Mobility matters
11 years, 3 months ago

Mobility matters

The Hindu  

The global report on human settlements, recently published by UN-HABITAT, is a timely pointer to what is wrong with current transport planning in India. After reviewing various policies across the world, this report, with a special focus on planning for sustainable urban mobility, has rightly concluded that unless transport projects and urban planning are integrated, congestion on roads, inefficient use of infrastructure, and sprawling cities would persist. The working group on urban transport for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan has cautioned that in another two decades the average journey speed of vehicles on the major city roads would come down drastically from 26 to 17 km an hour to 8 to 6 km an hour. To achieve this, the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat recommended that new developments should not be encouraged unless local-street grids are developed, and they must abut existing developed areas with a minimum density of 175 inhabitants a hectare. Where public transport exists, lack of last mile connectivity between residential neighbourhoods and station points in the form of pedestrian pathways and bicycle tracks has impeded their use.

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History of this topic

The need for a localised urban agenda in India: Explained
2 days, 22 hours ago

The need for a localised urban agenda in India: Explained

The Hindu  

The story so far: India is on the cusp of a profound urban metamorphosis. Successive Union governments have played a pivotal role in steering India’s urbanisation through a series of missions, from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to the five urban flagship missions. As ‘urban development’ is a State subject, how much of a role should the Centre …

HNLU Raipur Is Calling Submissions For One Day National Conference On 'Exploring India's Infrastructure Landscape: Challenges, Opportunities, And The Road Ahead'
1 month, 3 weeks ago

HNLU Raipur Is Calling Submissions For One Day National Conference On 'Exploring India's Infrastructure Landscape: Challenges, Opportunities, And The Road Ahead'

Live Law  

Centre for Infrastructure Laws, Centre for Law and Public Health School of Law & Public Policy, HNLU, Raipur is organizing a One Day National Conference on “Exploring India's Infrastructure Landscape: Challenges, Opportunities, And The Road Ahead” inviting original research papers from academicians, professionals, practitioners, researchers, students of law and allied social sciences, and other stakeholders on emerging issues and related …

Draft policy on affordable transport seeks reforms
2 months ago

Draft policy on affordable transport seeks reforms

New Indian Express  

NEW DELHI: Greenpeace India and the Public Transport Forum have released a citizen’s draft policy for affordable public transport, proposing major reforms to address India’s urban mobility challenges. The draft, developed through consultations with experts and citizens, recommends universal fare-free transport through “climate tickets,” increased investment in public transport infrastructure, and greater inclusivity in workforce policies. The policy calls for …

Transit-oriented development still on paper
2 months, 1 week ago

Transit-oriented development still on paper

Hindustan Times  

Announced in the last Budget, the central government is yet to implement its transit-oriented development framework in 14 cities having a population of 3 million even as urban planning experts advocate that TOD could potentially resolve the twin problems of pollution and congestion by making urbanisation compact. While private development can take care of high floor area, to ensure higher …

Kochi to turn pedestrian-friendly as Corporation joins hands with German agency
4 months ago

Kochi to turn pedestrian-friendly as Corporation joins hands with German agency

The Hindu  

Streets and roads in the city may turn pedestrian-friendly in another couple of years if the proposed ‘Walkable Kochi’ project being planned by the Kochi Corporation in association with GIZ, a German agency that works in India in areas including urban development, pans out as envisaged. This may involve works such as constructing new sidewalks, repairing existing ones, creating designated …

India's mobility revolution is propelling it forward globally
9 months, 1 week ago

India's mobility revolution is propelling it forward globally

Hindustan Times  

Electric rickshaws on Delhi roads in 2010 marked the first milestone in the Indian mobility industry’s transformation. India must invest heavily in modernising its public transportation systems, with expansive metro rail networks, high-speed trains, and bus services that connect urban and rural areas and enable seamless mobility. Today, when the transportation industry accounts for more than 6% of India's overall …

India's mobility revolution is propelling it forward globally
9 months, 1 week ago

India's mobility revolution is propelling it forward globally

Hindustan Times  

Electric rickshaws on Delhi roads in 2010 marked the first milestone in the Indian mobility industry’s transformation. India must invest heavily in modernising its public transportation systems, with expansive metro rail networks, high-speed trains, and bus services that connect urban and rural areas and enable seamless mobility. Today, when the transportation industry accounts for more than 6% of India's overall …

Urban agenda | The nuts and bolts of e-bus rollout in India's smaller cities
11 months, 2 weeks ago

