ITDP India

Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide

Carefree on Car-free Sundays: Citizens take to city streets for fun and revelry

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Imagine an arterial road in your city. Now, place a child running about in that stretch. Fair to assume that your brows twitched at the thought of these two events aligning. Though stark, urban dwellers are naturalised to the danger that arterial roads or streets in general hold. But to hold a static entity accountable is unfair. So where does the buck stop?

Let’s reimagine this sequence of events. Same arterial city road and same child running about carefree. This time though, cordon off vehicles from the section. Suddenly, the road seems to be devoid of chaos. It even becomes an oasis where people can come together to run, play, and enjoy themselves to their heart’s content.

Isn’t it bewildering how one component can drive our stress up the walls and still be considered an integral part of our lives. This is exactly what the “Car-free” initiative was conceptualised to debunk. Originated in the Netherlands and Belgium during the 1956 Suez Crisis, the move was planned to ration petroleum. But it took its true form in 1958, when New York City residents blocked vehicles into their neighbourhood to protest the extension of a road at the cost of a public space.

As vehicles started taking over our streets and lives, the initiative gained prominence to counter this menace. And it is with the same intention that the initiative made its way into the Indian quarters. The “Car-free Sundays” drive, proposed by ITDP India Programme in collaboration with Riverside School and other partners, was first introduced to Ahmedabad in 2009. Every Sunday, citizens were given unconditional access to three arterial stretches to experience the freedom of walking and cycling on safer car-free streets.

India’s first car-free Sunday in Ahmedabad in 2012

It wasn’t long before other states recognised the transformative nature of the initiative. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were quick to come on board and transform their streets into vibrant spaces for citizens, not vehicles, to occupy.

Leading the charge in Tamil Nadu was Coimbatore. The dialogue, facilitated by ITDP, was a success. All partners –including the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation, Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC), print media partners and the residents– realised that the concept would help improve walking and cycling conditions in the city.

The Corporation and the Coimbatore Police left no stones unturned to help citizens reclaim landscape lost to vehicles. With prior public consultation workshops for residents, the campaign was launched across two stretches –DB Road and T V Swamy Road– for a total of 1.7km, in 2015. This sense of emancipation was refreshing, as many came in droves to be part of the revelry. Soon accolades started pouring in, with the campaign being honoured with the Best Project Award, Non-Motorised Transport category, by India’s National Ministry of Urban Development.

People enjoying hop-scotch at the car-free Sunday in Coimbatore

The obvious impact was soon realised by Chennai and it didn’t take much for city officials and the police to join the bandwagon, with ITDP again playing a hand holding role in collaboration with Chennai City Connect and The Hindu (media partners). Titled “Namma Chennai Namakke” (Our Chennai for Ourselves), many residents took an instant liking to the idea.

“I would love to see children aimlessly ride their cycles on the road…or adults playing badminton and pet enthusiast take their companions for a walk. I personally would indulge my pet, without the fear of him/her getting hit by a car,” said Jennifer Jacob-Murali, resident of Chennai.

Father and daughter bonding over skipping at the car-free Sunday in Chenani

Every Sunday, the ruckus of vehicles were replaced by that of laughter and excitement. Of kids being kids and parents joining the act. Of people dancing, doing yoga, and enjoying art and craft. Of citizens, young and old, not surrendering their right to walk, run, and cycle to the chagrin of fuel guzzling automobiles.

Today, these cities have taken a step ahead towards sustainable urban transport solutions with Chennai adopting a Non-Motorised Transport Policy and Coimbatore adopting the Street Design and Management Policy. Car-free Sundays helped citizen to wake up to the possibility of enjoying public spaces like roads and streets without the hindrance and dread of vehicles. Its success gave momentum to the ‘Model Roads’ project, as citizens demanded better walking and cycling infrastructure across Coimbatore.

Not even John Lennon could have imagined how vehicles would take over lives, leaving us struggling to find our way. So an ode to his legendary vision, with a twist of our own.

Imagine there are no vehicles
It’s easy if you try
No fumes around us
Only people and the sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Cover image courtesy: Times of India, Coimbatore.

Our Cities Ourselves

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Over the recent decades, the impact of our city’s population growth has lead to a whole slew of transportation issues that we as citizens experience daily. Car-centric approaches continue to fail, and the need for solutions that improve people’s freedom to move is the dire need of the hour. Cities across the globe were provided the opportunity to not only shape their future — but to design it for its people.

Our Cities Ourselves: The Future of Transportation in Urban Life, kicked off a world-wide tour to exhibit the vision of ten major global cities along with the world’s leading Architects. The exhibit focused on eliminating the 21st century car-dependant model of urban sprawl by replacing it with a more sustainable, equitable, and liveable urban future with walking, cycling, and public transit.

Organised by ITDP to commemorate its 25th anniversary in 2010, the exhibition addressed urban solutions for ten major global cities: Ahmedabad, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Dar es Salaam, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Mexico City, New York City and Rio de Janeiro. The various approaches offered distinct takes that were shaped to fit the city’s different urban cultures.

