ITDP India

Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide

Accelerating Urban Transport Reforms for Effective City Level Action

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As published in Observer Research Foundation

In the last decade, as India’s urban population surged by 26 percent,1 the use of personal motor vehicles (PMV) grew by 138 percent.2 India took 60 years (1951-2008) to reach 105 million registered vehicles and added the same number of vehicles in the subsequent six years (2009-2015), which put pressure on existing road networks and transport systems.3 The current urban transport governance framework is fragmented, with different agencies managing different aspects of the sector; in Delhi alone, over ten agencies handle transport, including three municipal corporations, the Public Works Department (PWD), national and state highways, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), and the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited (DIMTS).4  Such fragmentation leads to a lack of coordination and inefficiencies in project implementation and timelines.

There is an urgent need for reforms in India’s urban transport governance frameworks to ensure effective city-level action that can keep pace with the rapid population growth and its evolving needs. Such reforms will also require interventions at the national, state, and city levels.

National-Level Interventions: Setting the Vision and Funding Mandates 

The National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), issued by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) in 2006,5 was aimed at bringing about comprehensive improvements in urban transport services and infrastructure. The NUTP transformed India’s transport priorities, focusing on the mobility of people rather than vehicles and paving the way for schemes and programmes to support states and cities in improving urban mobility, such as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM),6 the Smart Cities Mission, 7 and Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME I and II).8 However, the NUTP lacked a definitive vision with specific goals as well as a mandate to enable the funding of state- and city-level initiatives. Consequently, many states and cities struggled to meet the increasing demand for mobility. The approximately 30,000 buses that were introduced across India’s urban districts through schemes like JNNURM 9 10and FAME11 fell significantly short of the 200,000 requirement.12 Therefore, the NUTP highlights the need to establish a clear vision for urban mobility and mandate sufficient funding allocations in order to accelerate reforms.

The Cycles4Change,13 Streets4People,14 and Transport4All15 projects, which were initiated at the national level by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 2021, demonstrated a welldefined vision for urban mobility. The programmes have sought to address funds allocation, peer learning, and institutional synergy.

Utilising a participatory approach, the initiatives provided step-bystep guidance to cities to improve their walking, cycling, and public transport infrastructures. They also included a funding component to test solutions in top-performing cities, fostering intra-state competition and enabling city governments to effectively scale up transformation. The effort led to Healthy Streets Apex Committees being formed in over 30 cities, which set goals for projects and programmes to promote walking and cycling.16

Simultaneously, Transport4All Taskforces comprising government and non-government stakeholders were created in 100 cities to improve public transport systems.17 The projects also facilitated knowledge exchange among cities, enabling them to learn from the experiences of others within and outside their state. This collaborative approach led to a rapid improvement in urban mobility infrastructure and services. 

Consequently, 15 cities adopted Healthy Streets Policies to establish a framework towards prioritising walking and cycling. Nineteen cities also developed three-year action plans that laid out goals and strategies to achieve the Healthy Streets vision.18 The plans included strategies and budgets for the city-wide expansion of walking and cycling initiatives, and clearly identified roles and responsibilities of various city agencies towards implementing these strategies. By fostering competition and knowledge exchange as well as providing cities with a clear roadmap and budget for improving sustainable mobility, the initiatives have inspired more than 100 cities to take proactive action towards transforming urban transport in their jurisdictions.19

State Level: Need for State Funding and City-Level Action Mandates

Some states have attempted to address specific aspects of mobility through policies—for example, on electric vehicles or those for transit-oriented development—which have independent agendas and visions. A holistic approach to sustainable mobility through a state-level Sustainable Urban Transport Policy (SUTP) that can guide city-level policies and projects could help these policies be more effective. Such an overarching policy can standardise regulations, allocate the required financial resources to ensure on ground implementation, and facilitate knowledge exchange to drive sustainable mobility initiatives. It can also mandate and monitor city-level actions, ensuring accountability and consistency across jurisdictions.

A few states in India are paving the way for effective urban transport initiatives in cities. In 2017, the Maharashtra Urban Development Department released the draft Maharashtra Urban Mobility Policy.20 Applicable to all urban areas in the state, the policy envisioned modes of transport that are safe, reliable, sustainable, and accessible for all citizens. The policy also included tangible metrics for infrastructure implementation that could measure its success.

To support cities in implementing sustainable mobility projects on ground, the Government of Karnataka set up the State Urban Transport Fund (SUTF),21 administered by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport. Mobilised from three sources—a 1-percent cess on Motor Vehicle Tax (MVT), a 2-percent cess on property tax, and budgetary support from the state—the fund promotes the public transport system in cities by assisting in the construction of city transit infrastructure, implementing non-motorised transport (NMT) systems, and developing projects and feasibility study reports, among others. In 2021, the Tamil Nadu Transport Department secured a loan of INR 1,600 crore (approx. US$200 million) from the KfW Development Bank to procure 2,000 e-buses by 2025 for three cities, including the capital, Chennai, to improve the quality of public transport in these cities.22 Large procurements of electric buses, which are expensive and often beyond the budgets of many cities, could be challenging without state support.

