ITDP India

Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide

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!  

A year of radical planning, 2017 passes by…

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“I used to take my two-wheeler to travel the 3 kilometers between my house and the railway station. I’m now able to walk the stretch, thanks to the continuous footpath. Best part – I’ve lost 5 kilos and my diabetes!” Mr. Manimaran, a resident of Egmore in Chennai, is thrilled at the tremendous change that a safer and better footpath has brought about in his life.

The year 2017 witnessed many such impactful changes in the field of sustainable transportation all around the country, including cities which ITDP India Programme has been closely working with. Thanking all our supporters, we take a look at the year that passed by.

Pune broke ground on its ambitious Complete Streets networks – a 100km-network with its own financial resources and 45km through support from the National Smart Cities Mission. The first phase of these street design projects on JM Road and DP Road has already been lauded by the country, owing to the vibrancy of these redesigned streets. Pune’s Bicycle Plan, recently approved by the General Body, paves way for the creation of a 300km bicycle-track network in the city.

Having accomplished over 40km of Complete Streets, Chennai initiated the next phase of street design by inviting tenders in late October to redesign 22km of streets. The city tested out the design of 5 key intersections through a tactical urbanism approach – quick, temporary, on-ground interventions. Chennai also conducted another trial run of the proposed pedestrian plaza in Pondy Bazaar, the success of which fetched the project a sanction of of Rs 55 crores (~US $9 million) under the Smart Cities Mission.

Smaller cities have also made remarkable progress this year in their Complete Streets programmes – Nashik appointed nationally-acclaimed urban designers to redesign its proposed street network of 50 kilometers, with 10 kilometers tendered out; and Coimbatore commenced construction of its Model Roads and hosted an interactive exhibition to inform the people of the design of the roads while collecting feedback. Coimbatore also started developing detailed implementation plans for its Greenways and Lake Restoration Project, which includes a 30km network of greenways (exclusive walking and cycling infrastructure) that crisscross the city and connect 8 water bodies.

Becoming one of the pioneering cities in parking management in the country, Ranchi implemented a progressive on-street parking management system on its busiest thoroughfare, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, with a twelve-fold increase in revenue. Inspired by the success of the pilot, the city has proposed to refine and expand the system to cover all key locations. The state of Jharkhand has also proposed to adopt a state-level parking policy.

Chennai recently invited tenders to select an operator for its proposed on-street parking management system covering 12000 equivalent car spaces on Bus Route Roads across the city. Since Pune is also working towards parking management, ITDP, in collaboration with  GIZ-SUTP,  facilitated and managed a two-day workshop on the topic, with international parking expert, Dr Paul Barter in the city. Participants included municipal officials, traffic police, public officials from other agencies as well as various local stakeholders.

An increase in demand for better public transport has provided the fillip to cities across the country to increase and improve their transit services. Chennai made considerable advancement in its BRT planning, with the interim report for Phase I approved by the state and a series of public consultation programmes organised to explain the significance of BRT to people and get their feedback on the various corridors.

In Pune, around 130 crore rupees was sanctioned to construct 13 new bus terminals to facilitate better integration of bus services with the proposed Metro Rail network. The city also commenced work on expanding the existing 38km Rainbow BRT by an additional 15km. Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) initiated the process of adding 200 feeder buses to its fleet, to improve connectivity between the city and the surrounding towns.

Public bicycle sharing (PBS) is emerging as a popular mode of public transit across the country. Pune piloted a dockless PBS system with 275 bicycles and signed an MoU with 4 vendors dealing with dockless systems. Two other cities are preparing for the installation of a PBS system – Ranchi and Chennai invited operators to submit proposals for setting up 1264 bicycles in 122 stations (Phase 1) and 5000 bicycles in 378 designated parking areas, respectively.

