ITDP India

Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide

Ranchi Mayoral candidates support sustainable transport

by

As one of the fastest growing cities in India, Ranchi has a dire need for improved transport sector infrastructure. Formal public transport is almost non-existent, and there are hardly any dedicated facilities for pedetrians and cyclists. These conditions are contributing toward rapid growth in personal motor vehicle usage. So far, no concrete efforts have been made to develop sustainable transport solutions for the city.

To advocate for equitable, safe, and sustainable transport in Ranchi, one of the principal strategies proposed by Ranchi Mobility Partnership (RMP) is to garner support from political representatives and parties. Many political representatives in Ranchi lack awareness regarding the transport challenges faced by city residents. While election manifestos outline priorities ranging from food security to housing to health care, they contain few details on transport, and what recommendations do exist tend to focus on interventions that benefit personal vehicle users. This emphasis is in stark contrast to the need of the majority of Ranchi residents for basic improvements in walking, cycling, and public transport facilities.

With the announcement of the much-awaited Mayoral polls in April 2014, the Ranchi Mobility Partnership (RMP) identified the election as a great opportunity to create awareness among Mayoral candidates about the pressing need for sustainable and equitable mobility solutions in the city. The Mayor, as head of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation, is responsible for several aspects of the city’s transport system, including the design and maintenance of roads; management of parking facilities; and storm water drainage.

On 19 June 2014, the RMP organised a workshop for all Mayoral candidates with support from the Citizens Foundation and the Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI),focusing on possible sustainable mobility solutions for Ranchi. The workshop was a huge success with participation from Mayoral candidates representing all major parties, ward councillors, trade and commerce organisations, civil society and educational institutions.

1-3

On behalf of RMP, Shreya Gadepalli (ITDP) introduced the RMP’s transport Vision for Ranchi.

During the workshop, the RMP introduced its Transport Manifesto for Ranchi and called on all of the mayoral candidates to endorse the same. Shreya Gadepalli from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a founding member of the RMP, called for the need to support high quality public transport, develop neighbourhoods that promote walking and cycling, and introduce better regulation of parking.

The presentation was followed by an open session where the candidates engaged in an active discussion with the audience and presented their visions for the city. Most candidates endorsed the RMP’s Transport Manifesto. Ms. Asha Lakra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-backed candidate,promised to promote public transport, create continuous pedestrian paths and safe cycle tracks, and develop more recreational spaces in the city.

2-1

Mayoral candidate backed by the Bharatiya Janata party, Ms. Asha Lakra, calls for high quality public transport and more recreational spaces in Ranchi.

Members of the FJCCI and other civil society groups lauded RMP’s initiative and expressed a desireto organise discussions regularly to raise awareness about mobility issues in the city. The FJCCI also expressed interest in joining the RMP.

The results of the Mayoral elections, announced on 27 June, declared Ms. Lakra as the winner with a victory of over 14,000 votes. At taking the oath of office, the Mayor Lakra declared that she would work to improve the condition of streets in the city. RMP will be working closely with the Mayor and will help translate her election pledges into reality.

Related News

More News >

Indore iBus & Best Practices Topics of MOUD BRT Workshop

by

Over the next decade, many Indian cities will see the use of personal motor vehicles double unless action is taken to improve sustainable transport options. ITDP estimates that 10,000 km of rapid transit are required in the 100 largest Indian cities to ensure that most new trips can be accommodated in public transport rather than personal motor vehicles. Recognizing the urgent need to rapidly expand mass transit, senior officials from cities across the country met recently to increase awareness about BRT and the features of high quality BRT corridors.

The workshop, organized by the Indian Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD) in partnership with the Institute of Urban Transport (IUT) and ITDP, brought together more than seventy secretaries, commissioners, chief engineers, planners, and managers from public transport agencies from cities in all stages of the BRT planning process.

During the workshop, participants visited the Indore BRT system. Known as iBus, the system incorporates many best practice features, including high quality central stations, a dedicated bus fleet, level boarding, and prepaid fare collection

Highlighting the importance of high quality design elements, event participants used ITDP’s to evaluate the Indore system, as well as scored existing or planned BRT systems in their own cities. The exercise provided a platform for cities to learn from one another, identify common pitfalls, and prioritize improvements that further enhance their systems. Key lessons learned from the exercise included the importance of getting the BRT Basics right, as well as the crucial process of integrating last mile connectivity. Complementing their BRT systems, more and more cities are showing interest in constructing better footpaths and implementing cycle sharing schemes to improve access for all users.

Even the highest scoring cities identified a host of features they could introduce to improve their system further.

“Yesterday I was running BRT in Indore,” said Sandeep Soni, Joint Collector of Indore and CEO of AICTSL, “but now I know I need to improve.”