City Level: Need for an Institutional Framework, Policies, and Funding

  1. Setting up robust institutional frameworks The NUTP recommended setting up a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA)23 in all cities with a population of over one million. UMTAs were envisioned as nodal agencies for all mobility initiatives in a city in order to oversee timely implementation even with the involvement of multiple agencies. They can ensure transparency of decisions across different departments and the accountability of agencies responsible for project delivery. However, very few cities have established a functional UMTA due to the lack of regulatory mandates to form such an entity. 24The Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) Act, which was passed in 2010 25and has been operational since 2019, has brought key agencies and stakeholders together under a single roof, ensuring the seamless integration and implementation of all transport projects across various modes in the city. As a coordinating body, it has helped integrate transport planning and decision-making in Chennai. Karnataka also formed a Non-Motorised Transport Agency (KNMTA) in 2019 to implement a public bicyclesharing system in Bengaluru, alongside undertaking other NMT activities in the state.26 Similarly, Pune has set up taskforces and cells to oversee the planning, implementation, and maintenance of various NMT initiatives, including27 a participatory NMT Cell to support the transformation of streets across the city.28
  2. Adopting progressive policies and plans There is a need for specific policies and roadmaps that address various aspects of sustainable mobility in cities, including active transport infrastructure for walking and cycling, public transport, parking management, transit-oriented development, low-emission zones, and electrification. These policies must embed the principles of sustainable mobility into the city’s transport-related decision making. At present, Indian cities lack the processes that could enable data-based decision-making. Well-designed policies and roadmaps with clear, actionable, measurable targets can help cities monitor their successes and shortcomings, hold relevant stakeholders accountable for implementation, and ensure data-driven decision-making. For instance, Chennai and Pune have adopted urban mobility policies that prioritise walking, cycling, and public transport. Starting in 2014, Chennai adopted India’s first NMT policy, which inspired Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad to adopt the same.29 In 2016, Pune adopted India’s first progressive parking policy,30 inspiring Chennai to also start a similar exercise. These policies have initiated a move towards sustainable mobility, created best practices and benchmarks, and inspired other cities
  3. Setting the right budget Cities remain at the forefront of implementing transport policies and projects, as they have a better understanding of their unique challenges and opportunities compared to other levels of government. Therefore, they are best positioned to efficiently allocate resources to meet ever-changing urban demands. City-level budgets are critical for public transport services. City-level budget allocation also reduces the burden on state and national governments. For example, the twin cities of Pune and PimpriChinchwad have consistently allocated at least 25 percent of their annual transport budget for the last five years towards improving walking, cycling, and public transport infrastructure.31 Similarly, the Greater Chennai Corporation launched the Chennai Mega Streets Programme 32 in 2020 to create a city-wide network of streets that have a lifespan of at least 30 years, with funds allocated in the 2020 Tamil Nadu budget for the preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) and commencement of work. 33

Addressing the complex challenges of urban transport governance demands concerted efforts at multiple levels of governance, from overarching national policies to city-level initiatives. The national government needs to set the right vision, backed by strong funding mandates for states and cities, while facilitating peer-topeer learning between cities and states to accelerate transformation. As demonstrated in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, it is critical for states to support cities in implementation through policy and funding and mandating city-level action. Additionally, cities need to set up strong institutions such as CUMTA, adopt progressive policies as in the case of Pune, and allocate financial resources to meet ever-changing urban demands to ensure effective action.

Learning from successful experiences can pave the way for sustainable, efficient, and inclusive urban mobility systems. The journey to transform urban transport is long, but with the right policies, funding, and city-level action, it is a goal that could prove to be within reach.

Written by

Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman, National Lead and Senior Programme Manager in charge – public Transport system and TDM

Vaishali Singh, Manager – Transport Systems and Electric Mobility

  1. World Bank, “Urban Population (% of Total Population) – India,” 2022,
    https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=IN ↩︎
  2. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, “Road Transport Yearbook(s), 2008,
    2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016,” https://morth.nic.in/road-transport-year-books ↩︎
  3. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, “Road Transport Yearbook(s), 2008,
    2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016” ↩︎
  4. “Too Many Agencies Monitoring Public Transport in NCR, Need Revamp: Panel,” The Indian Express,
    August 29, 2013,
    https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/too-many-agencies-monitoring-public-transport-inncr-need-revamp-panel/ ↩︎
  5. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, National Transport Policy, Ministry of Urban
    Development, New Delhi, 2006, https://mohua.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/TransportPolicy.pdf ↩︎
  6. Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation,
    Government of India, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Overview, New Delhi,
    https://mohua.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/1Mission%20Overview%20English(1).pdf ↩︎
  7. Smart Cities Mission, “Vision of Smart Cities Mission,” Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs,
    https://smartcities.gov.in/ ↩︎
  8. Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India,
    https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1942506 ↩︎
  9. K.C. Sivaramakrishnan, “Urban Transport: A Bus to Nowhere,” The Economic Times, April 20, 2009,
    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/view-point/urban-transport-a-bus-to-nowhere/
    articleshow/4422393.cms?from=mdr; Ministry of Urban Affairs, Government of India, “Procurement
    of 10,000 Buses and Ancillary Infrastructure,” 2013. ↩︎
  10. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, “Recommendatory Urban Bus Specifications –
    II,” 2013, https://mohua.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Urban-Bus-Specifications-II.pdf ↩︎
  11. Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India, “Status of Sanction of Electric Buses Under FAME
    India Scheme II,’ Ministry of Heavy Industries, https://dash.heavyindustries.gov.in/dhieb ↩︎
  12. Calculated by ITDP India ↩︎
  13. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, “India Cycles for Change (IC4C) Challenge,”
    https://smartcities.gov.in/India_Cycles_for_Change ↩︎
  14. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, “Streets for People Challenge,”
    https://smartcities.gov.in/Streets_for_People_Challenge ↩︎
  15. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India,
    https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1874732 ↩︎
  16. ITDP India, “10 Things that Shaped Out 2022,” https://www.itdp.in/itdp-indias-year-end-roundup/ ↩︎
  17. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India,
    https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1874732 ↩︎
  18. Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Streets for People, Pathways of Change from India’s Smart
    Cities, New Delhi, 2023,
    https://smartcities.gov.in/sites/default/files/2024-03/Street%20Compendium%202023%2018-12.pdf ↩︎
  19. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India,
    https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1739905; Ministry of Housing and Urban
    Affairs, Government of India, https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1790637; Ministry of
    Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India,
    https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1874732 ↩︎
  20. ITDP India, “Maharashtra Urban Mobility Policy,”
    https://www.itdp.in/maharashtra-urban-mobility-policy/ ↩︎
  21. Directorate of Urban Land Transport, “State Urban Transport Fund (SUTF),” Urban Development
    Department, Government of Karnataka,
    https://dult.karnataka.gov.in/69/state-urban-transport-fund-%28sutf%29/en#:~:text=The%20
    Directorate%20of%20Urban%20Land,support%20from%20Government%20of%20Karnataka. ↩︎
  22. Julie Mariappan, “Tamil Nadu Receives Rs 1600 Crore from German Aid Agency,” The Times of India,
    September 27, 2019,
    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/tamil-nadu-receives-rs-1600crore-loan-fromgerman-aid-agency/articleshow/71319544.cms ↩︎
  23. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, National Transport Policy 2006. ↩︎
  24. Dhaval Desai, “Lost in Transit: Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA),” Observer Research
    Foundation, January 8, 2022,
    https://www.orfonline.org/research/lost-in-transit-unified-metropolitan-transport-authority-umta ↩︎
  25. Government of Tamil Nadu, “Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority Act 2010,”
    https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/13110/1/cumta_act.pdf ↩︎
  26. Directorate of Urban Land Transport, “Karnataka Non-Motorised Transport Agency (KNMTA),” Urban
    Development Department, Government of Karnataka, https://dult.karnataka.gov.in/127/knmta/en ↩︎
  27. ITDP India, “Chennai Non-Motorised Transport Policy,” ITDP India,
    https://www.itdp.in/maharashtra-urban-mobility-policy/https://www.itdp.in/resource/chennainon-motorised-transport-policy/#:~:text=The%20Chennai%20Corporation’s%20Council%20
    adopted,greenways%20and%20other%20NMT%20facilities ↩︎
  28. Pune Municipal Corporation, Pune Smart City, Pune’s Sustainable Transport Journey, Pune, 2021,
    https://www.itdp.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Punes-Sustainable-Transport-Journey.pdf ↩︎
  29. ITDP India, “Chennai Non-Motorised Transport Policy,”
    https://www.itdp.in/maharashtra-urban-mobility-policy/https://www.itdp.in/resource/chennainon-motorised-transport-policy/#:~:text=The%20Chennai%20Corporation’s%20Council%20
    adopted,greenways%20and%20other%20NMT%20facilities ↩︎
  30. Pune Municipal Corporation, “Public Parking Policy 2016,”
    https://www.pmc.gov.in/sites/default/files/project-glimpses/PMC-public-parking-policy-Englishrevised-March2016-Final.pdf ↩︎
  31. Keshav Suryanarayan, “Pune Leads India Towards a Sustainable Future,” ITDP India, January 2020,
    https://www.itdp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Pune-Leads-India-Toward-a-SustainableFuture-ITDP.pdf ↩︎
  32. Komal Gautham, “Greater Chennai Corporation Fast Tracks Mega Streets Project,” The Times of India,
    July 15, 2022,
    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/corpn-fast-tracks-mega-streets-project/
    articleshow/92885712.cms ↩︎
  33. “Chennai’s Streets for People: The Journey,” ITDP India, February 29, 2020,
    https://itdp.in/chennais-streets-for-people-the-journey/ ↩︎