Urban agenda | The nuts and bolts of e-bus rollout in India's smaller cities

Hindustan Times  

With half of India’s population projected to live in cities by 2050, policy experts have been advocating increased investment in public transport for sustainable urbanisation. In a bid to fill this void, the Union government announced the PM-eBus Sewa scheme to provide 10,000 air-conditioned electric buses for tier-II and tier-III cities in a public-private partnership model. While the scheme may …

Filling mobility gaps: Learning from cities worldwide
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Filling mobility gaps: Learning from cities worldwide

The Hindu  

Struggling to connect and streamline its multiple mobility modes, can Bengaluru learn from transport innovations designed and enforced with much care in many cities worldwide? But what the city could do is first grab those low-hanging fruits: Boost the predictability of BMTC buses with basic technology that has been available for years, upgrade those bus stops with good lighting, seating …

A workable, sustainable mobility agenda for 2024 for Bengaluru
1 year, 2 months ago

A workable, sustainable mobility agenda for 2024 for Bengaluru

The Hindu  

A brand new year is upon us, and yet, Bengaluru’s mobility agenda remains chaotic and clueless as ever. It should put together a comprehensive mobility plan, with accountability from all the delivery agencies including the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Bangalore Development Authority and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike,” he elaborates. If the BMLTA comes in as a regulator, it has …

Why Indian Cities Need Unified Public Transport Networks
1 year, 3 months ago

Why Indian Cities Need Unified Public Transport Networks

News 18  

Most people in metro cities use multiple modes of transport for their daily commute. This would create efficient public transport networks that people actually want to use, helping reduce congestion and pollution levels, and creating better, safer cities for people. Global Precedents Worldwide, integrated transport authorities have transformed transport networks across various cities by centralising and unifying multiple modes of …

Indian urban planning needs a major overhaul
1 year, 5 months ago

Indian urban planning needs a major overhaul

Live Mint  

A survey by think-tank Janaagraha has revealed much of what ails urban planning in India. Low levels of governance and fiscal autonomy, apart from sketchy information and weak public accountability, must be addressed for our urban spaces to get anywhere close to rich-world standards. Sadly, barring perhaps a few cities, most are very poorly run, with almost no attention paid …

Mobility study seeks answers from Chennai’s residents
1 year, 6 months ago

Mobility study seeks answers from Chennai’s residents

The Hindu  

Even if you are not a regular patron of public transport in Chennai, using the facilities related to it only once in a while, weighing in with your views at ongoing survey by Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority would make a difference. An urban planner says Chennai had brought out a “comprehensive transportation study” in 2007 and this acted as …

CUMTA signs MoU with ITDP for comprehensive mobility development plan in Chennai
1 year, 7 months ago

CUMTA signs MoU with ITDP for comprehensive mobility development plan in Chennai

The Hindu  

The Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy for bringing out a comprehensive mobility plan by undertaking surveys and reports. The MoU was signed recently by I. Jeyakumar, Member Secretary and Special Officer of CUMTA, with Aswathy Dilip, Managing Director, ITDP India. CUMTA, the nodal agency for urban …

Political will required to build sustainable transport system in Bengaluru, says urban mobility expert Felipe Ramirez
1 year, 11 months ago

Political will required to build sustainable transport system in Bengaluru, says urban mobility expert Felipe Ramirez

The Hindu  

Urban mobility expert and former Secretary of Mobility for Bogota, Colombia, Felipe Ramirez emphasized that political will plays a crucial role in building sustainable transport systems in cities like Bengaluru. On Friday, Mr. Ramirez, who is also Director, Urban Mobility World Resources Center, delivered a talk on ‘Transforming urban mobility in mega cities: lessons from Bogota’ and interacted with the …

Interview | Our cities have neglected buses; built metro, boosted private transport
2 years, 1 month ago

Interview | Our cities have neglected buses; built metro, boosted private transport

Deccan Chronicle  

Feroze Varun Gandhi has been in the news for speaking his mind. Gandhi’s latest book, The Indian Metropolis, highlighting the challenges of urban India and written over “three tumultuous years”, attempts to stoke a conversation on “humanising our cities”. I have travelled far and wide, across a multitude of Indian towns and cities, listening to the ordinary urban Indian’s everyday …

Hopes of seamless transport in Bengaluru pinned on BMLTA
2 years, 2 months ago

Hopes of seamless transport in Bengaluru pinned on BMLTA

The Hindu  

Much before starting commercial operations, the Sir M. Visvesvaraya Railway Terminal at Baiyappanahalli hit headlines for its “airport-like look’ and “world class” amenities, including a centralized air-conditioned system. Land transport authority Considering these issues, the State government decided to constitute the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority for the regulation of development, operation, maintenance, monitoring, and supervision of urban mobility within …

