DISSERTATION REPORT

ON
TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS IN METROS AND URBAN
CITIES
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF PGDSCM
PROGRAM OF SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, GD GOENKA UNIVERSITY, GURGAON

ACADEMIC SESSION
2017-2018

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

DR. PARUL SINHA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR- OPERATIONS & IT
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, GD GOENKA UNIVERSITY,
GURGAON (HARYANA)

SUBMITTED BY:
NIROTAM SINGH BANSWAL
ENROLMENT NO: 170010105001

GD GOENKA UNIVERSITY
SOHNA ROAD, GURGAON – 122103, HARYANA, INDIA
 DECLARATION BY THE SCHOLAR
I, hereby, declare that report titled “TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS IN METROS AND
URBAN CITIES” submitted to Dr. Parul Sinha, Assistant Professor - Operations & IT, School of
Management, GD Goenka University is a record of an original work done by me under her guidance.
This project work is submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirement for award of Post Graduate
Diploma in Supply Chain Management. The result embodied in this project has not been submitted to
any other institute for the award of any diploma.

Signature of the student

Name of Student: Nirotam Singh Banswal
Enrolment Number: 170010105001
Dated: 15th April, 2018
 CERTIFICATE BY THE SUPERVISOR
This is to certify that Dissertation Work titled “TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS IN METROS
AND URBAN CITIES” is a bonafide work carried out by Nirotam Singh Banswal with Enrolment
No. 170010105001, a student of Post Graduate Diploma in Supply Chain Management Batch (2017
– 2018) of School of Management, GD Goenka University, Gurgaon under my guidance and
direction.

Signature of Guide :

Name and Designation : Dr. Parul Sinha,

Assistant Professor – Operation and IT,
School of Management, GD Goenka University
Date : 15th April, 2018

Place : Gurugram
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge all the people who have supported and guided throughout the
course of completing my dissertation, namely my family and my supervisor, for without their
constant guidance and help I would not have been able to complete the dissertation to the best
of my abilities.
Abstract

Cities and towns play a vital role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. Although less than
one-third of India’s people live in cities and towns, these areas generate over two-third of the
country’s income and account for 90% of government revenues. In the coming years, as India
becomes more and more urbanized, urban areas will play a critical role in sustaining high rates of
economic growth. But, economic growth momentum can be sustained if and only if cities function
efficiently - that their resources are used to maximize the cities’ contribution to national income. City
efficiency largely depends upon the effectiveness of its transport systems, that is, efficacy with which
people and goods are moved throughout the city. Poor transport systems stifle economic growth and
development, and the net effect may be a loss of competitiveness in both domestic as well as
international markets. Although Indian cities have lower vehicle ownership rate, number of vehicles
per capita, than their counterparts in developed countries, they suffer from worse congestion, delay,
pollution, and accidents than cities in the industrialized world. This paper provides an overview of
urban transport issues and challenges in India. Rather than covering every aspect of urban
transportation, it primarily focuses on those areas that are important from policy point of view. The
paper first reviews the trends of vehicular growth and availability of transport infrastructure in Indian
cities. This is followed by a discussion on the nature and magnitude of urban transport problems such
as congestion, pollution and road accidents. Building on this background, the paper proposes policy
measures to improve transportation in India.
Table of Contents

1. Introduction and objective of the problem........................................................................10

2. Statement of the problem.....................................................................................................11
3. Justification of the problem.................................................................................................11
4. Methodology and Scope of Work .......................................................................................12
5. Trends influencing urban mobility in India ......................................................................13
a). Rapid Urbanisation.....................................................................................................13
b). Rapid Motorisation.....................................................................................................14
c). Dwindling share of Non-motorised Transportation.................................................15
6. Transport Problems in context to metros and urban cities..............................................18
a). Road congestion...........................................................................................................18
b). Parking problems........................................................................................................19
c). Air pollution.................................................................................................................21
d). Deteriorating road safety ...........................................................................................23
7. Challenges..............................................................................................................................24
a). Gaps in Laws and Regulations...................................................................................24
b). Fragmented Institutional Frameworks ....................................................................25
c). Distorted land markets affecting transport infrastructure development..............26
d). Comprehensive design standards for transport infrastructure lacking ...............27
. e). Human Resource challenges......................................................................................28
f). Absence of reliable transport data.............................................................................29
g). Inefficiencies in bus based PT services......................................................................30
h). Energy Security...........................................................................................................31
8. Policy responses to address urban transport issues..........................................................33
a). Planning Commission.................................................................................................33
b). National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP)...............................................................35
c). Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) ........................36
9. Proposed policy reforms......................................................................................................39
a). Re-aligning legal and regulatory instruments .........................................................39
b). Institutional Restructuring.........................................................................................40
 i. At central government level: ........................................................................ 41
ii. At state government level: ............................................................................ 41
iii. At city government Level: ............................................................................42
c). Resource Mobilization ..............................................................................................43
i. Public Financing .............................................................................................43
ii. Capacity building within government agencies & systems to attract best
talent: ...............................................................................................................45
iii. Knowledge management and research and development...........................46
d). Planning reforms .......................................................................................................47
e). Transferability of best practices................................................................................48
10. Conclusion .........................................................................................................................51
11. Apendix A bliography.......................................................................................................53
12. Apendix B ..........................................................................................................................57
List of Abbreviations

CAGR Compounded Annual Growth Rate

CDP Comprehensive Development Plan
Center for infrastructure Sustainable
CiSTUP Transportation and Urban Planning
CMP Comprehensive Mobility Plan
CNG Compressed Natural Gas
CoE Center of Excellence
CPCB Central Pollution Control Board
CRRI Central Road Research Institute
CSIR Council of Scientific & Industrial Research
DCR Development Control Regulations
DPC District Planning Committee
Directorate of Urban Land Transport under
DULT Government of Karnataka
EPCA Environmental Pollution Control Authority
FAR Floor Area Ratio
FSI Floor Space Index
GEF UNDP’s Global Environment Facility
I&C Inspection and Certification
IRC Indian Roads Congress
ITS Intelligent Transportation System
IPT Intermediate Public Transport
IUT Institute of Urban Transport
JNNUR Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
M Mission
KMC Knowledge Management and database Centre
LTP Local Transport Plan
MOUD Ministry of Urban Development
MPC Metropolitan Planning Committee
MTA Mid-Term Appraisal
NMT Non-Motorised Transport
No. Number
NRSTM National Road Safety & Traffic Management
B Board
NUTP National Urban Transport Policy
OTS Office of Transport Strategy
PEARL Peer Experience and Reflective Learning
PM10 /
PM2.5 Particulate Matter
 PMC Pune Municipal Corporation
PT Public Transport
R/P ratio Reserves to Production ratio
Rs Indian Rupees
RTO Regional Transport Office
Sq. ft. Square feet
SRTU State Road Transport Undertakings
Transportation Research and Injury Prevention
TRIPP Program
ULB Urban Local Body
ULCRA Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act
UMTA Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority
UTTIPE Unified Traffic And Transportation
C Infrastructure. (Planning & Engineering) Centre
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
WHO World Health Organisation
UT Urban Transport
UTF Urban Transport Fund
1. Introduction

India’s transport sector is large and diverse, it caters to the transport needs of 1.3 billion people.
Good physical connectivity in urban and rural areas is essential for economic growth. Since the early
1990s, India's growing economy has witnessed a rise in demand for transport infrastructure and
services. Efficient and reliable urban transport systems are crucial for India to sustain high economic
growth. The significance of urban transport in India stems from the role that it plays in reduction of
poverty, by improving access to labour markets and thus increasing incomes in poorer communities
(Antonio Estache, 2007). Services and manufacturing industries particularly concentrate around
major urban areas and require efficient and reliable urban transport systems to move workers and
connect production facilities to the logistics chain.

Mobility flows have become a key dynamic in the rapid urbanisation process of Indian cities with
urban transport infrastructure constituting the skeleton of the urban form (Amin et al.,
2013). Despite the increasing levels of urban mobility in Indian cities, access to places, activities and
services is becoming increasingly difficult in terms of convenience, cost and time. In fact, present
levels of urban mobility are already generating a crisis situation characterized by high levels of
congestion, environmental pollution, traffic fatalities and inequity eventually leading to a situation of
undesired accessibility crisis (Pucher et al.,2005). With over a quarter of India’s urban population
below the poverty line, the mobility problems of the poor are of special concern (C Rangarajan et al.,
2014). The unaffordability of private transport or the lack of public transit options forces this
segment of the urban population to walk or cycle increasingly long distances, and, consequently,
suffer severe pollution. As Indian cities continue to spread outward, those residents too poor to afford
motorised transport will be increasingly put at a disadvantage, and further cut off from employment,
recreational, educational, medical and other activity sites they need to access in
the city.

In spite of the large diversity in the urban size, form and growth patterns of the 468 cities in India,
there are several common factors that contribute to the severity of urban transport problems. Within
the scope of this study, the main objectives are as follows:
• To review the key trends in India that translate into negative externalities or problems
in transportation;
• To identify major challenges that influence effective policy formulation and
implementation in this sector;
• To review existing policy and programs in the transport sector in India;
• To identify gaps in the existing policies and programs as well as propose a set of
recommendations to address the main challenges.

It is rightly acknowledged that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy or solution to the complex

transport challenges. Therefore, the focus has been towards strengthening the existing governance
mechanism in a way that it could respond decisively and effectively to the issues at hand and, at the
same time, be in sync with the broader policy goals of achieving sustainable, environment-friendly
and affordable transportation systems at the regional and national level.