How to create impactful national programmes – Lessons from the India Cycles4Change and Streets4People Challenges

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Four years. 

Three steps—Test, Learn, Scale.

Two national Challenges. 

One mission—to support cities across India to create Healthy Streets—streets that prioritise walking, cycling, and public transport.

With the wrap-up of the India Cycles4Change and Streets4People Challenges with the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in January 2024, we look back at the origin and impact of the two programmes. We also present five key lessons from the experience which can help shape any similar efforts to transform our cities at scale. 

Let’s go back to where it all began. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, all our lives turned upside down, and people HAD to adapt to survive. Amidst this chaos and uncertainty, we noticed something remarkable—people flocked to the streets to escape the four walls of their homes. Not only were they reclaiming their streets for fun and socialising, but people were now walking and cycling to access essential goods and services!

And that got us thinking—can we use this moment to get cities to create people-centric streets that could enable healthy lifestyles, and pave the way for a green recovery from the pandemic? 

The birth of the Challenges and its impact

Enter series two of the Urbanlogue webinars, launched by ITDP India in collaboration with the SCM, to provide expertise and spur conversations on best practices for travel and health in a post-COVID era. Over 5500 city officials attended these sessions to understand topics including COVID-safe public transport solutions, the need for street interventions to expand space for cycling and walking, and digital innovations for formal and informal public transport.

 

But talking wasn’t enough. We needed to see on-ground action.  And so, the India Cycles4Change and Streets4People Challenges were born. Launched by the SCM and ITDP India, these two Challenges aimed to support cities in transforming their streets into Healthy Streets in a holistic step-by-step manner. Cities were excited about this initiative and to our pleasant surprise, we had a whopping 117 cities signing up for these Challenges! There began India’s Healthy Streets Revolution.

Fast forward four years, 15 cities have displayed exemplary efforts and innovative solutions in their Challenge journey, and emerged as the Challenge Champions! These cities pushed boundaries and implemented unique ideas across three pillars—Action (infrastructure pilots), Foundation (institutional changes like policies, committees, and cells), and Communication (campaigns, consultations, and outreach). But the true force behind the success of the Challenges—every single participating city who contributed in different ways, from small-scale ideas to large-scale implementation, doing whatever they could do given their context.

To check out the entire journey of these cities, the impressive work done by them, and their way forward, check out our recent publication ‘Transforming Lives With Healthy Streets: Unravelling The Journey Of Creating Healthy Streets In Indian Cities’

Our learnings from the process

This journey, however, brought a lot of uncertainties that our core team—a six-member team doing the technical and coordination work—had to adapt to constantly. In such moments, as Dory from the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ said, we just kept swimming, and kept our eyes on the prize—supporting cities in creating Healthy Streets! 

Here’s what we learnt from the process: 

  1. Set the right expectations – We quickly realised that a nationwide Challenge approach was an effective tool to mainstream the conversation about a topic—Healthy Streets in this case. But, when it comes to implementation, cities were at different starting points with respect to their understanding, capacity, infrastructure, ecosystem etc. So, expecting the same level of results from all of them would have been unfair. Our goal was to get city officials to understand the concepts to at least start talking about Healthy Streets and the importance of prioritising them in their cities. By calibrating the expectations, we were able to achieve this by the end of the Challenges.
  2. Enable the right ecosystem – No matter how great the ambition to drive change, nothing is possible without the right kind of support. We saw how committed and proactive city leaders inspired action and were instrumental in getting things done. Not just that, the cities with a network of strong local partners—civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, resident welfare associations, Bicycle Mayors, etc—consistently surpassed expectations because of their unwavering support in driving the work forward.
  3. Ensure collaboration between multiple departments – Through the Challenges, we actively worked with the Municipal Corporation and Smart City Limited who took the lead in each city. Across the country, cities that stood out and implemented great infrastructure had one secret ingredient—engaging with multiple departments to ensure coordinated action and support for the project. Building the support and capacity of these various departments—including others like the Traffic Police and the Planning and Development Authority—is the only way Healthy Streets projects can be implemented holistically. 
  4. Establish a robust data collection and monitoring system – While cities worked towards the actions expected of them through the Challenges, they faced a major gap in setting up processes for data collection and monitoring. In addition to the technical guidance and resources we provided, supporting cities was crucial—to prioritise this action, identify a nodal staff person, and build their capacity to work with data.
  5. Promote behaviour change – Through the Challenges, cities were introduced to the power of campaigns. Cities went all out in hosting social media campaigns, Open Street events, and other events like walkathons, cyclothons, cycle rallies, etc. to mainstream walking and cycling among the public. But this by itself is not enough to get more people cycling. While one-off events are great for garnering public support, long-term campaigns with a lens of behaviour change, like the Cycle2Work campaign initiated by some cities, are the only way to nudge people to take up walking and cycling as a mode of commute. This is also necessary to ensure the infrastructure implemented by cities are used well—infrastructure and campaigns go hand-in-hand in ensuring successful Healthy Streets initiatives. 