In Ahmedabad, where the Indian edition of Our Cities Ourselves was launched, in partnership with Environmental Planning Collaborative and six leading Architects, initiated conversation about the city’s future over a four-month engagement. ITDP, along with its partners facilitated discussion on visioning Ahmedabad by organising an advisory committee of ten members from various local sectors.

The result – a vision that embraced the unique character of Ahmedabad and seeked a more equitable and environmentally sustainable future.

To bring this vision to life, the Architects—Kamal Mangaldas, Parul Zaveri & Nimish Patel, Rajeev Kathpalia, Bimal Patel, Aniket Bhagwat, and Apurva Amin—re-designed six sites across the city to transform them into streets and public spaces that were safe, comfortable, and accessible by all members of the society.

Central to the Our Cities Ourselves programme were the principles of transport in urban life: walk, cycle, connect, transit, mix, densify, compact and shift. These principles guided the design and the overall vision of the city.  The designs were also prepared in consultation with a Citizens Council formed by a group of eminent Ahmedabad residents, to reflect what the people of the city desired.

Visioning of a city is incomplete without the views of its citizens. Awareness and engagement of citizens can mean the difference between a city that withers under the presence of growing traffic & pollution and one that approaches these challenges with a proactive, determined response.

In this regard, the Our Cities Ourselves exhibition was a grander affair that showcased life-sized renderings of the six re-designed sites to reflect the vision of urban Ahmedabad. Thousands flocked to CEPT University to not only witness, but also be part of this journey that would change the face of their city.

The month long exhibition included a series of activities to engage with local citizens, Architects and Planners, and civic bodies. The exhibition included a series of activities: day-long design charrette with local architects, workshops on envisioning ‘a better Ahmedabad’ with key stakeholders such as Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority, cycle-day for school student, a painting competition for school kids, and a movie night on street films.

The success of the exhibition was unparalleled, and resulted in two key wins for the city: the underlying principles and the vision of the city informed the revision of Ahmedabad’s Master Plan 2021, and it led way for citizen engagement for the much awaited Sabarmati Riverfront Project – the pride of the city.

Furthermore, the exhibit inspired decision-makers from many cities like Pune, Chennai, and Indore to initiate such thought-provoking discussions in their cities and kickstart various sustainable transport projects. With the widely positive response, the programme drove home the Our Cities Ourselves motto: ‘Livable today, sustainable for the future.’

Cities like Ahmedabad have started off well to meet the challenges of sustainability because “we simply can’t sustain the sort of automobile-dominated transportation systems that we have today”, Walter Hook, former Chief Executive Officer of ITDP. The successful city of the 21st century is one that is replete with travel choices, including walking, cycling, and public transit.  These cities will leap ahead of others by attracting people who demand a healthy and culturally rich lifestyle.

The Janmarg Story

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India, one of the most populous countries in the world, has experienced almost a fourfold increase in its population since independence 70 years ago. Urban India alone is expected to accommodate nearly 125 million new inhabitants in the next 15 years; that is roughly the size of Japan.

However, urban transport services and facilities have not kept pace with this unprecedented population growth. In recent decades, more and more people have welcomed private motor vehicles into their homes as cities fail to provide quality public transport infrastructure.

Short-sighted solutions such as building flyovers and widening roads increase dependence on personal motor vehicles for daily travel needs. The damage caused by this approach can be measured in rising road fatalities, degrading air quality, and unhealthy livelihoods.  

In an effort to curb these adverse impacts, Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat, welcomed ITDP and other experts to reimagine bus-based transit in 2005.

The introduction of a bus system was not unconventional for the city; on the contrary, local buses plied on the streets of Ahmedabad but the quality of infrastructure and service conditions were dubious. Insufficient supply forced daily commuters to inch for room in overcrowded buses.

The city recognised the need for a quality bus-rapid-transit—ultimately buses are the most affordable, sustainable, and efficient way to carry a large number of people in the compact amount of street space. ITDP India’s partnership with Environment Planning Collaborative, and thereafter with CEPT University and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, resulted in the launch of Janmarg —India’s first high-quality bus-rapid-transit system.

Janmarg or ‘the people’s ways’, started operations in 2009, and has grown from a 12 km corridor to an 88 km network of bus-only-lanes. From its initial days, passenger numbers have increased from 18,000 to nearly 1.5 lakh people per day.

ITDP India along with other partners assisted the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation with physical designs, operational planning, and system contracting. To its merit, the system won six national and international awards in its first two years of operations; these included the Sustainable Transport Award in 2010 and ‘Best Intelligent Transport System from the Ministry of Urban Development’ by the Government of India in 2011.

The system adhered to bus-rapid-transit standards and principles. Dedicated bus-only-lanes were constructed in the centre of the road to ensure buses were not delayed due to traffic congestion and kept away from the busy kerbsides where vehicles were parked.

The journey on the Janmarg is much quicker because the BRT enjoys centre-aligned, bus-only lanes

Janmarg’s stations and bus fleet have a matching height for quick and easy step-less passenger boarding. This makes the system fully accessible to everyone, especially wheelchair-bound passengers and mothers with strollers. Off-board fare collection eliminates delays caused by passengers waiting to pay on board. With the right features in place, Janmarg has scored a Silver rating on the BRT Standard.