2. Statement of the problem:

Transport plays a very crucial role in Indian Economy. After independence India has progressed a lot
as far as freight and public transport are concerned but there were many hurdles in the path of
progress. India has achieved many world-class milestones in aviation, railway and road transport.
However, still Indian transport system is incapable of meeting the demand and not aligned with the
latest technologies. In order to have a continuous growth in Indian economy, the govt has to take the
corrective actions sooner. In this study, we’ll be able to find the major challenges in Indian
Transportation system with respect to metro and urban cities through which corrective and actions
can be taken in the field of transportation by using the latest technologies.

3. Justification of the Study:

The Logistics sector has not been able to keep pace with rising demand and is proving to be a drag on
the economy. It can be improved only by focusing more on transportation. It is because
transportation is the main source through which all the logistics functions can be performed
effectively. Transportation is the back bone of logistics cycle. One cannot overemphasize the
importance of transportation than call it the 'lifeline' of a nation. It has been proven by so many
instances how transport infrastructure has added speed and efficiency to a country's progress. Thus,
major improvements in the transportation are therefore required to support the country's continued
economic growth and to reduce poverty.

4. Methodology and Scope of Work

Through an extensive literature review process, I have assimilated information on the transport
systems in India since the economic liberalisation in the early 1990s. The review relied on national
and international research articles, working papers, book chapters, planning commission reports,
vision documents, publicly accessible plans including comprehensive mobility plans and
comprehensive development plans, national and state policy briefs, relevant laws, regulations and
notifications, publicly accessible consultancy reports published by industry, non-governmental
organisations, multilateral institutions. An extensive range of blog posts, news and magazine
websites along with local, national and international publications were referred during the literature
review.

After the literature review, key findings on common trends, problems and challenges were
consolidated. Efforts were made to get a wide spectrum of perspectives on transport in India.

The transport in the last few decades in India, major challenges faced by Indian cities, and effective
strategies to achieve sustainable transport in Indian cities. The different inputs collectively and
together shaped a broad perspective on the present scenario which is presented in the following
sections along with the major challenges and areas of strategic intervention.
5. Trends influencing transportation in India

The predominant trends influencing transportation in Indian cities are rapid urbanisation, rising
motorisation and dwindling modal share of Non-Motorised Transport (NMT). These factors have
resulted in a sudden rise in the demand for travel. At the same time, the rapidly increasing levels of
motor vehicle ownership and use has resulted in an alarming increase of negative externalities such
as road congestion, air pollution, road fatalities, and social issues of equity and security.

a) Rapid Urbanisation

Urbanisation trends and patterns present unprecedented challenges to transportation. In 1951, there
were only five Indian cities with a population greater than one million and 42 cities with a population
greater than 0.1 million, much of India effectively lived in villages. In 2011, there were 468 cities
with population above 0.1 million and 53 cities with population greater than 1 million (See Table 1).

Cities as per population No. of cities

>10 million 3
5 – 10 million 5
2 – 5 million 10
1 – 2 million 35
Total million-plus cities 53
0.5 – 1 million 43
0.1 – 0.5 million 372
Total number of cities 468

Table 1: Number of cities as per population; Population figures as per 2011 census

Between 2001 and 2011, India’s urban population increased from 286 million to 377 million. Of
these, nearly 50 per cent lives in small cities (> 0.5 million). Fastest decadal growth was observed in
cities with population between 100,000 and 1 million, such as Surat, Nashik and Faridabad, while
metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru experienced slower
peripheral growth with neighbouring villages surrounding the core city merging with the larger
metropolitan area. According to 2011 census data, there are three cities with population of above 10
million and another 53 cities with an urban population greater than 1 million (Revi et al., 2012). The
top 10 Indian cities with 8 per cent of the total Indian population are estimated to contribute 15 per
cent to the country’s GDP output while the remaining 53 cities with a million-plus population
contribute 31 per cent of the Indian GDP (Revi et al., 2012). About 377 million people now live in
8,000 cities and towns in India constituting almost 38 per cent of the Indian population and together
contribute more than 50 per cent to the country’s GDP. This rural to urban demographic transition is
expected to result in a jump in urban population to around 600 million people by 2031, which
constitutes almost 40 per cent of the Indian population. In the coming decades, cities and towns are
expected to increasingly become dominant drivers of the country’s economic growth.

b) Rapid Motorisation

Since 2001, the number of vehicles per 1,000 people in Indian metropolitan cities have grown
significantly. The total registered vehicles in the country grew at a CAGR (Compounded Annual
Growth Rate) of 9.8 per cent between 1991 and 2009. Personalised private vehicles like cars and
two-wheelers grew at CAGR of 9.6 per cent and 10.3 per cent per annum. The growth of registered
vehicles in cities with population more than a million is significantly higher than the rest of India.
Meanwhile, vehicle registrations in metro cities grew at almost double the rates than that of million-
plus cities. In 2011, 22 cities posted a CAGR of 8.7 per cent in the total number of vehicle
registrations or a share of nearly 28 per cent (39.7 million) of the total vehicles in the country (141.8
million) (Sarma et al., 2011).

Five metro cities have vehicle registration rates in excess of 500 per 1,000 people and account for 54
per cent of the total vehicles in the metropolitan cities as of 2011 (Sarma et al., 2011). Delhi had the
highest vehicle population with almost 6.3 million vehicles (See Figure 2). In 2011, with nearly 17
million vehicles, the four big cities—Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad—alone constituted
12.3 per cent of the total number vehicles in the country. Delhi, which has around 1.4 per cent of the
Indian population, accounts for nearly 5 per cent of all motor vehicles. According to the statistics
provided by the MORTH (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways), the annual growth rate of
motor vehicle population in India has been around 10 per cent during the last decade (Mohan,
2014b). Two-wheelers are a dominant form of private transport on Indian roads constituting about
71.8 per cent of the 141.8 million registered vehicles in 2011.
Two-wheelers are unsafe, environmentally damaging and unsustainable because providing adequate
infrastructure for the rising numbers of two-wheelers is impossible. Many experts feel that the
present motorisation levels are relatively sustainable, but the high motorisation trend is certainly
unsustainable and, therefore, the thrust on better balancing demand across the different transport
modes is critical (Ahluwalia, 2011).
6.30
TOTAL REGISTERED VEHICLES
(IN MILLIONS)

3.01

2.92

2.68

1.69

1.67

1.39

1.15

1.04

1.03

1.01

1.01

1.01

1.00

0.64

0.62

0.58

0.56

0.52

0.52

0.48

0.30

Figure 2: Total registered motor vehicles in metro cities in ‘00 (as on 31.3.2009) (Sarma et
al., 2011)

c) Dwindling share of Non-motorised Transportation

Non-Motorised Transportation (NMT), also known as Active Transportation, includes walking,

bicycling, other variants such as small-wheeled transport (push scooters, skates and hand carts), and
wheelchair travel. In Indian cities, people who commute by walking outnumber those who use
private motorised transport.
As cities sprawl, the share of NMT reduces drastically creating increased reliance on private modes
of transport. Urban design that fosters walking and cycling is under threat as sprawl- based urban
design is becoming the norm in big cities. The plans for new extensions and townships are still based
on low-density, segregated land use with wide roads.

In mega cities with more than 10 million population, average travel distances have increased up to 9-
12 km (Roychowdhury, 2013). Cities with 2-5 million population such as Pune, Surat, Kanpur, etc.
have an average trip distance of around six kilometres with a high NMT share of 40 to 50 per cent.
This share further increases to 60 to 70 per cent in cities with population between one and two
million. Smaller cities have a higher threat of losing walking and cycling share to private motorised
transport in the coming decades. These cities have neither invested in infrastructure for NMT nor
have a formal public transport alternative to prevent shift to personal transport modes. Sidewalks and
cycle tracks are the most neglected in infrastructure planning. For instance, the Master Plan for Naya
Raipur, the state capital of Chhattisgarh, is a planning for a 50 per cent share of private vehicles by
2030 and has begun developing 60- to 100-metre wide roads (Roychowdhury, 2013).

NMT modes are perceived to be slow, thereby inhibiting speed of travel in cities. Local policies are
curtailing their use on main roads or restricting them to neighbourhood streets. In many cities, cycle
rickshaws have been restricted to certain areas within the city. For example, in Kolkata, cycle
rickshaws were initially banned on 38 roads and the restrictions were further extended to 174 main
roads to increase traffic speeds since 2012. Although bike travel is allowed on some streets after
business hours, the ban has adversely affected the livelihoods of families dependent on this service.

The city’s poor are captive users of walking and cycling, but most neighbourhoods have either poorly
constructed footpaths or they have been badly maintained, while some have no footpaths at all. The
city’s poor are the most affected. In Delhi, transport cost in the household budget increased
significantly for 50 per cent of the poor population when slums were shifted. In the new slums, cycle
distances doubled to 7 km and bus distance increased from 4 km to 15 km, thereby NMT trips shrank
by 59 per cent amongst the most affected families (Roychowdhury, 2013) (Tiwari, 2007).