Way Forward

We believe that the IndiaCycles4Change and Streets4People Challenges are an innovative step towards the larger vision of creating sustainable cities of the future. Cities have committed to continuing their efforts by identifying their short-term and long-term goals for the next three years, including plans to allocate budgets for Healthy Streets. We hope we can see many more cities embrace Healthy Streets and become lighthouse cities in the coming years!

Just like the Challenge cities, we also applied the TEST-LEARN-SCALE mantra in strategizing and developing the Challenges. We tested out this new format and gathered our learnings. Now, we can’t wait to strategize the next step—SCALE. We also hope that this format inspires other agencies and organisations, within the country and across the world. Stay tuned to see what comes next!  

Written by Smritika Srinivasan

Edited by Keshav Suryanarayanan

To ensure people near transit, Pune needs to improve transit near people

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In Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, 96% of residents live within a 500m walkable distance of a bus network. But, as per Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) schedules, one-third of these residents don’t have access to buses which are available frequently – every five minutes. Therefore, a lowly 12% of the trips made in the region are via bus transit.

Though a five-minute wait seems ideal, this figure is an aggregation of areas with high bus availability and low ridership and of localities with low bus availability and high ridership.

This begs the question, what good are extensive transit systems which can’t ensure accessibility and high frequency. These are some of the key arguments the People near Transit (PNT) report, prepared by the ITDP India Programme, raises with regard to access to public transit and surging personal motor vehicle dependency in the Pune Metropolitan Region.

From time immemorial, cities have been built upon transit. Be it citadels built around trading routes to present-day cities with interwoven networks connecting residents to their place of work, education, leisure, etc. Hence, transit and accessibility to these systems remain central to the development of societies.

Indian cities have been growing at a tremendous scale. This growth poses many urban transportation challenges and though tottering, public transit has stood its ground as an indispensable public utility. But as the automobile industry’s clout grows, more motor vehicles, of various kinds, offer “freedom” at the cost of congested roads and choked cities.

Whereas, accessible, affordable, and frequent public transit offers a guarantee for mobility, which also furthers the economic and social mobilisation of citizens.

Basically, the PNT analysis measures how well a city provides transit access to its residents. The USP of the analysis is that it works on secondary sources to formulate the assessment. Quite handy for Indian cities, as most lack primary data on transport operations and functions.

To start off, PNT requires basic data like ward boundaries and their population to establish demand. Next, details regarding the routes, schedule, and station placements of various modes — such as bus and rail — help ascertain accessibility and frequency of these modes. These data points, in a digitised GIS format, find accessibility levels of public transit and identify gaps in the system.

Image credit : Flickr

In the last two decades, the Pune urban agglomeration, including Pimpri-Chinchwad, has witnessed a steep economic and population growth. The IT (information technology) boom orchestrated a massive migration to Pune city. This advent doubled its population, but it pales in comparison to the city’s vehicle population — which grew by 700% in the period.

Adding to the congestion is the issue of urban sprawl. A symptom of urbanisation, urban sprawl is when cities grow unplanned towards their peripheries. It is estimated to cost Indian cities close to $1.8 trillion per year by 2050. Presently in Pune, this outward sprawl forces 48% of its trips to be longer than 5km. And in situations where public transit isn’t readily accessible or frequent, many residents — of areas like Shivane, Pirangut, Wagholi, etc., — are forced to use two-wheelers to commute.  

Many high-density areas like Dhanori, Kalyani Nagar, Warje-bypass, Pradhikaran, Talwade, etc., fall under the category of transit deserts. These are sections which do not have access to frequent transit — a public transit available every five minute — within a 500 m walking distance. Here’s where the “ideal five-minute wait-time for a bus” takes a hit, as accessibility (or lack thereof) to public transit trumps the former.

At the onset of this piece, we spoke about how mobility is key for the economic and social mobility of citizens. Now, interlay the situation of the lack of accessibility with the need of the people residing in transit deserts. There are breadwinners who struggle for hours in transit to reach work and back; caregivers whose daily regimes pivot around that one over-crowded bus and missing which throws the day into a chaotic convulsion of catching up; and then children whose means to education literally hangs on the footboards of these overcrowded buses.

In Pune region, work trips account for half of the total trips. As per the PNT report, only 62% of employment centers have access to frequent public transit. Key employment areas near Mundhwa and Bhekrai Nagar are transit deserts. While 40% of school-children don’t have access to frequent transit services to their schools.

Transit interventions best work when they take into account the needs of every citizen. Despite being capital-intensive, the much-anticipated Metro Rail project, running through the twin cities, will be accessible to only 10% of people within a 500m walking distance. Even with the Rainbow BRT (existing and upcoming), rapid transit is accessible to only 25% of people.

Now, with 23% of low-income sections not having access to frequent transit, investing in rapid transit projects with high-cost and low returns (or ridership) is a self-inflicted “catch-22”. Neither is the Metro accessible nor would it be affordable to a vast majority of the public. As for the BRT, the lack of fleet expansion and network limitations bottle up the system’s potential.   

The PNT analysis has some concrete and well-versed answers to the twin cities’ dilemma of improving public transit that works to serve all. These are:

  • In sections with low access to public transit, specific corridors can be introduced to intersect high-density areas and high-frequency corridors. Subsequently, PMPML needs to rationalise routes to ensure accessibility to frequent buses is uniform across the board.
  • Running smaller feeder services, in transit-deprived sections, ensure residents have access to the PMPML bus network. By extension, it also helps curtail the dependence on personal motor vehicles.
  • BRT and PMPML high-frequency routes could potentially facilitate multi-modal integration by connecting to the Metro — hence improving the latters’ ridership. In fact, fare integration would ensure footfall as these transfers would be affordable.
  • Densification under transit-oriented development (TOD) will help more residents get access to existing corridors in the future.
  • Low density areas in TOD zone need local area plans (LAPs) to ‘infill’ them with densities. Similarly, high density areas in TOD zones need LAPs to improve street network and public spaces.
  • By adopting PNT as a tool in preparing and revising the development plan and identifying mass transit corridors, cities can ensure better integration of land use with transport needs for the future.