Since the station floor is at the same level as the bus floor, Janmarg BRT is easily accessible to individuals with limited mobility.

Janmarg set a national benchmark and inspired many Indian cities which, with guidance from ITDP, have created over two hundred kilometres of high-quality BRT to date. Janmarg itself was inspired by Bogotá’s TransMiIenio, one of the best in the world.

ITDP organised study tours for key public officials as well as future system operators to Bogotá. Public officials realised that a bus-rapid-transit system can bring many of the benefits of rail-transit systems — speed, convenience, comfort, image — while costing a fraction of the capital investment.

Janmarg started off well but has failed to achieve its full potential. Ridership has remained stagnant while the number of personal motor vehicles on the road has been growing unabated due to an absence of any steps to curb their ownership and usage. Enforcement of bus lanes is weak in some areas. Not enough steps have been taken to rationalise integrate informal public transport services provided by auto rickshaws.  

Ahmedabad took bold steps to make the Janmarg bus-rapid-transit the backbone of its urban transport system. It won fame but lost some. The city can learn from its shortfalls and get back on the wheel.  

Indian cities that dream of providing mobility to their citizens, boosting the local economy, and caring for the natural environment, must not miss the bus! Across the globe, citizens take pride in well-implemented bus-rapid-transit systems because of the convenience and efficiency it has to offer. The people of India deserve it too!

ITDP India – Our Journey from a Dream to Reality

team ITDP

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It was back in 1998 that ITDP began its engagements in India, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” What started as one woman’s journey to change the dystopian path our cities were drifting towards has transformed into a formidable force of young, passionate visionaries who strive to bring back life in a place we call home. Today, ITDP celebrates two decades of action on the ground, catalysing tangible transformation at scale in over a third of urban India.

Transportation is the focus of many pressing issues facing the world today—decisions about whether to build highways or bus corridors have a great impact on our health and our planet. For this reason, ITDP has worked with over 18 Indian cities to reduce the human impact of transport choices: ensuring cities put people before cars, all citizens can walk and cycle safety, and jobs and services are a bus ride away. Through the dedicated efforts of our team and a strategic approach towards sustainable transport, ITDP India programme has impacted the lives of millions for the past 20 years.

ITDP in India

The journey in India began in Agra. The vision to develop a modern cycle rickshaw to counter the growing threats of motor vehicular pollution, gave way to the India Cycle Rickshaw Improvement Project. What started off as five prototypes has become sustainably embedded as the standard design in cities across North India. Today, around half a million of these modern cycle rickshaws serve  4-5 million zero-carbon trips daily and offer dignified livelihood to over a million people, transforming the lives of their families as well.

Cycle rickshaws

ITDP realised the need to transform the quality and availability of public transport in Indian cities. Since 2003, the India Programme evangelised the idea of the Bus Rapid Transit (popularly known as BRT) to transform mediocre bus services into high-quality mass transit.

Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city, welcomed ITDP to reimagine bus transit in 2005. Our partnership with Environment Planning Collaborative, and thereafter with CEPT University and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation resulted in the launch of Janmarg (in 2009)—India’s first high quality BRT system that expands to a network of 87 km. Janmarg has inspired many cities in India, and with guidance from ITDP, five cities have created 200 km of high-quality BRT to date.

janmarg

In 2009, the India Programme revolutionised the way people perceived streets in India. Safe, child-friendly streets are not just a mirage of the past, but can be a beautiful reality even today. Ahmedabad was the first city in India to host Car-Free Sundays in collaboration with ITDP, Riverside School and other partners.  The initiative allowed citizens to experience the freedom of walking and cycling on safer car-free streets.  The success enabled expansion to Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to raise awareness and transform their streets into places we all dream of everyday.

ITDP India Programme initiated collaboration with Chennai City Connect in 2009 to improve cycling and walking conditions across the city. Change isn’t easy in cities where the car is a symbol for status. But within five years of ITDP’s engagement with the city, Chennai took the bold move of adopting the Non Motorised Transport (NMT) Policy—first in India.

The policy mandates that a minimum of 60 percent of of transport funding to create and maintain walking and cycling infrastructure in the city. Having retrofitted over 50 km of walkable streets over the years, Chennai has initiated the next phase of redesigning an additional 50 km of street network. Chennai’s policy has inspired many national and international cities—from Chandigarh to Nairobi—to adopt similar policies. The comprehensive approach undertaken by Chennai, was awarded the Sustainia Award in 2015.

 

chennai complete streets

Since 2013, the India Programme has worked with the smaller cities of Tamil Nadu – Coimbatore, Trichy, Tirupur, Salem, and Madurai.  In Coimbatore, the Namma Kovai Namakke (Our Coimbatore Ourselves) campaign, initiated by ITDP, sparked citizen demand for better pedestrian facilities. Coimbatore was the first city in Tamil Nadu to host Car-Free Sundays, that inspired Chennai and Madurai to do the same. The city also adopted The Coimbatore Street Design and Management Policy that aims to increase walking, cycling and public transport use. In light of Coimbatore’s vision to improve people-mobility, the city has planned a 30 km-network of walking and cycling paths to connect the city’s major lakes, in line with the guiding Policy.  