Successful and sustained on-ground changes invariably require the backing of well-framed guidelines, policies and financial plans – 2017 was marked by many of these. Two sets of guidelines – the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) planning and design guidelines, and the Guidelines on Control and Regulation of Mixed Traffic in Urban Areas – prepared by ITDP, were approved by the apex committee of the Indian Roads Congress. These guidelines will apply for all cities across India and guide them towards low-carbon mobility.

The Government of Jharkhand adopted an inclusive TOD policy that focuses on equitable development of cities in the state, so that a majority of the population lives and works in areas with safe and accessible walking and cycling facilities integrated with reliable and high-quality public transport.

The Government of Maharashtra published a draft of the State Urban Transport Policy, which promotes low-carbon & equitable mobility and urban development by prioritising public transport (PT) and non-motorised transport (NMT). Furthermore, over half of Pune’s total transportation budget of 1100 crore rupees was allocated towards sustainable transport development for the financial year 2017-18. In the South, Coimbatore adopted a Street Design and Management Policy that focuses on creating equitable and sustainable mobility options and expanding their use.

The realisation that sustainable urban development will remain elusive without integrating women’s safety and comfort in urban transport, has generated momentum to include gender as a key factor in transport planning. Bringing this subject to the fore and as a first of its kind, a paper on Women and Transport in Indian Cities was created by ITDP and Safetipin, and released at a national workshop on gender and transit conducted by the two organisations. This paper identifies indicators, service level benchmarks and processes for integrating a gender perspective in urban transport projects, policies and programs along with good practice case studies.   

 

2017 was a year of radical planning indeed, with many grand plans conceived, developed and initiated for sustainable transportation. With all these plans set to materialize in the coming months, 2018 will be a year of implementation and tangible transformation. Looking forward to a great year ahead: Happy New Year!

On-Street Parking Management: Pune and Chennai to join the bandwagon

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“I bought an AC, now the government has to give me a free house to install it in!” If this is an absurd demand, so is free parking – “I bought a car, now the government has to give me a free place to park it!” Cities across the world including India, are gradually beginning to realise that parking is not a right; it is a commodity and should come at a price. In keeping with this revelation, Indian cities such as Ranchi have started implementing on-street parking management, with a parking fee.

Pune and Chennai are the latest cities striving to join the bandwagon. Pune will soon adopt a parking policy to guide parking management in the city. Pune and Chennai both aim to put a smart parking management system in place. There is now an urgent need to learn more about global best practices, especially challenges faced during implementation and solutions. In order to initiate this learning process, Pune and Chennai will host discussions and workshops internally and for the public in the following weeks, led by internationally acclaimed parking expert Dr.Paul Barter.

Today, unorganised on-street parking and invasion of pedestrian footpaths by parked cars is common of most Indian cities. On-street parking is mostly free, and even when charged, the rates are too low and fee collection is carried out by private operators with little monitoring or oversight by the government.

In Pune, open spaces have been converted into parking lots – including a mechanised structure – to meet the ‘demand’. However, prior to providing off-street solutions, on-street parking has to be addressed as it comes free of cost and is more easily accessible, hence is more sought after.

Realising this, Pune has tried to employ certain strategies to ensure that rampant parking doesn’t hinder movement of vehicles as well as people. The age-old “P1/P2” scheme has been incorporated in several streets where parking is allowed only on one side of the road depending on odd/even dates. Traffic cops have tried to ban parking on mobility corridors during peak hours.

A manually-operated “Pay and Park” system in Pune charges 4-wheelers Rs.5-10 for 2-4 hours

Pune has also implemented a manually-operated “Pay and Park” system on some streets with parking charges of the order Rs 5-10 for four-wheelers for 2-4 hours. While this is the on-street scenario, many private establishments like hospitals and cinema halls charge upto Rs 50 for 4 hours of car-parking. All these measures have had mixed successes.

In Chennai on the other hand, parking rules and fees are administered on an ad-hoc basis, leading to a lack of clarity for users, inconsistent enforcement, and significant revenue leakage. The city experiences localised shortages despite overall availability of parking space.