Bicycle ownership is relatively high in most megacities but the share of ridership is less than
10 per cent because of the systemic barriers identified in this section. The bicycle market is growing
at four per cent every year with the market for high-end bicycles and bicycles for kids growing at
much faster rate (50 to 55 per cent) than the standard, low-cost bicycle segment. Bicycle theft, fear of
unsafety and lack of infrastructure like bicycle parking spaces and cycle tracks in the city, are factors
that affect more widespread bicycle usage across sections of urban society.
6. Transport Problems in context to metros and urban cities

a) Road congestion

As populations increase, the average travel distances as well as intensity are expected to increase as
there is a direct correlation between the two indicators (See Figure 3). Average trips lengths for
metro cities including Bengaluru are over 8 km, while it is 6 km or less for all other metro cities. This
trend in trip length and frequency is only expected to increase with increasing income levels,
migration, participation of women and a service-oriented economy. As more people travel over
longer distances on regular basis for employment and education purposes, will inevitably lead to road
congestion.

Almost all states have Municipal laws that lay down the structure and powers of urban local
governments. Urban local governments are authorized to regulate traffic within their limits. The
states also have town and country planning acts that regulate urban planning (transport planning is
supposed to be an integral part of this process). (Bhatt et al., 2013).

Figure 3: Average trip lengths as a function of urban population (Amin et al., 2013)
b) Parking problems

The acute shortage of parking spaces both on and off the streets in Indian cities increases the time
spent searching for a parking spot and induces traffic congestion. Available data shows that a high
proportion of Indian streets are faced with on-street parking issue (Rye, 2010). This problem is
especially acute in smaller, compact Indian cities. Delhi has 14 per cent of road lengths used for on-
street parking while Surat has almost 60 per cent of its road lengths blocked by on-street parking
(See Figure 4). On-street parking is perversely incentivized because it is either free or priced lower
than off-street parking. Even if cities invest in multi- level car parks in prime areas, the parking rates
are not expected to recover the costs (Rye, 2010). In Delhi, the public parking charges are fixed as
low as Rs10 for 8 hours during the daytime (See Figure 5) when it should be at least Rs40 per hour
(Roychowdhury, 2013). Kolkata has the highest parking charges in India and these charges are time
and place variable, i.e. higher parking charges in specific commercial zones and the rates increase by
the hour. In Kolkata, a car pays Rs80 for eight hours of parking during daytime, while in Delhi MCD
region, car parking charges are as low as Rs10 for up to 10 hours of parking. Figure 5 shows the
eight-hour average parking rates in different cities but does not include special parking rates in
parking spaces like malls, airports, etc.

3 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/29/kolkata-india-cycling-ban-outcry
4 TRIPP, Survey report, Bicycle use and barriers to use, Transportation Research and Injury
Prevention

(TRIPP) IIT Delhi, Institute of Democratic Studies (IDS) for LOCOMOTIVES (I-ce) project,
2006
 70%

60%

50%
Major road lengths used for parking (%)

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Agra
Pune

Surat
Delhi

Shimla
Panaji
Raipur
Kolkata

Bikaner
Gangtok
Chennai
Mumbai

Hubli -Dharwad

Amritsar
Madurai
Guwahati
Bangalore

Hyderabad

Trivandrum
Chandigarh

Ahmedabad
Pondicherry
Bhubaneshwar

Figure 4: Share of road length used for on-street parking in key Indian cities (Singh et al., 2008)

Kolkata

Delhi - NDMC

Chennai

Hyderabad

Chandigarh

Jaipur

Delhi MCD

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Average daily parking charge (Rs)

Figure 5: Comparison of average daily parking charges in 2013 (Roychowdhury 2013)

Even in the densest Indian cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi, cars (typical spot
= 280 sq. ft.) occupy more space than a family of four (range from 85-250 sq. ft. depending on
income level) (Gauthier, 2012). In several Indian cities, commercial development of
vacant plots have taken place without following systematic planning procedures for access and
mixed use. This induces heavy traffic leading to localized congestion and parking issues in the
neighbourhood. An example is the commercial development of Mantri Mall at Malleswaram,
Bengaluru which triggered public protests against traffic gridlock and parking issues in the
neighbourhood (Chanchani & Fagun Rajkotia, 2011). Similarly, public parking by the developers in
the mill areas of Mumbai has led to traffic snarls on the adjacent arterial roads, forcing a slight
rollback of the policy (Roychowdhury, 2013). Another issue with unregulated parking is the
skirmishes amongst neighbours over parking space. In many cities, particularly in Delhi, there is
animosity amongst several neighbours over parking spaces that have resulted in serious injuries and
even murder (Roychowdhury, 2013). Unless parking issues are addressed through a systematic
planning process and strict enforcement, such issues will only exacerbate over time in Indian cities.

c) Air pollution

The severity of air pollution in India specially in cities is judged based on CPCB’s (Central Pollution
Control Board) air quality classification. According to available air quality data (Kamyotra et al.,
2012), of 180 Indian cities, there is a wide variation in the pollution concentration and severity across
cities. Cities are considered critically polluted if the levels of criteria pollutants (namely PM10 and
NO2) are more than 1.5 times the standard. Results show that half of the residential areas in cities
monitored by CPCB are at critical levels of air pollution (Kamyotra et al., 2012).

According to US-based Health Effects Institute, people residing within 500 metres from
roads are exposed to vehicular fumes. The danger is especially pronounced when diesel vehicles are
operating, as diesel emissions are known to trigger adverse respiratory health effects. A study of
select Indian cities indicates that the share of transport sector’s contribution increases when tinier
fractions of particulates are considered. In Indore, transport contributes to 30 per cent of PM10 but
46 per cent of PM2.5, while in Chennai, it is 20 per cent of PM10 and 35 per cent of PM2.5.

Air pollution in Indian cities is the fifth leading cause of death in India. Annually, about 620,000
premature deaths occur due to air pollution in Indian cities (Roychowdhury, 2013). Premature deaths
due to air pollution occur as a consequence of cardio-vascular ailments. Over a decade, air quality
management attempts have met with mixed responses. Metro cities that have initiated pollution
control action have witnessed either stabilization or dip in the pollution levels, however, in other
cities, the situation has been observed to be getting worse. Toxic air and its effects on health are
seriously compromising the ‘livability’ of Indian cities.

In the case of Delhi, vehicular pollution started deteriorating from 1990 as the growth of vehicles
outpaced population growth and economic development. While the number of vehicles grew by 87
per cent to 3.6 million between 1990-2001, the city’s population increased by merely 14 per cent
from 9.5 to 13.8 million in the same period. The Supreme Court of India responded by a ruling in
1998 that all public transport should shift from the use of diesel to CNG. After repeated deferments,
the court imposed the order that all buses be converted to CNG. This was hailed as a success story,
however, the results did not indicate an all-round improvement in ambient air quality as the amount
of NOx rose along with a marginal decrease in PM10 (Foster & Kumar, 2007).

The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) report for the decade 2002 to 2012 shows that
the number of vehicles increased by 97 per cent, contributing enormously to pollution and direct
exposure to vehicular toxic fumes to nearly 55 per cent of Delhi’s 17 million people who live within
500 meters from any road side (CSE, 2014). The drastic reduction in price differential between CNG
and diesel to just 7 percent in December 2013 from 46 per cent in 2002-2003 hurt public transport
and undermined the clean fuel program (CSE, 2014). In February 2014, the EPCA report was
presented to the Supreme Court, which took cognisance and directed the city agencies to respond to
the priority measures outlined in the report to accelerate second-generation reforms.

This demonstrates a classic case wherein the Supreme Court has repeatedly intervened in policy
making while government agencies are merely implementing these regulations, particularly CNG
regulation. This problem can be addressed from three fronts – facilitating a reduction in the
emissions per unit of fuel used; fewer vehicle kilometres travelled in total; and less fuel use per
vehicle kilometre travelled. So far in Delhi, vehicular pollution has been addressed only from the
first front. Unless all the three fronts are tackled simultaneously, not much improvement can be
expected.
d) Deteriorating road safety

The high dependence of migrants on non-motorised transport modes such as walking and cycling
causes traffic mix in common roads where fast-moving motorised traffic shares the roads with slow-
moving modes leading to an increasing number of fatalities and road accidents (WHO, 2013). In
most Indian cities, non-motorised modes like cycling and walking presently share the same right of
way as cars and two-wheelers leading to unsafe conditions for all (National Urban Transport Policy
(NUTP), 2008). The number of fatalities is also increasing in relation to the increasing motorisation
and higher slow-moving vehicles in the traffic stream. While progress has been made towards
protecting people in cars, the needs of vulnerable groups of road users, primarily cyclists and
pedestrians, are not being met.

Pedestrian fatalities constitute a significant share of total fatalities and the magnitude is in fact much
higher in cities that lack adequate pedestrian facilities. In New Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the
pedestrian fatality share is greater than 40 per cent. In the case of Bengaluru, three pedestrians are
killed on roads every two days and more than 10,000 are hospitalised annually. Elderly people and
school children carry a large share of the burden with 23 per cent fatalities and 25 per cent injuries
(Bhatt et al., 2013). The percentage of streets with pedestrian pathways is hardly 30 per cent in most
Indian cities. The main reason behind this is inequitable distribution of road space and the fact that
streets in India are not designed with the intention of accommodating all the functions of a street.
Furthermore, only a part of the right of way is developed leading to unorganised and unregulated
traffic, which is unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists (Bhatt et al., 2013).
7. Challenges

Some salient issues and challenges identified from literature review for India that cause or compound
the transport problems in context to metro cities and urban cities are as follows:

a) Gaps in Laws and Regulations

Presently, there is no legislation at central, state or local level that comprehensively covers transport
requirements of Indian. The current systems of laws, regulations and governance for transport are the
legacy of an era when India were sparsely populated and had not yet witnessed the kind of transport
problems they are encountering today. Many Acts that are in place today are the legacy of the British
Raj and a few of these have evolved to address specific issues in urban transport resulting in
fragmentation or overlap of jurisdictions. For example, there are three Acts that are specific to metro
systems in India which need to be examined and appropriately amended to be mutually consistent in
their treatment of this transport mode

• Tramways Act, 1886, is for operation of trams on the road surface within the municipal limits
• Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, covers the needs of construction
of metro railways in metropolitan cities and for matters connected therewith.
• Delhi Metro Railway (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, provides for the operation and
maintenance, and to regulate the working of the metro railway in the metropolitan city of Delhi.
Earlier, Kolkata Metro had enacted a similar act for operation and maintenance of Kolkata Metro as
an adjunct to the Indian Railway Act.

The Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988, addresses road vehicle licensing and, in its present form, is
inadequately equipped to deal with the problems of congestion and pollution leading to rampant
abuse of the system. For instance, fines are the most common form of penalty for unsafe driving.
Since these are very mild and do not have a deterrent impact, critics claim that the MV Act, although
comprehensive in regulating urban road transport, is used as a revenue generating mechanism for the
state government while other provisions on road safety and security are not adequately enforced.
The requirements of other modes of mass rapid transport such as the Bus Rapid Transit, Light Rail
Transit, Monorails, and several other guided modes, do not have any legislation to support its
planning and implementation. There are a few other intersectoral coordination issues such as
integrated land use, urban transport planning, multimodal integration, that are not covered in any Act
leaving gaps in legislation within the urban transport governance framework and consequently
leading to issues of coordination and integration of urban transport systems in Indian cities.

Fragmentation or overlap of legislations poses two challenges that constrain the ability to effectively
manage the problems of urban transport. Firstly, it leads to incoherence in the policy framework
given the many different goals for which laws are enacted. And, secondly, it reflects in the timing,
coordination and treatment of how states and cities approach a particular problem.

The relatively weak enforcement of existing laws combined with minimal penalties contribute to
rampant flouting of transport rules and regulations. As per the MV Act, motorised vehicles must be
inspected after 10 years of use, but the Regional Transport Office (RTO) seldom enforces the rule.
RTO is also responsible for issuing driving licenses, which are cheap and relatively fast to acquire in
India. The lack of stringent tests, low fees and entry of middlemen for facilitating the issuance of
driving licenses has dropped the standard of driver skill and competence. This is an important factor
contributing to issues of traffic discipline, air pollution, traffic related accidents, security etc. that are
increasing in most Indian cities.

b) Fragmented Institutional Frameworks

Transport systems require several functions to be performed in a well-coordinated manner for

seamless and comfortable travel experience for commuters. Unfortunately, these are performed by
multiple agencies under the central, state and city governments which do not necessarily work
together. At the central level of the government, the responsibility of transport planning is somewhat
diffused which is why it is claimed to be an “institutional orphan” (Mohan 2014a). Unfortunately,
there is a severe lack of horizontal and vertical coordination among these agencies at central, state
and local levels, making accountability very difficult. Apparently, there is an absence of any
effective coordinating agency where transport and land use plans can be formulated and integrated
keeping an overall goal in mind. Another weakness is the limited authority delegated at the local city
level. Generally, city administrations are inadequate to undertake efficient city management either
because of the lack of technical capacity in city administrations or because of the weak revenue base
and dependence on state and central governments for most of its financial needs. Although the
emergent problems in transport in India are relatively recent but nevertheless critical, the existing
institutional mandates prioritise other sectoral issues over transport. For example, police force
considers traffic enforcement and management functions of secondary importance to crime
management. Municipalities, too, focus more on water supply and garbage disposal as priority issues
than urban transport issues resulting in no single agency accountable or responsible to holistically
address transport problems and issues.

c) Distorted land markets affecting transport infrastructure development

Very high costs of land acquisition along with arduous and time-consuming processes are a major
barrier for planning integrated transport infrastructure. About 70 per cent of delays in all
infrastructure projects in 2008 were due to problems related to land acquisition (Mohanty et al.,
2009). One of the factors is the heavily distorted land market, caused by zoning and development
control rules in cities that limit the supply of land that can be devoted to commercial, industrial or
residential use. Significant amount of public lands keep large portions of well-located land outside
markets. Cumbersome and time-consuming rural to urban land conversion rules increase cost of
acquisition. Laws such as Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA) have put many
properties under litigation and thus kept them outside the supply of developable land (Ahluwalia,
2011). The Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and Floor Space Index (FSI) regulations as espoused in the
Development Control Regulations (DCR) are too low compared to international benchmarks (FSI in
Mumbai is restricted to 1.33). Exceptions to these rules are traded on a highly selective and non-
transparent basis, offering little incentive for land owners to surrender their lands for infrastructure
development (Narain, 2009).

An attempt to develop well-planned townships outside the existing city limits and eventually relocate
major activity centres to decongest the city has met with limited success. In most cases, there is
inadequate transport infrastructure to serve these new suburban developments and the residences
located around them. Because of such policies and unplanned growth in the Indian suburbs, they
have been characterised by a mix of industrial development, dumps and incompatible land uses.
These unplanned extensions of urban settlements have caused conditions in the overtaken villages to
deteriorate, both physically and socially. Suburban sprawl have also sprung up along major highways
out of Indian cities to the distant countryside. This type of low-density, sprawled decentralisation
causes enormous challenges for provision of good public transport services to such areas. In India, it
has consequently led to rapid growth in car and motorcycle ownership and use, leading to
increasingly congested roadways that slow down buses, increasing bus operating costs, further
discouraging public transport use (Pucher et al., 2005).

d) Comprehensive design standards for transport infrastructure lacking

Common standards for design, operation and maintenance of transport infrastructure and rolling
stock are relatively absent in India. Even if there are existing standards for road construction or metro
systems, they are not mandatorily applied during design and construction. Except for road and
conventional rail infrastructure systems, the design, operation and maintenance standards for mass
transit technologies such as metro, light rail, mono rail or Bus Rapid Transport Systems are non-
existent.

The Indian Road Congress (IRC) has been the nodal agency that sets design guidelines and technical
standards for construction of roads and bridges, primarily for intercity roads but also for urban roads.
These standards are voluntarily followed by all road construction agencies, including Public Works
Departments of cities. A critical feature is that IRC codes are not adhered to for urban road
development, they are not mandatory for municipalities or public works department and hence they
fail to enforce these standards on the contractors. As a result, most urban roads are neither well-
designed and nor are the standards well- implemented. The roads cannot fully accommodate all the
functions of the street. A part of the right of way is developed while the rest is left undeveloped,
leading to unorganised and unregulated traffic - a major cause of the high occurrence of traffic
accidents and fatalities. In the absence of urban road design standards, some city-led initiatives have
been taken up, notably in Delhi and Bengaluru. In Delhi, Unified Traffic and Transportation
Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) developed street design especially suited
for cities wherein spaces for vending zones, three-wheeler stops, road infrastructure, pedestrian-
oriented lighting integrated with tree shade, water permeability etc. were considered. Delhi is the first
city in the country to have formally adopted street design guidelines with requisite detail needed to
make a street accessible for various road users. In Bengaluru, too, Janaagraha has taken up the task of
developing street design standards and taken up a pilot project to develop 50 roads in Bengaluru to
these standards. Such initiatives are limited and therefore there is an urgent need to fill these gaps.

e) Human Resource challenges

Transportation is a complex system as it constitutes several activities, stakeholders and processes.

Unfortunately, the capability for undertaking a coordinated approach along with a holistic
understanding of transport issues and their causes involved is generally lacking at the state
government and city level (Ahluwalia, 2011). This is attributed to a lack of transport skills amongst
city and state officials, along with no dedicated organisation in city or state to deal with transport.
The main reason for lack of relevant professional skills is that the transport professionals today do
not have adequate job opportunities in governmental agencies managing land use and urban transport
at the city, state or national level.

Most of the state and city level agencies dealing with urban transport planning and provision have
typically suffered from overstaffing of untrained, unskilled manpower on the one hand and shortage
of qualified technical staff and managerial supervisors on the other (Bhatt et al., 2013). It is not
surprising then that they have not been in a position to deliver the current demands for transport
services. The staff and management at these agencies are typically not accustomed to innovation and
taking up new tasks and are more comfortable opting for traditional methods of procurement and
working with government grants and loans (Ahluwalia, 2011).

A comparative analysis of CMPs (Comprehensive Mobility Plan) of eight cities (Bengaluru,

Madurai, Jaipur, Thane, Rajkot, Varanasi, Asansol and Chandigarh) prepared by external consultants
indicated that these documents did not fully follow the provisions of National Urban Transport
Policy (NUTP), CMP toolkit, advisories and guidelines issued by MOUD (Chotani, 2010). It
appeared that the focus of the analysed CMPs was on listing a number of transport projects without a
thorough impact assessment using tools such as a cost-benefit analysis or an Alternatives Analysis. It
now appears that neither the consultants always have the desired level of skill in the assigned task
nor do the cities have the necessary skills to supervise and monitor the work of the consultant
(Chotani, 2010). Therefore, there is an urgent need for building capacity at the individual and
institutional level.

f) Absence of reliable transport data

The absence of a database with scientific management and analysis of transport statistics has severely
constrained the ability to formulate sound transport plans and reliably assess the impact of the
different projects carried out in the cities (Bhatt et al., 2013; Agarwal, 2006; Ahluwalia, 2011). The
reliability and accuracy of even the available data is suspect at present since much of the data
collected is either part of a specific study or collected with a specific project in mind. Secondly,
available data is scattered over a multiplicity of different agencies and often difficult to obtain.
Thirdly, the data is neither collected regularly nor kept up to date which is a limiting factor for larger
policy and planning functions. In any case, the data is not available at regular intervals and does not
lend itself to any kind of trend analysis. This seems to be a major problem observed across India,
which is why the transport management seems to be a major challenge.