The India programme began its engagements in Maharashtra in 2009, first with the Municipal Corporations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, and thereafter in Nashik and Aurangabad. Today, Pune is the epitome of a smart Indian city. Pune launched 40 kms of the Rainbow BRT in 2015, with an additional 45 km in the pipeline. The city adopted the Urban Street Design Guidelines and plans to redesign 100 km of streets based on the world-class standards set by the transformation of  JM Road and DP Road pilot project.

While Pune has taken the first steps towards developing a people-centric city, the next challenge is to address the encroachment onto footpaths by parked vehicles. As a result, Pune adopted the Public Parking Policy to regulate parking, in 2018. The Policy aims to manage on-street parking through an efficient paid parking system but exempts bicycle parking from any charges. Pune realises that encouraging cycling reduces CO2, improves commuters’ health and increases retail visibility. As a result, the city plans to implement a dockless Public Bicycle Sharing system of 13,100 cycle, under the city’s Bicycle Plan.  Yes, the city has worked wonders. Pune, Chennai, and Coimbatore – all cities ITDP assisted, were selected in the first round of the national government’s Smart City Mission.  

Pune complete streets

In 2013, the India programme also expanded to Ranchi, the capital of the state of Jharkhand. Local conditions were unfavourable to support sustainable transport; thus, ITDP initiated collaboration with local civil society groups, educational institutions and trade associations that formed the Ranchi Mobility Partnership. Ranchi’s Mobility for All action plan prepared by ITDP, with input from the partners, provided a detailed roadmap of transport solutions for local conditions.

The action plan inspired the city to take responsibility of overseeing operations of 100 new buses, and an additional 300 buses in the due course—an applaudable move for a city that had fewer than 30 buses. The plan also identified a cycle network to improve access to public transport; as a result, the city is in the midst of constructing the state’s first Bicycle Sharing system comprising of 1200 cycles.

Onward and upward, Ranchi’s Parking Policy has inspired other cities in the state, like Jamshedpur, to manage on-street parking. The State too realised the chaos caused by unregulated parking and thereafter adopted the  Jharkhand Parking Regulations—first in India. Jharkhand is also the first state to endorse the Transit Oriented Development Policy that was prepared in consultation with ITDP India.

On account of leveraging the sustainable transport agenda at the national level, the India expanded to the country’s capital, Delhi, in 2016. This gave rise to the policy brief on Women and Transport in collaboration with Safetipin and UN Women. Women represent the largest share of public transport users, yet they face many barriers that limit their mobility such as safety, comfort, convenience and affordability. Empowering women in transport enables them to participate in workforce, thereby creating a societal shift to transform the entire world economy.

The India Programme’s capacity development work, through training workshops and study tours, has been imperative to the success of its projects and policy. The India Programme has trained over 1000 government officials and other stakeholders. Over the years, our knowledge products have not only been used for best practise references, but also endorsed by the government – for example, the National Guidelines for Public Bicycle-sharing for the Ministry of Urban Development, and Street Design and BRT Guidelines for the Indian Roads Congress (IRC).

capacity development

Since 1998, ITDPs’ agenda of improving the quality of life of citizens through equitable and sustainable transport has only magnified in momentum over time. Times have evolved, but our dream remains the same. Take a moment and imagine a 2050: will we design a future where we continue to get trapped in endless traffic while pollution destroys the city, and infrastructure fails to deliver? Or, will we live in ‘smart cities’ where people can zip around town, connected with walking and cycling boulevards and world-class rapid transit. The choice is yours; we chose the latter.

P.S. Dear Mahatma Gandhiji, we are being the change we wish to see in the world today. And, we have been doing it successfully for the past 20 years in India!  

Transport investments for better cities

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In the next fifteen years, the top hundred cities of India will grow by around 60 percent. These cities will have 125 million new inhabitants, roughly the population of Japan! Today, with less than a third of all urban trips on personal motor vehicles (and less than 10% by personal cars), and more than two thirds by sustainable modes—walking, cycling, and public transport—Indian cities look good on paper. But, the ground reality is different.
Formal public transport is poor or non-­existent. Uncomfortable, unsafe, and polluting paratransit services fill the gap in most cities. Walking and cycling facilities are completely missing, or unusable if they exist. People use ‘sustainable’ modes out of financial compulsion, not out of choice. Cities are choked with traffic and pollution. Road fatality rates are 20-25 times that of developed countries.

On the other hand, personal motor vehicle ownership is doubling every decade, at nearly thrice the rate of population growth. As more and more people depend on personal motor vehicles for their daily travel needs, cities try to accommodate this deluge of traffic by expanding roads, building flyovers, and increasing parking space. However, such automobile centric planning practices cause urban sprawl, resulting in longer commutes and more traffic on the roads. Infrastructure costs, user costs, travel times, and pollution increase; traffic safety worsens.

To become smart, Indian cities must embrace a radically different approach to urban mobility: one that focuses on efficient and sustainable forms of mobility like public transport, walking and cycling. They also need to adopt a transit-oriented development (TOD) approach to create dense yet livable neighborhoods along mass transport lines, so that trips remain short and convenient and cities remain compact.