The two cities are thus trying to solve the parking problem by better on-street parking management. The Pune Municipal Corporation has proposed a policy to manage parking in the city. The policy suggests slabs of parking charges, using the fundamental economic principle of supply and demand to determine the cost. It prioritises road space for other users – especially pedestrians, by dissuading the usage of any available public space (both off- and on-street) for parking.

The revenue from parking management only on bus-route roads in Chennai could itself be over half a crore rupees per year.

Chennai has initiated the process of implementing a smart parking management system. Key features of the proposed system are parking guidance for users and real-time information of parking slot availability on mobile platform, an online digital payment portal to improve revenue collection and enhance transparency and an electronic enforcement system, among other things.

For parking charges, a zone-based system will be followed wherein streets are categorised into paid parking (medium to high demand), free parking (low demand) and no parking (since parking restricts movement) zones. Parking fee and fine will be determined by the Greater Chennai Corporation and Chennai Smart City Ltd. It is estimated that the revenue from the system only from bus-route roads could itself be well over half a crore rupees per year.*

Dr. Paul Barter at a parking management workshop in Kathmandu. Image Courtesy: Clean Energy Nepal

In order to assist the two cities’ commendable efforts to deal with parking, Dr.Paul Barter will be visiting and leading discussions in both Pune and Chennai. Dr. Barter has offered his expertise along with necessary training in several parking-management projects across the world including Beijing, Kathmandu, Jakarta, Singapore, Mumbai, etc. He has published an on-street parking management toolkit as a guide for government staff in low-income and middle-income countries. His expert opinion and knowledge will add greatly to the parking management plan of the two cities.

Through their actions to tackle parking, Pune and Chennai are surely setting a great example for other cities that intend to create an urban environment focused on people rather than vehicles!

*This estimate is based on a parking fee rate of Rs. 40 per ECS per hour for bus-route roads.

 

Read the draft of Pune’s parking policy here: Suruvath: Public Parking Policy 2016.

Discover the basics of parking management and regulation in ITDP’s publication, Parking Basics.

People’s day out: Shoppers welcome T. Nagar Pedestrian Plaza

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“He doesn’t want to leave yet! He hasn’t even had his breakfast, but in his enjoyment, he’s forgotten his hunger!” Mrs. Lalitha, a resident of T.Nagar, thus ended up spending the entire morning at Pondy Bazaar with her 7 year-old son Pranav. Pranav, who has nobody at home to play with, found not just games, but also company and a lot of space in T.Nagar to keep him entertained. His mother, who also participated in the games, reliving her childhood days, enjoyed a fun-filled, nostalgic shopping trip.  

This alternate shopping experience was on the occasion of the second trial run of the proposed Pondy Bazaar Pedestrian Plaza. Owing to the success of the first trial run of the plaza, a second trial was organised by the Greater Corporation of Chennai on the 25th February, 2017 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm along Sir Thyagaraya Road. Though a hit amongst the people who visited, the shopkeepers remained concerned that the plaza would affect their sales. 

Pondy Bazaar, located in the heart of the city, is known for being a famous shopping destination, with both small stores and big brands lining the stretch. This shopping promenade is best experienced on foot, giving one the opportunity to stop-and-shop to one’s content. In order to transform this hub into a haven, a pedestrian plaza has been proposed along Sir Thyagaraya Road as a Smart City initiative.

As a first step towards creating this plaza — for collecting citizen feedback and building support for the project — a part of the road was converted into a pedestrian zone for the first trial run on November 20th, 2016, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Visitors witnessed a new Pondy Bazaar, bustling with activity and games throughout the morning. The lack of congestion despite diverted traffic further added to the success of the experiment.

T Nagar Pedestrian Plaza 1

The first trial run went on smoothly, with no traffic congestion

Similar to the first trial run, the 700m stretch between Thanikachalam Road junction and Panagal Park was closed off to cars, autos, shared autos and vans, during the second trial run. Two wheelers and buses were allowed along the stretch both ways, although on a shorter width of four meters on either side of the median. The traffic rerouting was quite successful, with incredible support from the Chennai Traffic Police.

