guwahati, IIM Kashipur, and NUS has created a regulatory framework aimed at including several types of private transport (autorickshaws, minibuses, van services, etc.) within the major systems of urban transport. The framework provides a means of control for private transport systems and considers issues of road congestion and pollution.
The research is published in the highly regarded Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice. Dr. Atanu Bhuyan, School of Business, IIT Guwahati, is one of the authors, along with Dr. Abhishek Srivastava, Dr. Vivek Roy, IIM Kashipur, and Dr. Prateek Bansal, NUS.
As a developing country, India is under a great deal of strain on its public transport systems due to urbanization and a rising population. These conditions lead to an increasing reliance on informal transport systems that provide greater flexibility for connection and cater to the last mile in locations where public transport fails to serve.
Informal transport systems, while serving a critical need, remain unregulated. This results in irregularity in the quality of services, safety of the transport, monetary use of private vehicles, congestion, and poor use of the available public transport systems.
To tackle this, the multi-institution team designed a game-theoretic model. This is a mathematical means to understand and analyze the behavior of the multiple players of the urban transport game.
The interactions of four major stakeholders were the focus of the study.
- Government
- There are informal transport aggregators
- Ride-hailing apps
- Commuters
Dr. Atanu Bhuyan, Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati, focused on the operational aspect of the research:
"We developed a framework to compare three policy options: charging private vehicles for driving into a congested area, providing financial support to informal transport operators, and offering subsidies to users of informal transport. We also captured commuters' perceptions of service quality to understand how policies would affect commuters' travel choices."
The study had the following significant policy recommendations:
The government undertaking actions that enhance service quality would lead to a considerable increase in the usage of informal transport systems. The provision of financial subsidies to informal transport would lead commuters to use informal and public transport systems more and to a greater extent than the use of private vehicles.
The combination of congestion pricing and subsidies would enhance the mobility of a city by reducing reliance on private vehicles. Integrating policy options that focus on the improvement of service quality and the reduction of the inconvenience experienced by commuters when using informal transport would enhance the outcomes of the policies.
From these results, the researchers came to the conclusion that only using subsidies or only using congestion pricing would likely achieve suboptimal outcomes. They suggested that a combination of these policies would likely achieve optimal outcomes geared toward enhancing the overall welfare of the commuters. The research team stated that the framework offers a scientific policy tool that allows government officials, urban planners, and transportation specialists to analyze and formulate policies aimed at the integration of informal transport within the urban mobility frameworks.
The researchers believe that as Indian cities continue to grow, using evidence-based policy frameworks like this could lead to the development of transport systems that meet the needs of commuters, are more efficient and sustainable, and help reduce traffic congestion and the environmental footprint.
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