Access hierarchy by mode - Infographic - low res

Large and medium-sized Indian cities must invest in an extensive network of rapid transit along with a wide coverage of frequent, high-quality urban bus service. Further, cities of all sizes must invest in safe and convenient walking and cycling infrastructure. The aim should be to provide safe, convenient, and attractive mobility options for all while restricting the vehicle-kilometres travelled (VKT) by personal motor vehicles to no more than present levels. In mode share terms, percentage of trips by personal motor vehicles should be cut by half of present level by 2031.

Rapid transit in India: A global comparison

A global comparison of rapid transit projects reveals that India has just 3.2 kilometers of rapid transit per million urban residents (counting only cities with population of more than half million), a third of its peers China and Brazil, and less than a twentieth of France. To keep pace with its urban growth, India needs over a eight-fold increase of its mass rapid transit supply by 2031. However, at the present rate of building rapid transit in India, it would take at least 3-4 times longer, by when, the need for rapid transit would increase even further. India is not investing in sustainable urban transport at anything close enough to meet even basic mobility needs, much less to addressing the issues of inequity and environmental degradation that are growing faster than the population.

Countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico not only have much more urban rapid transit per capita than India but are expanding their systems at significantly faster rate. The reason behind this is bus rapid transit (BRT)—an inexpensive and quick to implement rapid transit mode that can provide metro-quality service with the added benefit of flexibility of rubber-tyred buses compared to rail systems. BRT systems not only have dedicated median lanes to bypass congestion but also have feature elements like stepless boarding, off-board fare collection, and real-time passenger information that reduce delays and improve customer service.

BRT and bus-based public transport in India

The Ahmedabad BRT system—known as Janmarg or “the People’s Way”—has revolutionised expectations about bus-based mass rapid transit in India. In a span of five years from 2009 to 2014, Janmarg has expanded from a 12.5 km corridor to a network of 88 km, providing connectivity across the city. Janmarg demonstrates that BRT can provide high-quality service at a fraction of the cost and has inspired similar BRT efforts like Rajmarg (Rajkot) in 2012, iBus (Indore) in 2013 and Citilink (Surat) in 2014.

BRT Basics - Infographic - low res

Features of Bus Rapid Transit

In 2015, Pune-Pimpri Chinchwad inaugurated Rainbow BRT. Bus operations are monitored from a central control centre using real-time data from GPS tracking devices on buses. The system uses a fleet of Euro IV CNG buses to contain emissions. With a daily ridership of 130,000, Rainbow BRT has helped reduce reliance on personal motorized vehicles. Around 12 percent of Rainbow BRT commuters used personal motor vehicles for their daily travel earlier.

Rapid transit, while important, is not enough. Many Indian cities have skeletal bus services or none at all. In their absence, people depend on intermediate public transport modes that are unsafe and, often, highly polluting. Hence, a formal bus-based public transport service is a necessity in all cities. In all, Indian cities will need over 3 lakh new city buses and minibuses in operations by 2031.

Walking and cycling: Basics of urban transport

More than a third of all the trips in our cities are made by foot or cycle. Public transport trips too start and end on foot—making walking integral to India’s transport systems. Cities must focus on redesigning streets to support walking and cycling—clean modes of transport that still play an important role in Indian cities. Indian cities need to build at least 32,000 km of wide and accessible footpaths and 16,000 km of safe and convenient cycle tracks over the next fifteen years.

Chennai is the first Indian city to adopt a non-motorised transport policy to promote walking and cycling in the city. The Corporation of Chennai has proposed to create a safe and pleasant network of footpaths, cycle tracks and greenways through the entire city to arrest the current decline in walking and cycling. 26 streets have been redesigned with better walking infrastructure, with another 20 streets under construction. Streets with wide carriageways and narrow or no footpaths have been replaced by wide, continuous and unhindered walking spaces, safe pedestrian crossings, properly scaled carriageways, conveniently placed bus stops, and clearly designated on-street parking.

Building cities around transit

Investments promoting walking, cycling and public transport will not bear fruit unless Indian cities stop counterproductive car-centric investments like flyovers and elevated roads. No city in the world has solved its congestion problem by building more roads. Our cities should follow a simple mantra: Build transit, Add density, Control parking. Cities should encourage higher densities in areas where there is good connectivity to mass rapid transit. They must also actively control personal motor vehicle use through parking restrictions and market-based pricing. Parking fees should be pegged to parking demand—higher demand, higher fee. Revenue generated from parking can be used to build better walking and cycling infrastructure and to expand public transport.

Ahmedabad’s Development Plan 2021 embraces this mantra. It encourages the use of public transport and promotes a compact city by encouraging higher density commercial and residential activities along BRT and Metro corridors while removing minimum requirements for off-street parking in new buildings. In fact, there is a cap on the amount of parking that new buildings can create—a maximum of two basement levels. Any additional parking will be deducted from the permitted FSI.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), through its draft parking policy, makes a case for limited parking. In areas with good connectivity to mass rapid transit, the emphasis is on controlling parking supply. As per the policy, the city will be divided into multiple parking districts. Parking rates in these districts will reflect rentals in the area, the size of the vehicle and the levels of congestion in the area.