The workshop also created an opportunity for ITDP to gather feedback about the BRT Standard, its applicability in the Indian context, and changes required to make the document a more useful tool for Indian cities as they are planning their BRT systems. Readers are encouraged to submit their comments on the BRT Standard to india@itdp.org.

ITDP’s Shreya Gadepalli introduced the BRT Standard, an evaluative tool that defines features of best practice BRT systems

IMG_2108-1024x588

Participants used the BRT Standard to evaluate the Indore BRT system as well as existing or proposed BRT systems in their respective cities.

Related News

More News >

Everything is Everywhere: Land Use in India

Cities_Nashik_cover

by

Indian streets are a messy mix of people, cyclists, rickshaws, taxis, cars, buses, even the occasional cow. But within this mess is the vibrancy and fluidity of street life, like a tasty street soup where seemingly unlikely things come together and strange things might be bobbing around. Land use is India is similarly messy and mixed, and also creates a vibrant street life where activities are located close to one another and it is easy for someone to find what they need within walking distance. Everything is everywhere, it seems.

Land use zoning in India is Euclidean based, meaning it creates land use classifications (i.e. residential, multi-family, commercial) by geographic area, but instead of keeping those uses separate, land use in Indian cities typically builds off of the uses in one zone to create a more integrated approach. For example, in Chennai, the first land use category, primary residential, allows residential, as well as cottage industries, petty shops, small farms, and schools of commerce. The mixed residential zone allows everything that was allowed in primary residential, as well as banks, restaurants, shops, bakeries, etc.  The commercial land use zone allows everything in primary residential and mixed residential, and then some.  And so it builds.

According to ITDP’s Eight Principles for Transport in Urban Life mixed uses is one component of good urban development.  If India has mixed use down, what, then, is the main issue for zoning in India? For Indian cities, the two biggest issues as represented by the Eight Principles are density and connectivity.

How should we define density in dense environments like Indian cities? The floor area ratio (known as floor space index in India) is usually set at a uniform and low rate across the city.  Indian cities are using transfer of development rights (TDR) to encourage densification in certain areas, but those areas are often at the outskirts of the city center.  Essentially, TDR is being used to not really densify new areas, but to de-densify the crowded centers.  This may be resulting in sprawl and not in focusing growth in strategic ways, like around transit.

Planning typically is done by the state, not the city, and only looks at main arterials.  The smaller streets and the connections within an area are often missing.  So while land use zoning fosters everything everywhere within walking distance, the connections to make that happen – the micro street grid – may be missing, especially in new areas. And given the growth of Indian cities, we want to make sure that the new areas have the vibrancy of the older areas – where the streets are vibrant places in their own right and help us go everywhere – where mixed uses, density, and connectivity create good places where we want to be.

Related News

More News >

New High Quality BRT Corridors Planned for Pimpri Chinchwad, India

by

by Sam Mohamad-Khany

Pimpri Chinchwad is a city of 1.7 million in the state of Maharashtra, India. On January 5, ITDP conducted a full-day workshop on the BRT Standard, which was attended by over 25 officials from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), public transport operator Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML), and consultants Creations Pvt Ltd, S. N. Bhobe, and C. V. Kand, who are preparing detailed designs for new bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors.

Pimpri Chinchwad’s BRT network includes four corridors and spans a total length of 40 km. The goal of the workshop was to inform the BRT planning process by identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement in the current plans for new corridors. Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi of PCMC opened the session, followed by presentations by ITDP staff on the BRT Standard and salient system features of the Janmarg BRT system in Ahmedabad. Mr Ramkrishna from UMTC, who has been appointed as a project management consultant for the region’s BRT, presented the details of the plan and design.  As a warm-up, attendees formed groups and rated the Ahmedabad system using the BRT Standard. In the afternoon, the groups rated the planned BRT lines in their own region. Groups then presented their scores to each other and engaged in lively debate about various opportunities and possible pitfalls of BRT planning and implementation. “We are now aware that what major steps to be taken to upgrade and enhance BRT service in this region,” said Rajan Patil, Joint City Engineer for PCMC.

Workshop participants identified several areas of improvement for the Pimpri Chinchwad BRT corridors, including intersection design, branding and communications, and the provision of adequate pedestrian facilities to enable passengers to reach the future BRT stations. “The workshop conducted by ITDP gave us insight about BRTS element to be incorporated in the design and planning of BRTS for PCMC,” said B. K. Gaikwad, Traffic Engineer, PCMC. “It provided ideas to our engineers, consultants, planners, and operators through discussions in interactive sessions on each of the aspects of the BRTS. Also the importance of pedestrian safety while accessing BRTS has been deliberated during this workshop. Overall, it was very helpful to PCMC.” ITDP will compile recommendations from the groups and follow up with PCMC to facilitate implementation.

The BRT Standard is available for download at www.brtstandard.org.