MOUD has established a ‘Knowledge Management and database Center’ (KMC) with the support of
Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the
sustainable transport project. The NUTP 2006 identified the Institute of Urban Transport (IUT) India
to be developed as a national institute to build up a database repository of all urban transport sector
related data and information in India. However, there is an urgent need to ensure that the data
collection is standardised, systematised and that the data is regularly collected for it to be
meaningfully used in planning, research and training, etc.

g) Inefficiencies in bus-based PT services

For many decades, State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) have been providing city based
Public Transport (PT) services in about eight cities in India (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru,
Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad) for which there is data available for analysis. Most of
the SRTUs have common problems. In terms of operational performance, excluding Bengaluru and
Chandigarh, the remaining six cities have less than 70 per cent fleet utilisation indicating sub-optimal
utilisation of their bus fleet. This affects the passenger- carrying capacity and service frequency in
key cities. In fact, the slow turnaround time of operational buses due to road congestion also affects
the fleet utilisation and the overall performance of the bus fleet. As congestion causes a difference in
the scheduled bus trips operated daily (up to 20 per cent of scheduled trips are cancelled daily in
Delhi), passenger volumes typically fall. At present, there is no systematic exercise for network and
route design for bus based PT services. The precise allocation of the responsibility for route design is
also unclear. The SRTUs usually decide the routes on which they would operate services on the basis
of public pressure, rather than a scientific assessment of the demand. The SRTUs also tend to start
routes applied for by individual operators resulting in a sub-optimal allocation of routes, with surplus
capacity on some and a deficit in others (Agarwal, 2006).

The financial health of almost all SRTUs is generally in a poor state. The SRTUs in Delhi, Chennai
and Mumbai are facing sustained operational losses and inefficiencies over many years without
corrective measures.

According to data collected in March 2010, India had 135,506 buses for a population of
1,150,000,000 population, i.e. one bus for every 8,500 passengers which reflects an enormous under-
capacity of public transport in Indian cities (Roychowdhury, 2013). Time series data from SRTUs
indicate that there has been a steady decline in bus registrations since 1961 (See Figure 7). In cities
without SRTUs providing PT services, mass transport demand is met by privately operated bus
services or Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) modes. However, there is practically no data
available about the performance of such systems in public domain which makes it difficult to assess
their performance.
 120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
1961-71 1971-81 1981-91 1991-2001 2001-2010

Figure 7: Decadal growth rate of PT bus fleet in India (%) (Roychowdhury, 2013)

h) Energy Security

The production of crude oil in the country has increased at an average annual growth rate of around
1.6 per cent from 2000-2001 to 2010-2011, whereas the consumption of petroleum products over this
period has increased at a rate of more than 4 per cent. The reserves to production (R/P) ratio of crude
oil in India indicates enough reserves for 30 years, whereas the R/P ratio worldwide indicates enough
crude oil to last for 46 years (TERI, 2011). India has become, and will continue to be, increasingly
dependent on imported crude oil.

Total petroleum consumption by the transport sector is expected to grow three-fold from
2010 to 2030 (See Figure 8). Crude oil imports now account for almost 80 per cent of India’s
demand (MoPNG, 2012). If petroleum consumption trends continue unchecked, this will rise to 90
per cent by 2032 (TERI, 2011a). The current trend of growing fossil fuel use in the transport sector
and increasing dependence on oil imports poses a significant risk to India’s energy security and
domestic economy growth as it exposes domestic economy to the vagaries of international crude oil
prices. It also sends billions of rupees abroad to purchase fuel, rather than investing the money for
development.
Figure 8: Growth in Energy Consumption in Transport Sector in a BAU Scenario
Source: (TERI, 2009)
8. Policy responses to address transport issues

The role of the central government in transport is still confined to a few dimensions. Until the mid-
1990s, connectivity of rural areas to centres of India remained the main focus of investment and
transport policy direction, since a majority of the population lived in rural areas (Tiwari, 2011). Most
large cities are able to make decisions and implement them at the local level. But they do not have
the right incentives to make strategic decisions in the long-term interest of cities and its inhabitants.
There are also no checks and balances to ensure that a good strategic plan gets implemented. Central
monitoring and supervision is limited at the local level where planning and policy is carried out. This
situation has created an institutional gap reflected in the slow transfer of powers and resources from
states to local governments. The political constituencies of state and local institutions being different,
the continued dominance of state produces transport policies that are not aligned with local interests.
The following subsections highlight the main plans, strategies and programs initiated by the central
government to address transport challenges in India.

a) Planning Commission

Urbanisation and development was a low-priority sector, transportation was still lower at the national
level, until the NUTP in 2006. The plan documents, from the First Five-Year Plan onwards, laid
stress on intercity transportation of different modes and created rail, road and air infrastructure to
meet the demand. Since the Sixth Five-Year Plan, the Planning Commission had acknowledged the
importance of transportation in ensuring
sustained economic growth and development of various segments of the economy. But it was only in
the Eighth Five-Year plan that the need for establishing a unified coordination body and a separate
financial institution for addressing transport problems was emphasized. The Eighth Five-Year Plan
also carved out a distinct role for the Ministry of Railways to plan and provide metro rail systems in
spite of the fact that, in 1986, the responsibility of transport policy was handed to MOUD.

In the Ninth Five-Year Plan, it was realised that the need to develop transport institutions and active
collaboration between central, state and local governments is indispensable to tackle this complex
problem. Mass transit systems in metro cities were perceived as the solution to transport problems
and therefore this plan mandated financing metro projects through dedicated levies on users and non-
users. It also proposed the setting up of National Urban Transport Fund to support metro project
implementation (Commission et al., n.d.). The Tenth Five-Year Plan went a step ahead to
recommend enactment of supportive legislation for mass transit projects, especially the metro
systems, along with a financing strategy in cities with three million-plus population. It stressed the
need to have clear responsibilities and active collaboration amongst Indian Railways, urban
development authorities and state governments concerned with transport.

The Eleventh Five-Year Plan proposed improving productivity and efficiency of transport systems in
an integrated manner by augmenting capacity and by allocating funds for technological upgrade and
modernisation. The approved outlay was Rs1,000 crores, of which 37 per cent was spent up to the
mid-term appraisal (MTA). The MTA proposed to develop a strategic long-term framework to
strengthen public transport in Indian cities. In this direction, it proposed to allocate central funds to
support technology for intermodal fare integration and automatic fare collection systems. To address
road safety issues, the National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board (NRSTMB) and
Inspection & Certification (I&C) centres were set up across the country. The role of NRSTMB is to
regulate, promote and optimize modern and effective road safety and traffic management systems
and practices on national highways. NRSTMB is also mandated to develop improved safety
standards in highway design, construction, operation and regulate high standards in production and
maintenance of mechanically propelled vehicles (Tiwari, 2011).

In the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, transport is included in a more comprehensive chapter titled
“Managing Urbanisation” and addresses urban transport over a long-term vision of 20 years for the
first time. The focus has been towards developing expertise in the metro rail systems and exploring
land value capture options and private participation to fund such expensive projects. The measures
recommended for urban transport sector were primarily aimed towards allocating budget for
strengthening the MOUD and starting urban transport departments within each state, supporting
transit (especially metro) and NMT infrastructure development, wider use of ITS technologies,
commission for addressing safety issues and policies to finance transport infrastructure through PPP
model.
b) National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP)

The central government, under the Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD), issued the National
Urban Transport Policy in 2006 and also revised in 2014, with specific policy objectives of achieving
safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable access to jobs, education, shopping and
recreation and other such needs to an increasing number of urban residents within our cities. The
policy acknowledged problems of road congestion and associated air pollution. To address these
issues, the NUTP proposed four strategies primarily focusing on increasing efficiency of road space
by favouring public transport, using traffic management instruments to improve traffic performance,
restraining growth of private vehicular traffic and technological improvements in vehicles and fuels
to reduce vehicle emissions. The NUTP recognized the states as the main facilitators in the process
of policy implementation and the central government’s role was confined to supporting the states
with the necessary financial support and technical expertise.

Without land use transport integration on the ground and specific policies and action plans
supporting the same, not much change in the existing transport condition can be expected. Even
today, appropriate accessibility and mobility objectives are not well- considered and defined in land
development and as a result current development practice tends to lengthen trips and leads to
increased congestion. Real estate developers have continued to build new developments with
segregated land uses and in locations that are inaccessible by PT and NMT (Sriraman, 2012).
Violation of zone laws are a common occurrence which often translates to a different land use pattern
emerging than what was planned. This adversely impacts transport and traffic patterns, which is
nowhere near the one that was expected. Even with specialised institutions to deal with these issues,
the haphazard land development continues due to irrelevant considerations. Although the NUTP
supports integration of land use and transport, it only touches on the generalities associated with it
(Sriraman, 2012). NUTP’s silence on ways in which national and state leadership can help city
governments integrate land use and transport in development is criticised.