Parking - Infographic - low res
PMC has also proposed in its 2016-17 budget to spend 50% of its transportation budget on footpaths, cycle tracks, and BRT, thus prioritising spending on sustainable transport over car-oriented infrastructure. Revenue generated from parking will also be used to build streets with better walking and cycling infrastructure as well as to expand public transport. Many vehicle-free zones are also planned, particularly on busy shopping streets.

The way forward

Benefits of adopting such a sustainable transport approach are many. It can bring down capital expenditure, fuel consumption, pollution levels and travel costs, saving money for government and individual citizens. Building safe streets that support the needs of all road users can also save tens of thousands of lives.
The Smart Cities Challenge has clear guidelines to promote walking, cycling, and public transport and will see an investment of around one trillion rupees (including central, state, and city contributions) over the next five years to develop best practices in the urban sector. Though these are good signs, implementation challenges remain. Access to funds, while essential, is not enough. Cities must also improve their capacity to plan and deliver high quality projects, by creating institutions with clear authority to plan, design, and implement. Smart are those cities that have the ability to create a sustainable, equitable and livable future.

The article was first published in Urbana World, Mar-Apr 2016

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Growth of Bus Rapid Transit in India

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The start of the BRT chapter in India can be traced to the announcement of the National Urban Transport Policy in 2006 by the Government of India. During this phase, the government received many applications for funding BRT projects.

The cities of Delhi and Pune were the first to start pilot BRT projects in the country, with plans for 257 km and 100 km networks respectively. But with only 5 km operational in Delhi and 15 km in Pune, both these systems were limited in scope and were heavily criticised for their poor quality of implementation.  Perceiving BRT merely as a modified bus lane meant that these pilots did not address the need for BRT-specific service plans, integration with existing bus operations. The need for supporting infrastructure and enforcement measures were also ignored.

Janmarg paves the way for a new phase of BRT in India

In 2009, a new phase of high quality, bus rapid transit systems in India started with the implementation of Janmarg in Ahmedabad. From its initial operational length of 12.5 km, the system was expanded to an 88 km network in 2014, providing connectivity across the city. The success of Janmarg inspired similar BRT efforts like Rajmarg (Rajkot) in 2012, iBus (Indore) in 2013 and Citilink (Surat) in 2014.

More recently, another successful BRT system–known as Rainbow BRT–was implemented in the twin cities of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. These cities, assisted by ITDP, carried out various studies to understand existing ridership, daily travel patterns, passenger transfers, and waiting times on potential corridors to create a service plan that optimized system operations. Based on findings from these surveys, the cities decided to create a hybrid system with BRT services operating on dedicated trunk line, and then extending in mixed traffic to outlying areas. The cities also worked on rationalizing the routes of the public bus service, to efficiently complement the BRT system.

Key features of BRT

Whether it is Janmarg or Rainbow, new BRT systems in India are characterized by better infrastructure design and administrative structures that ensure smooth operations. Median-aligned stations with level-boarding ensure the system is accessible to all users. Intersection designs that prioritise BRT buses also help in improving bus speeds. Better enforcement ensures that the BRT corridors are reserved exclusively for BRT buses. To cater to rising demand, many of these systems also have overtaking lanes at stations, to allow for express services.

Dedicated right of way for buses with median-aligned stations (left) and level boarding(right) are some of the physical characteristics of the new phase of BRT systems

Hybrid systems, such as the Rainbow BRT, feature high quality buses with doors on both sides, to cater  both to median-aligned stations within the dedicated BRT corridors, as well as left-aligned bus stops outside the dedicated corridor. Better buses, such as the Euro IV CNG buses used in Rainbow BRT, help minimise carbon footprint of these systems. All buses are fit with GPS that allows monitoring by the central control centres, ensuring reliable service.

Clean, well designed stations offer a comfortable means of travel for the commuters. Clear branding coupled with real time passenger information systems help commuters in perceiving these systems as a high quality transit options that are different from regular bus services.

All these features contribute to make BRT a reliable means of commute in Indian cities. Both Janmarg and Rainbow have touched daily ridership numbers of 150,000, and have encouraged mode shift from private transport to BRT.  In the case of Janmarg, studies indicate that 19% of private vehicle users have shifted to BRT. Rainbow BRT saw 8% of private vehicle users shift to BRT within 3 months of operations.

Cities are increasingly realising that they cannot increase road capacity by adding road space in the form of flyovers and elevated roads. With a focus on moving people rather than vehicles, cities are prioritizing sustainable mass rapid transport modes. This new paradigm, coupled with the realization that bus rapid transit systems can increase capacity at a lesser cost, makes the future of BRT in India undoubtedly bright.

This article is adapted from a webinar on ‘BRT in India’, presented by ITDP on 31 March, as part of the monthly webinar series hosted by The Across Latitudes and Cultures BRT Centre of Excellence. The presentation was followed by an interactive session where participants discussed various topics relating to fare collection, integration of BRT with other systems, data analysis etc. Watch the webinar below. 

For quick understanding of the key features of BRT, download ITDP’s BRT standard infographic or to delve through the details in the BRT standard guide book.

This infographic highlights the key features of BRT essential to any BRT system.