The PNT report provides a thorough glimpse into the current capacities of public transit operations in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. At the same time, the analysis can pave the way for interventions that can maximise the density of city layouts, accessibility, and frequency of public transit; while minimising urban sprawl, transit deserts. To conclude, PNT is an instrument for change that holds the potential to shape public transit that serves maximum and pollutes minimum.

Written by Rohit James

Edited by Kashmira Dubash

Lending a voice to Indian women: ITDP India celebrates women experts in transport

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“I wish they’d quit giving me cufflinks as souvenirs at these conferences,” said an ITDP transport expert after her return from another male-dominated transport conclave. Though such instances of sole woman representations at events is still a common occurrence, the culture is limping on its last leg. As more women transcend the ranks of various hierarchies (societies and workforce), cities are scrambling to pay heed to the needs and demands of the upcoming generations.

This Women’s Day we celebrate the lives and journeys of ITDP India transport experts who ventured into the sustainable transport sector to lend a voice to the many Indian women. Read more on why each of them chose to be a part of the change they wish to see everyday.

A year of highs: taking Indian cities closer to sustainable mobility

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The path to urban development is laid with good intentions but the one paved for sustainable development is full of good work.

A take on the age-old proverb, this is exactly the ethos that the ITDP India Programme has persevered for, while mobilising the landscape of India’s transport system. This effort, to infuse the principles of equality and sustainability to the core of urban mobility, was taken up a notch in 2018.

The year marked the India Programme’s two decades of catalysing change in over a third of urban India. In this pursuit, of creating better streets, better cities, and better lives, the ITDP India Programme registered some major wins and here are some of the notable achievements in 2018:

 

Creating Complete Streets for all  

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu is grappling with a myriad of urban transport and related infrastructure issues—resulting in congested roads, unbreathable air quality, and increasing road fatalities. Another cause of concern is the struggle endured by its most vulnerable road users—pedestrians and cyclists who vie not just for space but for their lives.

To change the existing state of affairs, the Tamil Nadu Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA) led the Transforming Tamil Nadu project. With technical assistance from the ITDP India Programme, the project aims to implement Complete Streets in ten of its most populous cities, other from Chennai—Coimbatore, Erode, Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tiruppur, Trichy, and Vellore.

Over a period of nine months, the India Programme held ten workshops to sensitise over 300 officials, from these ten cities, on ways to identify, map, plan, and implement city-wide street master plans that prioritise walking, cycling, and access to public transport.

As a result, the state has announced its intentions to raise Rs 20,000 crore to redevelop 1,700 km of urban streets across these cities. The objective being: improve safety, accessibility, and liveability for all road users. To set precedent, the India Programme will work with GIZ Smart-SUT to help pilot city-wide plans for walking and cycling in three cities; gradually scaling the project to other cities in Tamil Nadu.

Riding ahead with a public bicycle sharing system

Caught in a transitional phase, Ranchi’s formal transport system hasn’t been able to meet its growing travel demands. This has allowed two-wheelers and share autos to flood the market and fill in the void.  As the capital city of Jharkhand prepares for course correction, the ITDP India Programme is providing its technical expertise to pioneer the much-awaited ‘public bicycle sharing (PBS) system’ with 1,200 cycles!

A first in Jharkhand, the construction of the system began in early 2018 to provide a healthy, pollution-free mode of transport that is linked to transit networks. Hence, reducing dependence on two-wheelers. Ranchi is now in the midst of procuring 600 cycles as part of phase-I, which is expected to be completed by early 2019.

ranchi PBS

Embedding best practices in policy work

With 1,260 vehicles per km, Pune, one of Maharashtra’s larger city, has the second highest vehicle density in India. City administrators realise that pre-emptive measures to stifle private vehicle growth is the need of the hour.

After years of deliberation, the elected representatives of Pune gave their seal of approval to a progressive on-street parking policy in 2018. The policy, prepared with ITDP India Programme’s technical expertise, aims to streamline on-street parking and dissuade the use of personal cars and two-wheelers. Post implementation, valuable land currently encroached by haphazard parking could be transformed into vibrant public spaces—free from the nuisance of motor vehicles. Keenly interested in regulating parking management, Pimpri-Chinchwad was inspired to adopt a similar parking policy.

The policy proposes clearly demarcating legal and restricted parking spaces

Moreover, Maharashtra also showed its willingness to improve infrastructure for walking, cycling, and public transport. The state government inched closer to adopting the Maharashtra State Urban Mobility Policy. The India Programme assisted the state government to conduct a series of six consultation workshops with public officials of various cities and other stakeholders including civil society organisations.

Expanding the agenda through capacity development

To ensure the sustainable mobility mantra takes shape into a belief, the concept and its principles need to be ingrained among all levels of governance. Thus, the ITDP India Programme is greatly involved in conducting capacity development workshops for officials to expand their knowledge and skills on sustainable mobility.

Over the year, the India Programme has conducted 35 workshops on Sustainable Mobility, Public Transport, and Complete Streets in Chennai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Ranchi, and smaller cities of Tamil Nadu. Subsequently, over 1,100 government officials including senior officers of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and urban transport practitioners from across the country have been trained in the due course!

Engaging transport conversations in India and across the world

The India Programme’s policy brief on ‘Women and Transport in Indian Cities’ struck a chord at the Women Mobilize Women conference. Hosted in Leipzig, Germany, the first-of-its-kind conference offered a platform for women from various global transport organisations to share their personal stories on creating sustainable mobility solutions–for women and by women. The India Programme’s participation, which included moderating a panel discussion and presentation on the policy brief, was very well-received.


The India Programme was also invited to speak at the MOVE Global Mobility Summit 2018–which was organised by the government policy think tank NITI Aayog and attended by the Prime Minister. The dialogue laid the foundation for reinventing public transport in India, as the conference aimed at creating a public interest framework to transform transport systems.

 

Publishing of knowledge products

In 2018, ITDP India Programme released its publication Footpath Fix, on implementing footpaths in complex urban environments. A reference guide for urban designers, municipal engineers, and contractors, the publication was well-received by officials in the cities of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

As part of the H8 Committee of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC), the India Programme provided technical inputs on the new IRC BRT Guidelines, Planning and Design of Urban Road, and IRC 70: Regulation and Control of Mixed Traffic in Urban Areas. These standards and regulations are expected to guide Indian cities towards sustainable mobility and in 2018, two of them—BRT Guidelines and IRC 70—were officially published by the IRC.  

Forthcoming endeavours for 2019

Recognising the need for sustainable and accessible-for-all mobility, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) of the Government of India has sought the India Programme’s help for the creation of a series of five complete streets publications. Based on these documents, the India Programme will facilitate nation-wide capacity development workshops to guide the 100 cities, selected under Smart City Mission, to create smarter streets for its people!