Due to the longer duration of this trial, the activities were split into various slots across the morning and afternoon sessions. The morning was dedicated to kids, with games such as carrom, chess & life-sized snake & ladder, and activities like yoga, craft with newspaper & a drawing competition on Smart City. Young drummers and dancers dazzled the crowd in the afternoon while the elders learned more about first aid at the training camp organised by the NGO Alert. The health camps organised by the Corporation were also a hit among the older people. Restaurants set up tables & chairs outside, to serve those who wanted to snack while enjoying the outdoor activities.

T Nagar Pedestrianisation 2 trial run 3

In terms of facilities, parking was provided at the site of the proposed multi-storey car park at the Thanikachalam Road junction. On-street parking was also arranged for on Bashyam Road in front of Panagal park and Thyagaraya Road between Anna Salai and Nair road. Water and seating were provided all along the street at regular intervals for people’s convenience. Shuttle service in the form of battery-operated cars was made available for the elders.

Pedestrian counts and pedestrian user surveys were conducted to study the quantum of pedestrian traffic in this section of the street as well as collect public feedback. Vehicle-volume video surveys were also conducted at the intersections to study the flow of traffic and pile-up, if any. The results of these surveys, along with those from the first trial run, will be used to decide upon the final design of the proposed plaza.

Visualising the proposed T. Nagar pedestrian plaza

Visualising the proposed T. Nagar pedestrian plaza

The shopkeepers were concerned about the loss of parking that will result from the pedestrian plaza, which they believe might affect their profits. The appointed consultants for the project, Darashaw, along with members of ITDP, explained to them that the idea of mandatory parking for shopping is a myth. Cases from the world over were presented to them.

Pedestrianisation across the globe

Cities across the world are celebrating the pedestrian and the cyclist. Many have created completely pedestrianised areas to provide better mobility for pedestrians, enhance the shopping experience & volume, and reduce pollution level and the number of accidents. Despite initial resistances, most of these projects have proven to be great successes.

Copenhagen, for instance, set out to pedestrianise its main shopping street, Stroget, in 1962. In the 1960s, the increasing number of vehicles led to growing pressure on Stroget for both moving traffic and parking. As a result, shoppers became confined to a narrow, almost non-existent footpath, with no room to stop-and-shop.

In 1962, 15,800 sq.m of pedestrian area was created. Today, a total of 100,000 sq.m once dedicated to motorised transit has been converted to traffic-free space for pedestrians in Copenhagen. Stroget now has 6 times more area for pedestrians than in 1962 with a 10-12m width carrying 145 people/min. More importantly, the shops have seen an increase in sales by 30%.

Copenhagen pedestrianisation Map

Similarly in New York, to ease traffic congestion throughout the midtown grid and improve pedestrian safety, mayor Bloomberg decided to pedestrianise Broadway around Times Square for a trial on May 24, 2009. Initially, the plaza had a few tables, 376 rubber folding chairs, potted plants and orange barrier cones.The plaza is now being redesigned permanently at $55 million.

After pedestrianisation, Times Square has seen a 33% reduction in traffic related injuries. Sales have risen by  71% – the biggest growth in history – and the number of shops has doubled. The testing of the Time’s Square pedestrianisation over the years has taught the world a valuable lesson – trials over a long period help understand the needs of the stakeholders better.

Snøhetta's proposed design for Times Square

Snøhetta’s proposed design for Times Square

Pondy Bazaar pedestrian plaza to be rolled out soon

The Greater Corporation of Chennai aims to see the pedestrian plaza take shape on the ground by the end of the year. If all goes according to plan, Chennai will have a brand new, revamped public space in its centre, right on the street!

 

 

Coimbatore delegation visits Chennai: Understands best practices in street design

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As Coimbatore looks at developing 13 km of streets as ‘Model Roads’ in the city featuring high quality pedestrian environment, a team comprising officials from the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation along with empanelled architects visited Chennai for a detailed knowledge-sharing session with their peers from the Greater Chennai Corporation on 23 February.