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Indian smart cities need a tenfold increase of mass rapid transit

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India is urbanising at an unprecedented rate. A third of the country’s population—an estimated 400 million people—now lives in cities. As they cope with this growth, cities are realising that traditional transport solutions like wider roads and flyovers will not provide a lasting solution to their transport problems.

As the national capital has shown, these solutions are only causing high levels of air pollution and unsafe roads while mobility remains poor for the vast majority, including car users. Smart cities need to embrace a radically different approach to urban mobility: one that focuses on more efficient, sustainable forms of mobility like public transport, walking, and cycling.

At roughly 400 km, India has 1 km of high quality rapid transit per million urban residents—a thirtieth of France, the present world leader. To keep pace with its urban growth, India needs a ten-fold increase of its mass rapid transit supply. At the present rates of building mass transit in India, it would take two generations to build enough rapid transit!

Interestingly, developing countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico have 4-5 times more rapid transit than India. These countries are also expanding their systems at significantly higher rates because they are creating surface systems like bus rapid transit (BRT) that are cheaper and quicker to implement. BRT systems feature dedicated median lanes for buses, allowing commuters to bypass congestion. They also provide features such as stepless boarding, off-board fare collection, and real-time passenger information to reduce delays and improve customer service.

Quick evolution of the Janmarg network

The Ahmedabad BRT system—known as Janmarg or “the People’s Way”—has revolutionised expectations about bus-based mass rapid transport in India. In a quick span of five years, Janmarg has expanded from a 12.5 km corridor to a network of 88 km of dedicated BRT corridors with 120 stations, providing connectivity across the entire city. Janmarg demonstrates that BRT can provide metro-quality service at a fraction of the cost.

Rapid transit, while important, is not enough. Many Indian cities have skeletal bus services or none at all. In their absence, people depend on intermediate public transport modes that are uncomfortable, unsafe, and highly polluting. The lack of reliable public transport is causing a shift to private two wheelers and cars. Hence, a formal bus-based public transport service is a necessity in all urban areas with a population of over two lakhs. In all, Indian cities will need over 4 lakh new city buses and minibuses by 2030.

In addition, streets must be redesigned to support walking and cycling—clean modes of transport that still play an important role in Indian cities. While more than a third of all the trips in most of our cities are made by foot or cycle, public transport trips too start and end on foot (or cycle)—making walking and cycling integral to India’s transport systems. Indian cities need to build 30,000 km of wide and accessible footpaths and 20,000 km of cycle tracks over the next decade.

Complete streets with wide footpaths, Chennai

In Chennai, the Corporation has proposed to create a safe and pleasant network of footpaths, cycle tracks and greenways through the entire city to arrest the current decline in walking and cycling. The first phase of the project has been implemented. Streets with wide carriageways and narrow footpaths have been replaced by wide, continuous and unhindered walking spaces, safe pedestrian crossings, protected cycle tracks, properly scaled carriageways, conveniently placed bus stops, and clearly designated on-street parking.

Investments promoting walking, cycling and public transport will not bear fruit unless Indian cities stop counterproductive car-centric investments like flyovers and elevated roads. No city in the world has solved its congestion problem by building more roads. Yet Indian cities are repeating the mistakes of developed countries. Rather, cities must control personal motor vehicle use through parking restrictions and market-based pricing.

Tackle congestion by limiting parking

Our cities should follow a simple mantra: build transit, add density, control parking. That is, cities should allow higher densities in areas where there is good connectivity to mass rapid transit while simultaneously limiting parking supply. Parking fees should be pegged to parking demand.

Ahmedabad’s Development Plan 2021 embraces this mantra. It encourages the use of public transport and promotes a compact city by allowing higher density commercial and residential activities along BRT corridors while removing minimum requirements for off-street parking in new buildings. All developments are allowed only two basements of free parking.

While these walking, cycling and public transport initiatives will require substantial funds, they will cost only a fifth as much as a car oriented future, with significantly better results for all. Sustainable transport will cut the outflow of foreign exchange for fossil fuel imports by 40 per cent, reduce air pollution by a third, and save tens of thousands of lives on our roads. Let’s invest in sustainable solutions that secure an equitable, liveable future for our cities.

This article was first published in BW Smart Cities.

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InFocus: Building transit-oriented cities

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ITDP brings you a monthly digest of sustainable transport and urban development news from around the world. From Mumbai’s new transit-oriented development plan to urban design policies adopted in Delhi, this month’s InFocus looks at contemporary planning approaches adopted by cities to tackle congestion through better public transport-land use integration while improving quality of life for their citizens.

As India urbanises, cities have a choice: to allow, even facilitate, low density urban sprawl with mono-functional gated complexes, resulting in long commutes, dependence on private vehicles and rising congestion; or to actively plan for future residential, commercial, and other development within the city so that most citizens live, work and play within walking distance of high-quality rapid transit—in vibrant, lively places designed for people of all ages and income groups.

The latter approach—often called transit-oriented development—involves facilitating higher intensity mixed-use development along mass rapid transit corridors, encouraging affordable housing, creating a fine grid of streets that prioritise walking and cycling, and adopting building design and parking regulations that support street life and transit use. Here is a look at efforts being made by select Indian cities towards achieving this.