Urban visions: The Hindu Editorial on need for policy reform
4 years, 1 month ago

Urban visions: The Hindu Editorial on need for policy reform

The Hindu  

With a clear focus on expansion of Metro Rail and bus services through Central funding, Budget 2021 has recognised a core component of urbanisation. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of Central funding of ₹1,957 crore, ₹63,246 crore and ₹14,788 crore for the Kochi, Chennai and Bengaluru Metro projects, respectively, gives these big cities greater certainty that they can meet targets. …

Fixing India’s cities needs cutting the Gordian Knot: Failure, inaction are roadblocks to leveraging urbanisation for good
5 years, 2 months ago

Fixing India’s cities needs cutting the Gordian Knot: Failure, inaction are roadblocks to leveraging urbanisation for good

Firstpost  

The Government of India needs to build whole-of-system capacity for urban transformation, ensuring that all urban actors learn about complexity and understand the city as a ‘system of systems’. While all Five-Year Plans tinkered with the urban sector, a radical shift had been made in 1948, when the new Ministry of Health, acting on the recommendations of the ‘Health Survey …

Transition to EVs: Govt policy must focus on phased manufacturing, financial and technical capability of domestic industry
5 years, 7 months ago

Transition to EVs: Govt policy must focus on phased manufacturing, financial and technical capability of domestic industry

Firstpost  

As India stands at the crossroads of a clean mobility revolution, the proverbial sounds around the ecosystem are all too familiar. India’s clean mobility transition under FAME II takes cognisance of these learnings and lays out a vision to develop the next generation of public transport utilities. For starters, it clearly frames out that incentives and support will be directed …

Opinion | Why we need to look beyond the ‘electric’ smokescreen
5 years, 7 months ago

Opinion | Why we need to look beyond the ‘electric’ smokescreen

Live Mint  

I have been grappling with the government’s new-found obsession with electric mobility as if it is the only solution for India’s transportation problems. If I were the government of India, I would be really bothered about two key things: One, bringing down my fuel import bill; and two, bringing down air pollution. We need to upgrade ourselves to the latest …

Opinion | Investing in infra for walking is top priority
6 years ago

Opinion | Investing in infra for walking is top priority

Hindustan Times  

Even diehard gearheads, wearing N99 masks or from within the inner sanctums of their four-wheel drive, would agree that Delhi faces a crisis. Multiple studies have established that a vast majority of Delhi’s denizens continue to walk, cycle, or use different forms of public transport. Investing in infrastructure for walking, cycling, and public transport must hold priority. Communication and coordination …

Opinion | How to reinvent public transport
6 years, 6 months ago

Opinion | How to reinvent public transport

Live Mint  

India’s cities are growing at an overwhelming rate. It is fast becoming necessary to persuade personal motor vehicle users to shift to public transport to mitigate the negative impacts of road congestion, deteriorating air quality and increasing carbon emissions. Second, cities need to increase the number of public transport vehicles significantly to ensure safe, comfortable, frequent and crowd-free commutes to …

A Comprehensive National Urban Policy for India: A Roadmap to Sustainable Growth
7 years, 1 month ago

A Comprehensive National Urban Policy for India: A Roadmap to Sustainable Growth

Live Mint  

India needs a comprehensive national urban policy to address its urbanization challenges. The government launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) to tackle these issues. However, a national urban policy is crucial to provide a coherent framework for urban development. It should outline the importance and objectives of cities, highlight key enablers, cross-cutting principles, desired outputs and …

Bengaluru, the Uber app and poverty in India
9 years, 1 month ago

Bengaluru, the Uber app and poverty in India

Al Jazeera  

Transport apps are revolutionising commutes for the middle classes, but poorer citizens still face daily gridlock. Bengaluru, India – As the expanding city of Bengaluru, formerly Bangalore, struggles with chronic traffic problems, a plethora of start-up companies are offering technology-driven commuting services to help people move around the southern Indian metropolis. Earlier, he had bought a ticket valid for a …

Privatise public transport firms, urges 30-city study
17 years, 3 months ago

Privatise public transport firms, urges 30-city study

Hindustan Times  

The Centre must privatise state-run transport corporations to improve the dreadful traffic conditions in major Indian cities, the report of a year-long study carried out by a US-based infrastructure and transport consultant for the urban development ministry recommended. HT Image Conducted by Wilbur Smith Associates, the report added the caveat that the government must set up a strong regulatory body …

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