The team, comprising of four engineers and ten architects from Coimbatore, visited various streets developed in Chennai as part of the ongoing Chennai Street Design project. ITDP facilitated the site visits and discussions with support from the Greater Chennai Corporation and local partner, Chennai City Connect Foundation.

IMG_5017

City officials from Chennai explained various site-specific details to the visiting engineers and architects.

Over the course of the day-long program, participants visited various streets in the city and noted key design features, such as continuous footpaths at property entrances, location of bus stops, and pedestrian crossings, all of which contribute to a safe walking environment. City engineers from Chennai showcased various construction details and stressed the need for contextual design solutions that accommodate existing utilities and landscape elements. Key implementation barriers like managing parking and street vending were also discussed.

These site visits were followed by a presentation by ITDP on best practices in street design. Mr. L. Nandakumar, Superintending Engineer (Roads, Works & Bridges), Greater Chennai Corporation, outlined the various processes adopted in Chennai to build public support for better streets. In addition, he also detailed out the construction and implementation challenges faced in Chennai and how these were resolved. Subsequent discussions saw active participation from the visiting delegation, who provided positive feedback on this program.

Learnings from these site visits and discussions will directly contribute to the street design processes underway in Coimbatore, where important streets like DB Road, TV Swamy Street, NSR Road, Sanganoor Road, Race Course Road and Masakalipalayam Road are to be redeveloped at an estimated cost Rs. 26 crore. 

B and A

DB Road in Coimbatore (left) is proposed to be redeveloped into a pedestrian-friendly street with wide, continuous footpaths (right).

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Pune, Coimbatore and Chennai Selected as India’s ‘Smart Cities’

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Pune, Coimbatore and Chennai have been making huge progress creating sustainable cities. Each has made great strides in recent years, laying the groundwork for even bigger changes to come. Thanks to their demonstrated commitment to act, in addition to well-developed plans for next steps, all three have been selected for the first round of India’s national Smart Cities Mission.

Right now, experts predict that about 25-30 people are migrating every minute to major Indian cities from rural areas in search of better livelihood and better lifestyles. It is estimated that by 2050, Indian cities will house nearly 843 million people. This massive increase in population will put incredible pressure on India’s cities, requiring new infrastructure for transportation, energy, and safety. To address these imminent issues, the Government of India has allocated Rs 48,000 crore to create the Smart Cities Mission, a programme dedicated to helping cities invest in sustainable infrastructure and growth.

As part of the Smart Cities Mission, these three selected cities (see the full list here) have each proposed to invest over 600 Crore rupees in sustainable transport projects. By pegging this money to tangible, area-based improvements, these cities have a clear plan to transform over the next 5 years, bringing widespread socio-economic benefits to a large section of society. ITDP is proud to have partnered with Pune, Coimbatore, and Chennai to chart out their sustainable paths for the future.

ITDP has been working with these cities in different roles, providing technical support to projects, capacity building for officials, and  creating community engagement at various levels. In the twin cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, ITDP helped implement the Rainbow BRT, incorporating best practices in BRT planning and design. ITDP has been instrumental in helping Chennai adopt a Non-Motorized Transport Policy and overseeing its implementation through street design and engaging with citizens through initiatives like car-free Sundays. In Coimbatore, the Namma Kovai Namakke (Our Coimbatore Ourselves) campaign, initiated by ITDP, sparked citizen demand for better pedestrian facilities, all of which formed the groundwork for the Smart City proposals developed by these cities.

In the next 5 years, Pune aims to increase the mode share of public transport from 18 percent to 50 percent by augmenting its bus fleet and improving bus services using Intelligent Traffic Management Systems (ITMS). The city also aims to expand its high quality BRT network by 30 km and improve access to transit by creating 75 km network of footpaths and cycle tracks.