Furthering its bid for sustainable urban transport, Maharashtra, with the technical expertise of ITDP India Programme, aspires to roll out a plan to procure 65,000 buses to improve intra-city and regional connectivity. Hence, signing off on the state’s concerted attempt to meet its travel needs in a sustainable fashion.

In a bid to broaden its horizon, the India Programme is venturing into new research areas including a comprehensive study on Congestion Pricing for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The study will assess the need and effectiveness of congestion pricing as a Travel Demand Management (TDM) measure and evaluate challenges and opportunities in its implementation in Greater Mumbai. Given its scope, the study can also guide other Indian cities to plan and implement the same.

Work is underway, at both the state and national level, to weave sustainable mobility into India’s urban reality. And the India Programme is at the forefront of streamlining the transition.  Here’s to all the hard work of the year gone by and looking forward to many such concerted efforts in the upcoming year.

As stated early on, the path to reimagine Indian cities from the perspective of equitability, livability, and sustainability is full of good work and ITDP India Programme is all set for the long haul.

 

Written by Rohit James

Edited by Kashmira Medhora Dubash

Capacity Development Shapes Tamil Nadu Towns for Urban Tomorrow

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Tamil Nadu is urbanising and based on recent trends, the state is expected to be the most urbanised by 2030. With 11 Tamil Nadu cities being part of the Smart City Mission, it reflects the aspiration and potential that smaller townships hold to become urban centres. This is where capacity building and development exercises help bridge their aspirations with realistic and sustainable solutions.

At this point, many municipalities are growing faster than their projected trajectory, which has begun disrupting the established planning layout. To counter this spurt of growth, municipal officials on most occasions resort to quick fixes or knee-jerk solutions which in the future can further accelerate their woes.  

Taking notice of this worrying development, the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA), in partnership with the Tamil Nadu Institute of Urban Studies (TNIUS) and the ITDP India Programme, commissioned the capacity building programme on urban planning. The program was structured to help prepare town planners and panchayat officials to create streets and public spaces which meet the standards of upcoming smart cities.

Shifting from streets for vehicles, to streets for all

In the midst of modernisation, a key component of civic planning that is often overlooked is equitable street design. To help towns and municipalities reimagine and structure streets, beyond just accommodating the rampant vehicle population, the India Programme was brought on board to share its expertise in creating complete streets which adhere to every road users need.

As part of the course, the India Programme designed and conducted capacity development sessions for over 240 town planners from about 100 municipalities that was spread across three months.

 

In absence of such interventions, town planners tend to sway to the tune of vehicle-centric planning; this at the expense of safe footpaths and cycling facilities. While carriageways only get broader and footpaths narrower! Hence, such developmental workshops help officials realise the need for equality and accessibility while laying out streets. Emphasis was put on creating and improving infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists—who account as the primary occupants of Indian urban roads.

Making sense of Complete Streets

‘What are Complete Streets?’ When asked to express their understanding of the concept, the responses from officials varied from ‘streets that are planned for better vehicular passage’ to it being ‘foreign/alien’ to them.

So, what are Complete Streets?

Complete Streets are street layouts that cater to all user groups—regardless of their age, gender, ability, or mode of transportation. They are designed with wide and continuous footpaths, safe pedestrian crossings, separate cycle tracks (where applicable), bus stops designed to enhance convenience, designated on-street parking, organised street vending, and properly-scaled carriageways. These streets are designed to offer the best of convenience and comfort based on local needs and offer spaces for relaxation, play, and interaction.

Understanding the essence of Complete Streets

Since motor vehicles have been dominating every square inch of our urban infrastructure and design plans, the sessions began with a bit of a reality check. Participants, including town planning inspectors, executive officers, and town planning officers, were introduced to general facts such as modal share, infrastructure inadequacies, misconceptions regarding road infrastructure planning, etc.

This turned out to be an important step in the process, as it helped expose the misbelief that motor vehicles transport more people than any other transportation mode. Walking and cycling accounts for 40-50% of the total modal share, and just a quarter of urban trips are on personal motor vehicles.

 

To further quash the fallacy, officials were shown multiple images of vehicle-centric design plans which were riddled with flaws—unusable or absent footpaths, rampant on-street parking encroachments, haphazard pedestrian crossings, etc. On realising the potential threat such single-pronged plan would generate, more officials realised why streets need to designed for all users than just vehicles.

Providing the tools for change

Understanding the flaw is just one part of the solution, the next step required acceptance and gumption to resolve it. Hence, the following session looked to tackle the incessant argument claiming, ‘Our town streets aren’t like cities, they are too small to adopt such measures.’

By sensitising officials to multiple examples of Indian streets, each reclaimed and refurbished according to best practices, many of the skeptics were won over by the effectiveness of the Complete Street programme. For example, the redesign of JM Road and DP Road in Pune; which has been lauded across the country, even winning the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Award and the Volvo Mobility Award 2017.

Further on, the basic components of Complete Streets were broken down and each element was interactively explained to officials.

To further enable their understanding of the concept, ITDP’s resources—such as Footpath Fix and Footpath Design for designing and constructing standardised footpaths and Parking Basics and Park it Right for creating means for a parking management system—were discussed and later shared with the participants for further reference.  

At the pace towns are developing in Tamil Nadu, 2030 does not seem like a distant future. Therefore, such capacity development sessions go a long way to instil concepts of sustainable and equitable mobility culture right at the grassroot levels. In essence, preparing these townships to meet their aspirations and ensure it is done for the people and not vehicles.

Written by Rohit James

Edited by Kashmira Medhora Dubash

Beyond the Myth: Why Buses are a City’s Natural Ally

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Standing at a crucial intersection, bus transportation faces the possibility of being a footnote in Indian history. Lest we forget, buses were, and in most cases continue to be, the backbone of a city’s travel needs. But at the turn of the century, globalisation established its roots in Indian cities and with it arrived new technology, improved purchasing power, and far-reaching aspirations—fuelled by marketing gimmicks.

Soon enough, the idea of the first car parked itself deep into the psyche of the masses. Interestingly, the messaging was altered according to socio-economic backgrounds. From the first motorcycle to the first scooter (eventually rebranded as the ‘scooty’). Well, why should cars have all the fun!