International experience has shown that participatory approaches that incorporate community
consultation and wider participation by all social groups have been successful in enhancing
sustainable transport development. Such “bottom-up” approaches are more likely to win public
support, especially when difficult policy decisions arise, such as while implementing transport
demand management measures. This approach has been visibly absent in the NUTP. It would require
a fundamental institutional change in the planning process to incorporate participatory approaches in
decision making and seek inter- disciplinary solutions to transport problems.

It has been well recognized in the NUTP that a solution to complex transport problems lies in the
development of an efficient and affordable PT system. The fare issue is not addressed in a
comprehensive manner that would allow a full range of options to be considered. This could be in the
form of targeted user subsidies such as cash transfers or direct financial assistance to poor travellers.
On the other hand, protecting PT service providers by setting a regulatory framework on fare-related
decisions and provision of explicit subsidies. The NUTP did not propose any specific actions to
resolve this issue but indicates provision of implicit subsidies which the operators would have to
provide.

c). Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM)

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was set up in December
2005 by the central government, and 63 cities were identified to be eligible for seeking central funds
under this program for urban renewal and reforms in phase one. Its prime objective was to create
empowered and financially sustainable Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) for successfully managing the
local urban issues (Thornton, 2011). Another objective was to address distortions in the urban land
markets arising largely out of a plethora of regulations. To achieve these objectives, the JNNURM
mandated a set of reforms at state and municipal levels. The urban transport sector was allocated 11
per cent of the total JNNURM investment. Except for Delhi, most urban transport systems and
interventions are funded and owned by state governments. National intervention in the sector has
been very recent particularly after JNNURM and National Urban Transport Policy were announced
in 2006. The JNNURM program attempted to improve the public transport system in larger cities
through funding of public transport buses, development of comprehensive city mobility plans and
supporting city transport infrastructure projects (Baindur, 2011). As of December 2012, 15,388
buses, at a cost of more than Rs47 billion, in 63 cities had been funded under the program. This has
led cities to develop new bus services. Bus rapid transit projects have been initiated in 10 large cities.
Some cities have also used central funding to improve traffic management.

To encourage holistically planned development of cities, the JNNURM program mandated

preparation of City Development Plans (CDP). The CDP would highlight the city-level
improvements so as to integrate land use and transport planning, and address infrastructure needs in a
sustainable manner. All proposed projects by ULBs were required to be in tune with the city
development plans. Moreover, JNNURM required that all proposed transport projects are complied
with the NUTP guidelines. To give effect to this, the program provided for an outlay of central
assistance of more than Rs66,000 crore for the seven-year period, and linked the release of assistance
to completion of the reforms. Currently 138 urban transport projects have been approved, with the
majority (80 per cent) in Category A cities with populations of at least four million (Hidalgo et al.,
2012).

Ex-post analysis observed that the JNNURM-funded projects in urban transport lacked effective
monitoring and verification mechanisms on the impact of JNNURM funding at city scale. Land use
transport integration has not happened. Most of the JNNURM funded projects have seen
improvement of the urban infrastructure to facilitate smooth traffic flow in the short term. More than
70 per cent of JNNURM program funds were allocated for roads and flyovers demonstrating the
inequitable allocation of resources for sustainable transport modes such as NMT and public transport.
Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune spent less than 20 per cent of the JNNURM funds allocated to
these cities on NMT infrastructure.

MOUD, required that all cities prepare Comprehensive Mobility Plans (CMPs) before accessing any
funds from the Government of India, but this approach also was ineffective. The CMPs became
mostly intricate modelling exercises justifying a wish list of ambitious transport infrastructure
projects with no integration or understanding of the city’s needs or expectations (TERI, 2011b).
According to an expert, 70 per cent of the CMPs developed under JNNURM program were criticised
for lack of attention to mixed land use, resettlement of slum and informal housing, developing links
to the urban periphery and elaboration of legal and administrative issues in implementation (Chotani,
2010). Most of the transport projects implemented under the JNNURM program were managed by
parastatal bodies directly reporting to their state governments thereby bypassing city agencies. This
resulted in reduced ownership of JNNURM funded projects by people. Many critics therefore claim
that there is hardly any improvement in the condition of urban transport in these cities in spite of
JNNURM programs.
9. Proposed policy reforms

The ultimate outcome of transport policy is how we achieve sustainability in transport delivery.
Clearly, the problem lies in identifying, implementing and monitoring policy measures that are
effective in addressing specific issues in a synchronised and coordinated way by the various agencies
involved in transport. After a thorough assessment of expert suggestions and review of global best
practices, policy interventions that were perceived as potentially effective are further detailed in the
following sub-sections:

a) Re-aligning legal and regulatory instruments

As mentioned earlier, sustainable transport vision in India can occur only through an enabling
constitutional and regulatory framework. A comprehensive transport act should be enacted by each
state defining the roles and responsibilities of the multiple city and state level authorities with regard
to public transport, land use and public transport integration, safety, NMT, IPT etc. For this purpose,
a model law could be developed by the central government which could be adapted by state
governments for their state. Eventually, the metropolitan and city authorities should take the
responsibility for transport. This law should make it obligatory for all agglomerations with more than
one million people to develop a Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) and integrate it with other
statutory plan documents. The law should further stipulate the goals, general objectives and
orientation of the CMPs. At the state level, the establishment of Unified Metropolitan
Transport Authority (UMTA) along with its constitution, role, functions and powers should be
enacted through appropriate state legislation by each state and union territory.

The proposed interventions in land management, built form, transport planning and engineering,
institutional and financing arrangements towards land use transport development need to be built on
sound legal foundation. Therefore, an overhaul of existing legal and regulatory framework relating to
management is recommended. The Town and Country Planning Acts have to be amended from
segregation of land uses and rigid zoning towards fostering more mixed-use and compact
development. Similarly, building codes and development control regulations need to be critically
reviewed and necessary amendments made to cover any unforeseen gaps. Efforts to consolidate and
strengthen enforcement capabilities to ensure that the laws and regulations are abided by need to be
in place.

b) Institutional Restructuring

Innovative ideas and integrated policies towards sustainable transport need strong supporting
institutional and governance structures. Political will, sound leadership, transparency, adequate
resources and accountability are essential in timely implementation of effective policy interventions
that eventually ensure public trust. Also vital to the entire process are the capacities and
professionalism within planning institutions as they create compelling visions of futures. Moreover,
participatory mechanisms must be in place to ensure that planning and investment decisions are
socially inclusive, and engage public in a shared common vision for their city and neighbourhoods.
This implies providing a platform for non-state actors and city residents to negotiate when making
important mobility decisions that directly or indirectly influence their lives. In strengthening
institutions, it is essential that financial resources be channelled into training and capacity-building of
the concerned personnel in order to empower them to take on the complex challenges of the
transportation sector. Intra-municipal and inter-municipal coordination is essential for the
development of a fully integrated transportation system for the metropolitan region. This fosters
accountability and provides a territorial context for planning for infrastructure development and
provision of PT services within the region. Metropolitan institutions need to be strengthened with
powers for regulatory oversight and funding capacities to finance transportation investments and
service management.

Central government through the MOUD has played a crucial role in formulating a NUTP and
supporting it with central grants and technical assistance in their achieving transport improvements.
There is also a need to inject efficiencies, accountability and transparency into the transport decision-
making process which is presently opaque in Indian cities. This can be achieved by the development
and institutionalisation of planning and evaluation approaches that are inclusive in nature. In other
words, it should be able to bring representation from all sections of society to voice their views and
make decisions based on performance measures and well-articulated goals identified through active
public engagement. This promotes both transparency and accountability. Presently, transport in India
as neither institutional ownership nor skills within cities and state authorities to address related
issues. This paper advocates for the decentralisation of transport sector to municipalities in India as is
mandated by the 74rth Constitutional Amendment. This will mean that delegation of functions and
investment responsibilities from state to the Metropolitan Planning Committees should be made.
Therefore, the following division of responsibilities and institutional framing across the three
governance levels is proposed:

i. At central government level:

The main role of the central government for transport will be in financing transport infrastructure. It
should supplement the financial support to cities on a pre- determined basis to enable them to plan
and implement major transport infrastructure projects. Secondly, the central government should
house an empanelled set of experts, also called the Office of Transport Strategy (OTS). The role of
OTS would be to create standards for transport performance as well as provide technical and
managerial expertise to states and city authorities engaged in transport. The OTS should support the
central government in laying down a national policy framework for UT, drafting laws and
regulations, and setting national level common planning standards (without restricting local
operational efforts to achieve set outcomes). The central government should also prepare guidelines
and manuals, including those for private sector participation; design, install and maintain standards
for a common national database built from state and metropolitan databases; disseminate data;
promote research in UT, including safety issues; and organize capacity building.

ii. At state government level:

Creation of a separate new Ministry of Transport at state government/union territory level that is
headed by the secretary is recommended. Land use and transport functions from other state
departments at urban agglomerations should be transferred to this new ministry. Also, all parastatal
bodies created for managing urban transport should be dissolved and their functions transferred to
this new ministry. The roles of this new transport ministry will be to lay down state policies which
are in sync with national policies, administer laws, rules and regulations, and ensure their
enforcement. It should also organise educational and capacity-building programs for staff engaged in
transport in that particular state. This ministry should also institutionalise the process of actively
engaging with practitioners, academia and researchers on transport issues on a regular basis. Another
important role would be to allocate state funds and funnel central government funds to cities on a
predetermined basis.