To facilitate easy interchange between Rainbow BRT and other buses, a transit hub is proposed at Anudh Baner Balewadi, Pune, along the lines of the Kiwale terminal pictured above.

In keeping with its NMT policy, Chennai aims to develop ‘Complete Streets’ and build footpaths to cover 80% of its major roads. A city-wide cycle sharing system with 3000 cycles and an IT-based parking management system are also expected to give a major thrust to walking and cycling while restricting private vehicle use.

Better NMT facilities are proposed in T. Nagar, a commercial and retail hub of Chennai.

Non-motorised transport is a key focus for Coimbatore as well, where the city aims to create NMT infrastructure along 75 percent of its primary and secondary road networks before 2020. A 30 km network of greenways connecting major lakes in the city is expected to improve quality of open space for its residents. The city also aims to increase mode share of public transport from 42 percent to 60 percent by modernising and expanding public bus services.

Congratulations to these cities, and all the selected Smart Cities, for the exciting work preparing India’s cities for a more sustainable, brighter future.

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Chennai Celebrates Walking at the Sustainia Award Ceremony

Safe and wide footpaths in Chennai

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For the past several years, the city of Chennai has been taking bold, rational, and consistent steps towards a sustainable future. New footpaths are making walking more accessible for city residents. The Corporation introduced new capacity building programs for municipal engineers. A new Car Free Sunday initiative is engaging more residents to explore their city on foot. And the progressive non-motorised transport policy adopted by the city, which allocates 60% of transport funding for non-motorized transport, has inspired many national and international cities to adopt similar policies.

For this comprehensive approach to improving sustainable transport, the Corporation of Chennai has been recognized with the 2015 Sustainia Award, presented by the Danish think tank, Sustainia. The Sustainia Awards identify innovative and demonstrated sustainable solutions from across the world. Chennai’s Street Design Project was selected as the best solution of 2015 for transforming Chennai from a car-centric to a people-friendly city and addressing safety concerns and air pollution in one go.

The award was originally presented on December 6th at the Paris Climate Conference, and was received by ITDP CEO Clayton Lane on behalf of the city. Chennai officials were unable to attend the event, as they were responding to torrential rains that hit Chennai in early December 2015. ITDP has been one of the principal partners on the project. On January 23rd, the Corporation of Chennai, ITDP, the Chennai City Connect, and numerous partners came together to celebrate the success of the project.

“The city has set a new example in the country by prioritising people over cars with the adoption of the non-motorized transport policy,” said Saidai Duraisamy, the proud Mayor of Chennai, as he received the award from Clayton Lane.

(Left) The Mayor of Chennai receiving the award from Clayton Lane (Right) Clayton Lane receiving the Sustania award on behalf of Chennai at the Paris award ceremony.

These new policies are necessary to combat the decline in walking and cycling in the city in recent years. “The mode share of vehicles and two wheelers have rapidly increased. Although this is a sign of economic development, it is also a matter of concern due to the rising level of pollution and road accidents. We need to work towards becoming a safer, healthier city,” stated Vikram Kapur, former Commissioner of Chennai, during whose term many projects promoting non-motorised transport were initiated.

The heightened risk of air pollution was further stressed by B Chandra Mohan, Commissioner of Chennai, who added that pollution is a problem that can wait no longer. To this end, Clayton Lane emphasized the major impact sustainable transport can have, citing ITDP research showing how “a considerable switch to walking and cycling can reduce these emissions in half.”

The speakers highlighted that the street design process needs to be balanced and include the needs of all stakeholders who are an integral part of the cityscape.

Everyone needs to come together to build a walkable Chennai, and the event brought together people who contributed to the cause in various ways—architects who assisted the city in street design, community agencies, academic institutions, media partners and the traffic police—who were felicitated at the event.