Mumbai allows higher FSI in areas served by transit

Eliminating low density, outward expansion, the city’s proposed Development Plan instead calls for higher FSI up to 8 along rapid transit corridors and commercial districts, while restricting FSI to 2 or less in areas without transit access. Indian Express presents the details.

Ahmedabad uses Local Area Plans to manage densification

The city’s Development Plan 2021 allowed higher densities for developments along transit corridors, with Central Business District having an FSI of 5.4. To manage high densities in these areas, the city has now completed preparation of a Local Area Plan for the CBD that envisions better streets, an improved public realm and infrastructure upgrades. In an interview with Livemint, Bimal Patel, President, CEPT University, elaborates on the salient features of such an approach.

Delhi set to redevelop transit hubs into safe, mixed use areas for all

Recognising the need to transform station areas into vibrant districts, Delhi Development Authority is set to modify its Development Plan to allow higher densities, mandate mixed use, and eliminate setbacks and compound walls for developments near public transport hubs. Indian Express reports.

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Demystifying parking: Smart solutions to cities’ parking woes

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Cities across the world are embracing progressive and bold solutions to tackle traffic congestion and parking challenges. They follow a simple mantra—build transit, add density, control parking. Recognising that cheap and excessive parking—not density—creates traffic congestion, they have started to limit parking supply, charge demand pegged user fee, and use the revenue to strengthen walking, cycling and public transport infrastructure.

Ahmedabad recently overhauled its Development Plan with inputs from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and other experts. The new plan encourages high density development—ranging from 4.0 to 5.4 FSI—along its extensive bus rapid transit network and proposed metro rail lines. More significantly, in its local area plan for the central business district, the development authority has proposed to not only remove parking requirements altogether, but also cap parking supply in buildings to a maximum of two levels below ground. Any additional supply is deducted from the allowed FSI.

Parking regulation remains ineffective unless backed by a robust management system that clearly define parking zones, peg user fee to demand, and use an IT based mechanism for information, payment and enforcement. Parking fees goes up or down based on demand data. According to Donald Shoup, world’s foremost parking expert, the user fee should be high enough to keep at least 15% of the parking supply in each block vacant during peak demand periods. The availability of a few empty spots at each location drastically reduces the time people spend looking for a parking space, thereby reducing localised congestion.

Amsterdam has 8 parking zones with fees varying from €0.90 per hour in the low demand areas to €5.00 per hour in the historical city centre.

Mumbai recently categorized different parts of the city into three groups—low, medium and high demand—with parking fees ranging from 20 to 60 rupees per hour. A similar parking regime in Amsterdam helped decrease car traffic in inner city by 20%. It also led to a 20% decline in people searching for a space to park. A simple electronic payment system allows users to make payment easily, while eliminating parking revenue leakage. Scan cars with automatic license plate number recognition technology and parking wardens with IT enabled devices enforce the system.

Cities are also innovatively using parking revenue to encourage sustainable modes of transport. Bicing—the public cycle-sharing program in Barcelona—is financed by its parking revenue. London’s Freedom Pass, which allows elderly (60+) and disabled residents to use public transport for free, is funded by the parking fees collected in many boroughs. You can find more about these cases and other best practices in ITDP’s publication, Europe’s Parking U-Turn: From Accommodation to Regulation.

Parking reforms not only reduce congestion and pollution, but also provide resources to improve walking, cycling, and public transport infrastructure. Moreover, demand-based pricing ensures that vacant spaces are available in high-demand parking zones for short-term high-value car users while preventing overuse by all-day, low-value users. Removing minimum parking requirements for zones with good transit access help slash development costs, creating an opportunity for cities to develop affordable housing and other uses with its urban cores.

More resources from ITDP on parking reform:

InFocus: Revolutionary Parking Reforms

Park it right

Parking: Searching for the good life

Sizing Up Parking Space

U.S. Parking Policies: An Overview of Management Strategies

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InFocus: Leading the way for sustainable transport

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ITDP brings you a monthly digest of sustainable transport and urban development news from around the world. From Ahmedabad’s new transit-oriented master plan to Paris’ plans to restrict car use, this January 2015, InFocus takes a look at what leaders around the world are doing to improve their cities.

Ahmedabad commissioner outlines plans for a congestion-free city

Ahmedabad’s path to become a people-oriented city began in 2009 with implementation of the Janmarg bus rapid transit system, followed by the creation of a transit-and people-oriented master plan. In an article for India Today, D.Thara, Municipal Commissioner, reflects on the journey so far and the way forward.

Chennai mayor says ‘NO’ to building flyovers

Recognising that flyovers are not the solution to traffic problems, Saidai S Duraisamy, Mayor of Chennai, declares that the city corporation will not build any more flyovers. Times of India reports.

Paris mayor announces plans for a car-free city centre

Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, plans to tackle traffic and pollution in the French capital by restricting car use and building cycle tracks in the city’s historic centre. Citylab reports on the details.

A growing number of mayors in the US push for better cycling policy

From obvious health benefits to bridging social divides and providing last mile connectivity, cycling is increasingly seen as an important component of urban transport. StreetsblogUSA talks to mayors from Philadelphia, Memphis and other cities in the US to find out reasons for their interest in investing in cycling.

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