Etched in our memories by means of rampant baits (adverts of all sizes and forms), automobiles were perpetuated as the vehicles for our ‘escape from Alcatraz’. Just for one tiny-little gargantuan problem! The light that flickered at the end of that tunnel was decimated by tonnes of reinforced steel and million gallons of cement. That is, the more infrastructure we built to support private motor vehicles the more congestion was created on the streets; resulting in ever-increasing pollution levels.

As per a report, published by the University of Chicago, automobiles contribute a quarter of the PM 2.5 released into the atmosphere. “Particulate pollution cuts global life expectancy short by nearly two years; and in India, it is an average of four years! In comparison, smoking cuts global life expectancy by 1.6 years,” states the report.

And in all of this, commute hours only managed to worsen. Hence, countries at large are adopting sustainable and ecological public transport measures such as buses. But in India, there still exists a certain disdain when it comes to using buses in the urban scenario.

In order to rid ourselves of this baseless confirmation bias, we need to understand what these myths are and where they stand when viewed with rationale.

The comfort of a private vehicle comes with a certain privilege and in time, anything outside of that zone is viewed with a myopic lens. A huge part of this delusion is that everyone travels by either car, two-wheelers, or now, cabs. The fact, though, is different from the distortion.

Less than a fourth of all trips are on personal motor vehicles and cabs, while over a quarter is made on public transport. And, city buses cater to most of the public transport trips in major Indian cities. Like in the case of Bengaluru and Delhi, where bus services record more than five million trips per day. This begs the question, where are the buses?!  

In the case of Chennai, with a population touching close to 10 million, there are just about 4,000 operational buses in the city. According to national service level benchmarks, there should be 400 – 600 buses per million inhabitants in cities. Most Indian cities fall short of this number. Going by that standard, Chennai records a shortfall of close to 2,000 buses. Even so, the city’s Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) records an incredible 4.7 million daily ridership—resulting in overcrowding and poor level of service.

To cope up with the demand and maintain a decent level of service, cities need to be assisted either by state or national schemes. Though the JNNURM scheme drew sharp criticism, it helped bring about a massive influx of high-quality fleet—more than 13,000 buses were added to city bus systems across the country.

Indian cities aren’t the exception to the public transportation thumb rule. Cities across the world, both developed and developing, register higher bus ridership figures than any other public transport system. These include London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico City, São Paulo, etc.

Let’s begin by addressing the elephant in the room. Buses, though big, are not the reason behind congestion on roads. The credit goes to private motor vehicles, like cars and two-wheelers, which through their sheer numbers manage to clutter every possible infrastructure created to ease their passage.

Back in 1991, Munster, in Germany, put on display a three-panelled photograph. Titled ‘Waste of Space’, it depicted the space required to transport 72 people by either car, bus or bicycle. And as the adage goes: an image is worth a thousand words. To spell it out, cars occupy a lot more space and carry a lot lesser people. Whereas, a bus can carry a lot more people and occupy a lot less space on the road.

Here are some stats to bolster this argument: a bus, while thrice the size of a car it carries thirty times more passengers during the course of a day in a typical Indian city. While cars occupy most of our street space, they serve less than a fourth of all trips. They also sit idle for 95 per cent of the time. And just like an elephant cannot survive on peanuts, infrastructure (flyovers, free parking lots, road expansion, etc.,) to support private automobiles burns meteor-sized holes in public expenditure.

Now, cynics would argue that realistically buses get stuck for longer in traffic and comfort levels vary according to passenger density or crowding. Well, obviously! If you pack roads, of how-many-ever lanes, with a swarm of private motor vehicles no one would be able to commute efficiently. But what if buses have a lane of their own?

In the present scenario, a city spends around Rs 200-300 crore per km in building a four-lane flyover to increase capacity by 60%. Whereas, investing in a bus-rapid transit (BRT) at-grade would ensure road capacity to increase anywhere from 400-1,000 per cent and cost approximately Rs 20 crore per km—just one-tenth the cost of building a flyover. When designed at par with international standards, the BRT system not only transports more commuters but ensures faster transit and accessibility to folks from all walks—especially the differently-abled and children.

Hence if cities are looking for efficient modes of transport, a rapid transit system such as the BRT is the answer.

There is no doubt that rail and some metro (Delhi and Kolkata) systems are shining examples of high-quality and high-capacity urban public transit, but buses were the original beast of this burden. Even as the baton is being handed over, bus services continue to carry a significant chunk of the ridership.

In the 2015-16 period, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) recorded their highest yearly average in ridership—2.5 million commuters per day. Compare this to the city’s bus services, which recorded a massive 4.8 million ridership.

Most importantly, metro rail projects don’t come cheap. Chennai’s phase-I, which covers 45 km, pushed the city’s finances by about Rs 250 billion and the 108 km phase-II project is estimated to be a whopping Rs 850 billion—that is Rs 8 billion per kilometer!. The cost of the project is further borne by citizens, as the Chennai Metro is likely to be the costliest metro rail in the country. So the question arises, should a city spend Rs 8 billion on one kilometer of underground metro line and serve 10,000 passengers or build a 40 km high-quality bus rapid transit network which can serve upwards of a lakh passengers.

As sustainability becomes the need of the hour, bus-related transport systems are winning endorsements from cities and experts alike. According to the former Transportation Commissioner of New York City, Janette Sadik Khan, the model of roadway design—to move cars as fast as possible from point A to B—is outdated and needs to be updated. “Streets are the major capital asset for cities…They can be used to provide all sorts of mobility, like the Bus Rapid Transit system (BRTS). We can build high-capacity systems that can make it easier and more affordable and faster for people to move around,” said Khan in an interview to The Hindu.

So rather than neglecting this perennial lifeline, Indian cities need to take advantage of their already well-established bus systems. As Oscar Wilde put it, “Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing.” In the same context, urban mobility isn’t complex and a simple and humble transport medium such as the bus could unravel the complexities of Indian transportation.

Written by Rohit James

Edited by Kashmira Medhora Dubash

Free parking is not a right, but a blight!

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In the 1970s when Joni Mitchell crooned “Big Yellow Taxi”, not many realised the clairvoyance and the forewarning that the song’s lyrics expressed. Though every bit of the lyric has its own essence and social messaging, the starting couplet is resounding. The verse—“They paved paradise, And put up a parking lot”—held a mirror up to society, and here we are four decades later, perplexed and baffled as to how we got here.

Automobiles are the scourge that drive up emission levels and other environmental issues, yet their numbers continue to rise unabashed. As per a report by the Centre for Science and Environment (Delhi), it took India 60 years (1951-2008) to cross the mark of 105 million registered vehicles. The same number of vehicles were added in a mere six years (2009 – 2015) thereafter!