While Chennai has taken the first steps towards developing a people centric city, the next challenge will be addressing the encroachment onto footpaths by parked vehicles, and the stakeholders gathered for the Sustania Award celebration took some time to discuss best practices in parking regulation and management. “Parking is like a magnet that attracts more cars. Providing more parking is not the solution to tackle this problem,” asserted Shreya Gadepalli, Regional Director, ITDP India, as she presented some of the myths associated with on-street and off-street parking along with progressive solutions.

The panel discussion saw active participation from Kavitha Selvaraj, C.R.Narayana Rao architects; Rajesh Gurumurthy from JLL India; Dr. Sumanthran, executive committee member of Chennai City Connect; Vikram Kapur; and Clayton Lane; who all agreed on the importance of enforcing and regulating parking.

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1 parking space occupies the same space as an affordable housing unit. What should we prioritize, parking or people?

Spurred on by the successes of the non-motorized transport movement, progress on new issues looks hopeful. With strong political will and a collaborative effort from different stakeholders and policy makers, Chennai looks all set to walk into a sustainable future.

Presentation on Parking Basics 

More pictures  of the Sustania event

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InFocus: Building climate resilience through transport

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ITDP brings you news from around the world about sustainable transport and urban development. The past year was interesting, specially in India. Chennai’s NMT transformation, to Delhi’s odd-even car-restriction scheme, to Burdwan’s car-free days, change was in the air!

The Conference of Parties summit – popularly called COP21- held in Paris last December, saw the nations committing to maintain an increase in the world’s temperature at less than 1.5 degrees Celsius. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, ‘If we don’t hang together, assuredly, we shall hang separately”.

Transport accounts for a staggering 23 percent of energy-related CO2 emissions. There is NO WAY we can redress the situation without changing the way we travel.  A large-scale, planned movement towards non-motorised, and public, transportation seems the only practicable way out. Let us see what Indian cities have been trying out, lately :

[Read more…]

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Chennai’s bold move to go car-free

Car-free Sundays in Chennai

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Chennai’s car-free Sundays at Elliot’s Beach Road saw citizens making the streets their own, with pedestrians and cyclists taking centre stage on streets that are otherwise filled with parked cars and traffic. From kids cycling and skating without the fear of cars to fitness enthusiasts training on wide streets, car-free Sundays in Chennai brought together citizens from all walks of life to transform streets into vibrant public spaces.

Where football and badminton attracted the young, spontaneous games of street cricket gave opportunities for families to unwind. Road art and storytelling sessions kept the kids engaged and were met with enthusiastic support from parents. Unexpected street performances lent an air of festivity to the event and had the crowd asking for more. But it was not all about celebrations. By bringing different social groups together, car-free Sundays have provided a platform to generate awareness about various issues in the city — one group chose to use the event to talk about cerebral palsy and the need for an inclusive society.

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Sounds of traffic were replaced with music at car-free Sundays

The first of these car-free Sundays was flagged off on 11 October 2015 by the Mayor, Saidai Duraisamy, who then joined the City Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and city officials for a cycle ride along the street. “I love to bike. It is something that I am very passionate about. Given an opportunity, I would like to bike around the city,” said Vikram Kapur, Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai after cycling along the car-free streets.

Car-free Sundays were initiated in Chennai on 11 October.

Initiated by the Corporation of Chennai and the Chennai City Traffic Police, this campaign was  conceptualised by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy and Chennai City Connect Foundation and presented by The Hindu. Called Namma Chennai Namakke (“Our Chennai Ourselves”), car-free Sundays form an important step in creating a paradigm shift in urban transport scenario in the city. By shifting focus away from cars and towards walking,cycling and public transport, the campaign continues to present an alternate vision of how Chennai can be — a happier, healthier and a more inclusive city. With local residents wanting to expand this initiative to other times of the week and with requests pouring in from citizens across the city to have this initiative in different neighbourhoods, Chennai looks set to pave the way for a car-free future.

Car-free days are held every Sunday, from 6:00 a.m. to 9.00 a.m., on Elliot’s Beach Road, Chennai. All are welcome. For more information, log on to https://www.facebook.com/NammaChennaiNamakke/

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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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