The division of regulatory and enforcement functions related to transport and land use planning
should be clearly defined and looked after by the newly created Ministry of Transport. The
regulatory functions of licensing, vehicle inspection and enforcement may continue with the
transport commissioner. Specifically for traffic safety, a high level safety board should be set up
within this ministry to deal with safety issues in a comprehensive manner.

iii. At city government level:

The primary responsibility for providing good mobility to the city and its population presently lies
with the state government. This responsibility should eventually be devolved to metropolitan and city
authorities in those cities with one million-plus population. A three- level organisational setup is
proposed for each agglomeration in the state as follows:

• The constitution of Metropolitan and District Planning Committee (MPC, DPC), as envisaged in
the 74rth Constitutional Amendment, for the metropolitan areas, which will be responsible to ensure
intersectoral coordination, primarily amongst authorities responsible for land use and transport. It
should act as the focal point for resolving inter-jurisdictional and macro-regional decisions and
coordination issues. It should have the representation from all city agencies and stakeholders,
including those from the surrounding region. Presently, MPCs are
underdeveloped either because some states with areas do not have an enabling legislation or those
with enabling legislation have not set up MPCs.

• The Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA), as proposed in the NUTP 2006, to be
established as a full-time professional body working under the Metropolitan or District Planning
Committee. UMTA should be empowered by suitable legislation at the state level for technical
decision making and as a coordination body for all work related to mobility. This will include
strategic and policy functions; regulatory functions; integrated planning; transport demand
management; organising services; providing common services; resolution of day-to- day matters and
monitoring of the work assigned to implementing agencies both for the city and the surrounding
region. The existing implementing agencies should continue to manage day-to-day operations of bus,
rail and other guided transit modes, BRT schemes, water transport etc. Also, construction, operation
and maintenance of transport infrastructure should continue to be with the relevant agencies,
although, stage carriage permits for PT bus operations, including para-transit, should be issued by the
UMTA. UMTA should be supported by a professional body that will analyse and recommend on
various issues for consideration and decision by UMTA. For UMTA to be effective, it should be
backed by legislation and the entire funding for transport should be routed through UMTA to various
implementing agencies in that particular agglomeration. This will give it the required authority in
coordinating projects across the various specialised agencies.

c) Resource Mobilization

For the UMTA or DPC to effectively govern and carry out its mandate of transport coordination,
access to resources is critical. Resources include access to public finance, skilled and technically
qualified pool of man power and relevant and up-to-date data for planning and decision-making
purposes. Following sub-sections elaborate on these critical resources.

i. Public Financing

The choice of infrastructure investments is central in determining the choices and options for
sustainable mobility. It is important that gradual steps are taken to correct the current imbalance in
funding and investments between auto-centric road expansion projects or public transport projects.
Allocation of more resources for the majority of people should be the rationale in decision making.
The current bias towards roads and highways needs to be replaced by more funding for expanding
non-motorised and high-capacity public transport infrastructure. It is equally important that the
transport is treated as an integrated whole through systems financing and pricing. Given the
distribution of taxation powers between the centre, the states and local bodies in India, cities have to
deal with long gestation period for completion of transport infrastructure projects. The present
method of financing large infrastructure projects in Indian cities is through capital grants by the
centre or state as budgets are ill-equipped to leverage such huge capital expenditure. Options for
funding transport projects stems from the following approaches:

1) Tapping private source of capital through Public Private Partnerships.

The involvement of the private sector is a potent source for financing and managing transport
services in the city. Due to the scarcity of public funds and expertise, the PPP route has been pursued
in the recent past for funding and/or implementing transport projects. It needs to be clear that city
authority should assume a managerial role in PPP projects instead of engaging in actual operations.
However, PPP approach to funding transport projects needs to be treated with caution as the
bargaining power and technical expertise that private players bring could result in a “regulatory
capture” unless a strong regulatory framework is in place. Therefore, it is proposed to have a PPP
regulatory body that is supported by a body of experienced advisors with techno- managerial
expertise to effectively regulate PPP projects.

2) Setting up the National Transport Development Fund as proposed in the Ninth Five-Year Plan.
These funds will provide financial assistance to mass transport projects, preparation of feasibility
studies, project reports, R&D and training. These funds should be enhanced by raising revenues from
fuel surcharge, cess on running vehicles and additional tax on purchase of new motor vehicles.
Allocation among the different transport modes and programs should be in accordance with well-
defined objectives. through resources from capturing value from beneficiaries in the project influence
zone.

3) Tax exemptions - Public transport projects and services attract central and state taxes of up to 15
per cent for rail transit projects and up to 19 per cent on bus operations because these services are
treated as business ventures. Each PT service provider should undergo financial audits on a yearly
basis and central and state tax concessions should extended to only those providers that are not
already profitable. These tax remissions should also be extended to projects undertaken by private
sector provided they are willing to undergo performance and financial audits by regulatory
authorities.
The selection and implementation of projects should be based upon sound principles of economic
efficiency since it has major financial implications on municipal budgets. For instance, the high
capital investments and operating costs needed to support metro projects must be carefully examined
to ensure that local, state and national governments have the financial capacity to maintain its
services. Amongst the various other sources of financing transport projects, the option of “value
capture” (taxing the appreciation of land value around the project) is considered a significant source
of revenue. By reinvesting these funds in mobility improvements locally, the linkage between land
use and transport is reinforced.

ii. Capacity building within government agencies & systems to attract best talent

The other important requirement is in meeting the professional expertise required at institutional and
individual levels within government authorities. Capacity building implies reskilling city officials
through executive programs and developing university-educated professionals. The focus of training
for existing city officials should be to develop awareness, skills and a deeper understanding of the
requisite issues in transport. For the training and skill building program to be beneficial, states should
be mandated to immediately constitute a dedicated agency for transport in each city and at the state
level, identify officials to be appointed to these agencies, send them for training and, on return, post
them to these agencies or departments.

To develop a new cadre of working professionals in this field, the MOUD has established four
centres of excellence in transport (CoEs) at CEPT Ahmedabad, IIT Madras, NIT Warangal and IIT
Delhi to impart certificate and post graduate programs in transport management, engineering and
planning disciplines. Considering the size of the manpower requirement across India, at least one
(CoE) should be created in in each state. Financial aid for setting up such centres should flow from
State Ministry of Transport and supplemented with financial outlays from central governments such
as Ministry of Human Resources Development. Sufficient funds should also be allocated for creation
of new faculty positions and provision of research scholarships in order to ensure a healthy
manpower base of highly qualified and trained experts addressing issues is developed in each state.
The curriculum taught in these centres in universities should be reviewed so that the professionals
coming out have skills in tasks needed today such as planning and design of bus rapid transit,
facilities for NMT etc. It is equally important that transport education provides a multi-disciplinary,
holistic perspective of this sector. It is therefore proposed to design courses and offer labs that bring
together students with training in humanities, sciences, engineering and arts to address transport
challenges.

Presently, there is a demand for professionals with transport expertise in the private sector, but not so
in governmental institutions. Therefore, to create good job opportunities within the government
establishment, it is proposed that each state creates a new state cadre of transport professionals who
are then posted to various cities and managed by the proposed state transport ministry. The
professionals of transport cadre from the states should have access to the top posts at the centre, state
and city authorities engaged in transport. Similarly, each agency engaged in transport planning and
implementation, and state should carry out periodic assessments within their departments to identify
required expertise to cover skill gaps. A skill management plan should be developed to align the
selection process and allocate budget in order to hire the best available talent. The aim is to cover
immediate skill requirements, develop and keep expertise in transport planning within planning
agencies.

iii. Knowledge management and research and development

To formulate sound transport policies and plans as well as assess its impacts, reliable source of data
needs to be made available to all stakeholders including the public. In this direction, MOUD has set
up ‘Knowledge Management and database Center’ (KMC) under the Institute of Urban Transport
India (IUT) in Delhi. Its mandate is to develop a database for planning, research and training from all
Indian cities as well as house a state-of-the-art library infrastructure. Similarly, it is proposed that
each state replicate KMC and library in their state capital. The data collection and management
process needs to be regularly updated and the process institutionalised to keep it current and relevant
for analysis and decision support purposes. CoEs should be given the mandate to regularly update the
database and maintain systems for universal access to the database.
Once good data is made available, application-oriented research in transport across the country needs
to be stepped up and channelized in a coordinated manner, and its dissemination organised so as to
reach a wider audience of academicians, decision makers and public at large. For this, it is proposed
that either CRRI or Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) or Transport Ministry should
fund, organise and institutionalise a coordinated research program in transport and direct research
outputs around themes relevant to Indian cities on the lines of Transport Research Board (TRB) in
the United States of America.

d) Planning reforms

NUTP 2006 highlights the intrinsic linkage of transport demand and land use planning, and the need
to develop an integrated master plan for each city. An integrated approach to land use and transport
planning requires an organic integration of multimodal mobility within a holistic land use system
where synergies and interconnections are promoted. For an integrated planning system, it is proposed
that the Comprehensive Urban Transport Act should mandate the integrated preparation of the
following statutory plans:

• Local Transport Plan (LTP) at the ward level form the most detailed transport and land use
planning document to be prepared every 10 years and revised every five years. Ward committees
should be responsible for preparation of LTPs with support from UMTA. LTPs provide the UMTA
with an opportunity to set out studies of, and make recommendations to improve, locations of trip
attractors (trip destinations) and residential locations (trip origins), along with a range of demand
management and public transport measures, as well as supply measures to provide for balanced use
of road space, public transport integration and appropriate patterns and forms of development.

• Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) should be prepared by UMTA and should review the land use
patterns in the present master plan and mobility and land use measures proposed in the LTP from the
city wide mobility optimisation point of view, and select a preferred pattern of land use and transport
integration through engagement with stakeholders and citizens. If the recommendation by the CMP
on growth pattern differs from the one in the master plan, the CMP recommendation should be
reflected in a future version of the master plan. For cities where a master plan is not available, a CMP
must be prepared first and used as an input for the preparation of the master plan.

• Master plans should continue to be prepared by the appropriate planning authority of that state.
However, it should be prepared such that the CMP forms an integral part of the master plan and the
growth patterns in both these statutory plan documents should be in sync with each other.

At the operational level, the UMTA should spearhead the preparation of the Comprehensive Mobility
Plan for the city as per the standard guidelines framed by the MOUD. It should also provide technical
and financial support to local ward committees in the preparation of LTPs. Stakeholder and citizen
involvement needs to be an integral part of the whole planning process in all stages of planning to
ensure public support and proposed interventions. On preparation of the CMP, UMTA should be
obliged to submit it to DPC or MPC for approval. On its approval, projects in the plan are to be
prioritised and implemented by respective executing agencies under strict oversight from UMTA.

e) Transferability of best practices

Several state governments and urban local bodies have come up with innovative ideas to plan and
implement projects to improve mobility that have resulted in significant benefits to the users. Some
of these initiatives have been documented and disseminated for knowledge sharing and horizontal
learning under the MoUD approved mega project Peer Experience and Reflective Learning (PEARL)
Program, under JNNURM and Best Practice awarding schemes. The objective has been to create an
effective network for cross learning and knowledge sharing on mobility infrastructure projects so as
to make India more liveable, economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable. It is equally
important that these solutions are analysed for scalability and transferability potential. Wherever
feasible, they should be implemented. Mumbai has India’s most extensive suburban rail network
which carries over five million passengers daily and accounts for 58 per cent of total public transport
passengers in the region or 80 per cent of total passenger-kilometre. Whereas the suburban rail
transport in Kolkata and Chennai carries less than a third of public transport passengers. In some
Indian cities such as Hyderabad, Pune, Barabanki-Lucknow and Lucknow-Kanpur, suburban rail
operates on lines shared with other passenger and freight trains. Efforts to develop a suburban rail
system for Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram have been stalled because of the lack of
interest on part of the Indian Railways. The main concern being operational losses suffered on
existing suburban rail services in addition to the capacity constraints. Here, a devolution of
responsibility of suburban rail operations to a state or city rail operator regulated by the state or city
government is needed to develop these systems.

Buses are integrated formally or informally in cities of different sizes. Until a decade ago, only eight
Indian cities had city bus services. Organised city bus services operate now in about 65 cities, an
increase from only 20 cities in 2006 (Rakesh Mohan, 2013). In several other cities such as Gangtok,
Bikaner, Raipur, Amritsar, Patna, Agra and Varanasi, there are no formal public transport bus
systems. Here, private bus operators are permitted to provide public transport services (Krishna et al.,
2012).

In riverine and coastal cities, inland waterways are being leveraged to meet intra-city commuting
needs. Kochi already has an efficient privately-owned water based intermediate public transport
service which is fiercely competing with state sponsored bus transport service. It takes Rs5 and 15
minutes of ride to commute from mainland to Fort Kochi compared to a bus ride costing Rs12 and
one hour of travel by road (Rakesh Mohan, 2013). The upcoming metro will be one of the few
services to integrate water transport system. Kolkata has the oldest ferry system that connects
Howrah railway station to the city. Being a legacy service, the piers are located close to other public
transport nodes including metro, bus and railway station. The ferry services, with their extensive
network, cover a wide area of Kolkata metro region and are now carrying more number of
commuters than the tram system.

In Chennai, the municipal corporation has reduced the width of motorised roads to widen footpaths.
Bhubaneswar has set an exemplary initiative to build seamless and extensive walking and cycling
infrastructure, and space for hawkers that simultaneously protects the infrastructure from
encroachments. Vishakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Dehradun, Puducherry, etc. have introduced no-
vehicle zones on targeted streets during weekends to encourage walking (Roychowdhury, 2013).
Popular cycle movements are also coming up in cities. In Bengaluru, DULT, CiSTUP and cycling
enthusiasts have led a campaign to promote cycling in the city. Every month, the “Feel Bengaluru
Cycle Day” event is organised at various locations across the city of Bangalore to make cycle riders
more visible on the roads so that planners take note and provide dedicated cycle infrastructure for
greater adoption of this mode5.

5 http://praja.in/en/projects/2013/09/25/cycle-day-campaign
10. Conclusion
Accessibility and mobility are critical for promoting sustainable economic development in Indian
cities. They are also directly connected to stock and flows – in terms of spatial development and
consolidation of the built form. However, mobility has not contributed to desired outcomes owing to
car-centric policies adopted by successive plans and projects at the city level.

Mobility is multi-dimensional in terms of policy and operational implications. Therefore, coherence

in policy interventions and linkages among processes are essential. Improved accessibility is neither
achieved by adding more roads, rail or vehicles, nor through ad hoc spatial interventions such as
traffic management techniques in isolation to achieve delocalization and decongestion.

In addressing complex mobility issues, a systems approach seems well suited for a thorough
understanding of the issues and their causal linkages. Only after understanding the interdependencies
between the system components that operate behind the symptoms can significant policy
interventions be formulated to address it. For example, mispricing leads to overconsumption of roads
in peak periods; sprawling settlement patterns render public transport systems ineffectual; design for
machines rather than people creates cities for cars rather than people.

It is essential to understand that mobility is a derived demand that is derived from the need for people
to meet their necessary social or economic interactions. Private vehicles, public transport or NMT are
simply the means to achieve it. This realisation envisages cities and mobility systems as tools that
promote desired societal outcomes with transport playing the facilitating role. This can be achieved
by compact city forms and mixed use communities that dramatically reduce travel distances and
sometimes travel needs. Compact cities not only put activity centres closer to each other, but also
provide safe and efficient pedestrian and cycling corridors, along with affordable, high-quality public
transport options.

In conclusion, sustainable mobility is a key enabler of economic growth and towards eliminating
poverty and shared prosperity in Indian cities. Comprehensive integration of transport and land use
planning systems is needed so that synergies are harnessed, interconnections are promoted and
functionality optimized through multimodal mobility solutions for Indian cities. Present transport
issues such as congestion, road accidents, pollution, etc. cannot be wished away by conventional
interventions that favour public funding and investments for private transport instead of public
modes of transport More public resources need to be allocated to developing NMT and high capacity
public transport infrastructure. It is also important that transport sector is treated as an integrated
whole through systems financing and pricing. transport systems influence the spatial morphology and
configuration of built form of its cities. The paper suggests that sustainable mobility systems in
Indian cities can only be achieved when robust, integrated and participatory institutions are created
and enabled through clear responsibilities, legislative authority, financial independence and
professional competence to effectively enhance accessibility of our cities. Most importantly,
mechanisms for transparency, oversight and accountability of such institutions towards its people
need to be ensured. All this can only be possible by strong political will and sustained public pressure
for change.
Appendix A

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Appendix B

How do we make cities smarter and more sustainable?

Our planet, inhabited by over 7 billion people, is in the midst of a massive transition in terms of the
ecosystem, climate change, tectonic plate movements and biological evolution. Among these, climate
change, largely attributable to human activities, is one of the most critical issues impacting our
planet. Climate change brings with it adverse consequences such as threats to biodiversity and
ecosystems, risks to human health, rising sea levels due to accelerated melting of glaciers and ice
caps, increasing water stress as well as a decline in agricultural productivity. These issues are driving
many worldwide economies and cities to focus on mitigating greenhouse emissions in order to
combat the impact of climate change. Cities account for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions
and energy consumption across the globe. As cities are economic growth drivers in most of the
nations, urbanisation is projected to increase further in the near future. This, in turn, will drive the
depletion of non-renewable resources as well as add to the extent of carbon dioxide emissions. To
cope with rising urbanisation and climate change issues, innovation and digital technology must be
leveraged to minimise energy consumption and improve quality of life. Innovation must be combined
with energy, digital technology and information and communications technology
to address urbanisation challenges and ensure sustainability. Sustainability covers not just the
environmental aspect but also social equity and the economy. The globe is witnessing a shift in
economic corridors of power, as China and India are seen as the most powerful economies to watch
out for. These emerging economies too need to take pre-emptive steps so as to avoid the
devastating consequences of climate change. The Indian government has undertaken concrete steps
for making smart cities a reality with the recent announcement of 98 aspirants. These smart cities
will compete with each other to come up with holistic plans for becoming model cities. The
government has incorporated sustainability as one of the key components of smart cities. With the
increasing frequency of natural disasters, abnormal weather patterns and the looming threat of global
warming, the concept of a smart city must be merged with sustainability for the welfare of people
and our planet as a whole. The marriage of innovation with technology will go a long way in
optimising the management of infrastructure and resources and, at the same time, focussing on
inclusiveness and a greener environment. Smart sustainable cities will lay the foundations for a better
future—a future where cities care for people, the earth, air, water and the environment.