But when you throw ill-conceived parking systems into this mix, it is like taking gasoline to a firefight. The backlash of this self-inflicted problem is found in every nook and corner of our cities, in all sorts of positions (angular, parallel, perpendicular) and scales (on-street, multi-level, automated).

In India, the conversation surrounding parking management is kindled every now and then, only to be impounded with plans of creating more parking spaces. Or even worse, buried six-foot deep with a parking lot as a symbolical headstone. Irony at its best.

So, why is it that dialogues on parking and its management generate public ire, whereas implausible measures—such as unchecked on-street free parking and multi-level parking—venerated. The answer lies in the psyche of vehicle owners and commuters in general, who lay fodder to a whole bunch of myths regarding parking management.

Now, what are these myths and how do the arguments hold; well, not as solid as the ground their vehicles are parked on.  

Let’s deduce this argument with the adage, “Your liberty to swing your fist ends just where my nose begins”. A citizen has the liberty to own a vehicle, but it doesn’t entitle them to occupy a public space of their fancy. Furthermore, no text, context, and subtext of a right allows for the infringement of someone else’s right. Whereas, parking poses as an obstruction for someone to use that common public space from walking or cycling.

Clearly, parking is not a right or an entitlement, but a privilege which needs to be charged and heavily at that.  A parking fee must be charged proportional to demand, factoring in criteria such as location, time of day, duration of parking, and category of vehicle (defined by size and type).

Take the case of Ranchi, where a pilot parking management project on the arterial MG Road stretch led to a 12-fold increase in parking revenue. Even the state of Jharkhand, spurred by the revenue spike at Ranchi’s pilot parking management project, invested efforts to regulate parking as a statewide policy. According to reports, Greater Chennai Corporation stands to gain Rs 55 crore per year in revenue from the pricing of about 12,000 ECS (equivalent car spaces) of parking in Chennai: a whopping 110 times increase in revenue from what it presently earns. 

Cities can innovatively use parking revenue to encourage sustainable modes of transport. For example, 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.

As per Dalia Research, the average global commute time per workday is 1 hour 9 minutes, India’s commute estimate hovers around 1 hour 31 minutes. That figure helps us to the third spot in the global list, behind only Israel and the UAE. So does the solution of offering more parking space offer a concession on congestion, the answer is and has always been in the negative.

An analogy often used while talking about urban commute is “Travel time was so much lesser when there were lesser vehicle!”. Hence, parking is to private vehicles, what flame is to moths. More parking only begets more private vehicles to hit the road.

An excessive supply of parking will only encourage people to use personal motor vehicles—even when good public transport is available. Cities, therefore, need to limit total parking supply, including off-street and on-street parking. Based on the capacity of the road network, cities must set caps on the total quantum of parking available in each zone.

Most cities invest in developing multi-level car parks to resolve parking woes. But examples, from across the world and India, clearly indicate that it is a myopic attempt. Over time such infrastructures only turn into ‘big white elephants’.

Take the example of Bengaluru’s 11 multi-storeyed parking complexes—Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Company (BMTC) owns nine and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) owns two. According to a Bangalore Mirror report, these “ghost storey” parking lots barely have 20-30% occupancy, reason being parking on roads or pavements is easier, since it is free and the safer.

“Multi-level car parking doesn’t solve parking woes, better on-street management does. Multi-level parking structures remain empty while people continue to park on the streets as long as it remains free and unenforced,” said Shreya Gadepalli, ITDP India Programme Lead. Thus, cities must manage and enforce on-street parking effectively before building any off-street parking facilities, public, or private.

In 2009, Janette Sadik-Khan, the then transportation commissioner of New York City, envisioned Times Square to be a car-free zone. That is, the hub would be less of a conduit for vehicles and an urban space where people could freely walk, sightsee, dine, and take in the magnanimity that is New York. Though there were initial reservations, the results were quite remarkable and by 2010 the changes were made permanent. Citylab reported that “business for merchants in the area was booming, and travel times for cars actually went down”.

There are plenty of such examples be it Hong Kong—where demand for commercial establishments rose post pedestrianisation, Copenhagen—a pilot pedestrian project from 1962 has since reclaimed 100,000 sq.m of motorised transit. Here in India, the Mall Road in Shimla, Temple Street in Madurai, and Heritage Street in Amritsar are examples of how reinventing urban design to focus on pedestrianisation does not affect commercial establishment as feared.

People over parking: regulations allows better streets, better cities, better lives

In conclusion, the need of the hour is to regulate parking, not to take it off the table. Policies which focus on parking management not only help in easing congestion, emissions, and travel time, but also are a feasible revenue generation model for a city. A robust management system clearly defines parking zones, pegs user fee to demand, and uses an IT-based mechanism for information, payment, and enforcement—discussed at length in ITDP’s Parking Basics.  

The conversation revolving around parking management has been catching up, with ITDP India Programme offering plausible solutions to cities. Leading the conversation is Pune, which is on the verge of implementing a parking management policy—a demand-based parking system that smoothens traffic movement.

Multiple studies allude that personal cars and two-wheelers occupy most of our street space, yet serve less than a fourth of all trips. They also sit idle for 95 per cent of the time—consuming over a third of street space that could be used more effectively as footpaths, cycle tracks, and bus rapid transit (BRT). The discourse over urban mobility shouldn’t revolve around parking, rather the onus must be on transit-oriented development. Wherein, last-mile connectivity and rapid system of transit ensure movement of people and not just vehicles. As cities evolve, there is an urgent need to step away from an oblivious “man proposes and parking disposes” mentality.

More resources from ITDP on parking management and reforms:

Parking Basics

Park it right

InFocus: Revolutionary Parking Reforms

Parking: Searching for the good life

Sizing Up Parking Space

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

[Webinar] How can Indian cities construct a future for walking

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Join our webinar to hear how Indian cities can construct safe and attractive footpaths that are accessible by all.  The webinar will introduce our publication – Footpath Fix – that provides guidance on footpath construction details, especially that of different utilities.

Many Indian cities have begun to acknowledge the fundamental role of walking in everyday life but are stuck at getting the details right. This short guide is more of a cheat-sheet for urban designers, municipal engineers, and contractors on how to implement footpaths in complex urban environments. Everyone who has seen it is raving about it.

Download your own FREE copy!

Register to RSVP 

Date and time: Thursday 16 August, at 6pm IST
Speaker: Nashwa Naushad,  Research Associate – Urban Development, ITDP India
Pranjal Kulkarni, Research Associate – Urban Development, ITDP India