Towards Sustainable Urban Transport in India
Towards Sustainable Urban Transport
in India
B.I. SINGAL
Abstract
India is a very large country with over a billion people and nearly 50 of its cities contain
populations above 1 million each. Awareness varies in these cities about the role and
importance of urban transport. While large cities (comprising more than 3 million
people each) are aware and active, many cities (comprising about 1 million population
each) are relatively inactive. This paper describes steps being taken by the Indian
Government to promote sustainable urban transport, while the author suggests the
need to make cities pedestrian-friendly for quick and ongoing relief, and proposes four
essential ingredients for sustainable urban transport in the long term. For the small,
relatively inactive cities, India’s Institute of Urban Transport (IUT), a professional body,
has launched an “awareness campaign” for the urgent need to develop urban transport
along a sustainable path.
Figure 2: Bus services in Delhi
Introduction
Growth of urban transport along a sustainable
path in cities is the foremost need of the
hour; local pollution is a health hazard and
Green House Gas (GHG) emissions are a
global issue. Thus, the introduction of green
transport is the current hot topic. The present
urban transport scene in India, in general,
is quite unsustainable; the use of cars and
two-wheelers is rising, public transport (PT)
is inadequate, while walking and cycling are
becoming less popular.
Figure 1: Mumbai Suburban Rail
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India is a very large country with over a billion
people and nearly 50 of its cities contain
populations above 1 million each. Most cities,
it appears, are not aware about the role and
importance of urban transport. While large
cities have initiated steps, many more cities
(those comprising about 1 million population
each) have not realised the unsustainability
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Towards Sustainable Urban Transport in India
Figure 3: Indigenous public transport
The urban population is projected to more than
double by 2051. Very few new settlements,
however, are being added. Existing settlements
are getting larger. It is expected that between
2001 and 2051, the number of cities in India
will grow as shown in Table 2:
Table 2: Projected growth of cities in India
Number of Cities
2001
2051
of present trends in urban transport growth.
India, thus, needs a wide range of strategies to
achieve sustainable urban transport.
Population/City
0.3 to 1 million
88
300
By 2051, the population of India is expected to be
1.7 billion. The number of cities with population
of more than 50 million people is expected to
double. There will be 15 cities with populations
in excess of 10 million each and 85 cities with
populations between 1 and 10 million each.
That is the challenge India is faced with.
0.1 to 0.3 million
308
600
This paper describes the urban growth and
urban transport scene in India, actions taken
and being taken to promote sustainable urban
transport, the author’s view on essential
ingredients of sustainable transport for the
short and long terms, and the role of the IUT.
Growth Statistics
Present and projected growth in total and
urban population is shown in Table 1:
Table 1: Present and projected growth in total and
urban population of India
Description/Year
2001
2031
2051
Population (billion)
1
1.5
1.7
Urban population
(million)
285
583
820
Urban/total
population (%)
27.8
38
47.5
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> 10 million
3
15
1 to 10 million
32
85
Between 1994 and 2021, the average twowheeler and car ownership levels per 1,000 of
population and vehicle trips in metropolitan cities
are estimated to grow more than three-fold.
Table 3: Growth of vehicle ownership in India
Year
2-W/1,000
Car/1,000
Vehicle Trips
(million)
1994
112
14
67
2021
393
48
216
A recent study by India’s Ministry Of Urban
Development (MOUD) indicates that daily trips
in the top 87 urban centres are anticipated to
more than double from 228 to 482 million in
24 years (2007–2031).
Towards Sustainability
To promote sustainable transport, the Government
of India has taken six significant steps:
1. Finalised and issued the National Urban
Transport Policy (NUTP) in 2006
2. Initiated demonstration projects with
Global Environment Facility (GEF)
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Towards Sustainable Urban Transport in India
3. Strengthening the institutional set up
Component 1: National Capacity Development
4. Initiating an ambitious capacity
Initiatives for Government agencies/institutions
and a group of about 500–600 Individuals,
development of toolkits and development of a
“Knowledge Management Centre”.
building programme
5. Support to improve both road and rail
based mass rapid transit (MRT) facilities
6. Making emission norms increasingly
stringent and improving quality of fuels
National Urban Transport Policy
(NUTP)
The main aim of NUTP is to promote sustainable
transport in cities in India. Its main thrust is to:
• Bring about a more equitable allocation
of road space with people, rather than
vehicles, as the main focus
• Encourage greater use of PT and nonmotorised modes of transport (NMT) which
include walking, cycling and cycle rickshaw
• Establish multi-modal integrated PT systems
• Address concerns of road safety, and
• Reduce pollution through changes in
Component 2: Demonstration Urban Transport
Projects in five selected cities which
support the identification, preparation, and
implementation of demonstration projects
through comprehensive and integrated planning,
preparation, and appraisal processes. Two
projects relate to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), one
to NMT, and two are Intelligent Transport
Systems (ITS) projects.
Expected benefits at the end of the project
are a paradigm shift in the way India’s urban
transport systems are planned and managed
from unsustainable development patterns
to sustainable low-GHG emission urban
transport development.
travel habits
Demonstration Projects
The Government of India with the help of GEF,
Bring about a more equitable
allocation of road space with people,
rather than vehicles, as the main focus.
supported by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, has
started implementing demonstration projects
to encourage implementation of the NUTP.
The project is estimated to cost about US$375
million with US$150 million coming from the
Government of India, State Governments, and
the participating cities. The project will be
implemented over a four-year period and has
two main components:
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Strengthening the institutional
set up – Unified Metropolitan
Transport Authority (UMTA)
The current institutional set up is weak.
Nearly 20 components of urban transport are
managed by as many agencies without any
significant coordination. Efforts have been
made for the last 30 years to have a dedicated
authority for urban transport, particularly in
large cities. With the start of the “Jawaharlal
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Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission”
3. Dissemination of information through
(JNNURM) in 2007, the Government has
newsletters, journals, setting up a
tied the release of its financial assistance to
“Knowledge Management Centre”
cities that implement various policy reforms,
including the setting up of a UMTA. As a
result, 14 cities are at various stages of setting
up UMTA and also a specialist agency to
provide technical support to UMTA.
Efforts have been made for the last 30
years to have a dedicated authority
for urban transport, particularly in
large cities.
Capacity building programme
The Government has taken note that the
prevailing skills in cities in respect of urban
and conferences
4. Organising legal and administrative frameworks
5. Development of manuals, codes and standards
on various urban transport topics
6. Development of national level
consultancy institutions
7. Arranging for safety certification of Guided
Urban Transit Systems (GUTS)
• Training
Training is proposed in nine modules
because cities of different sizes have
different perception levels, and training will
differ depending on the level of the official,
as shown in Table 4.
transport are lacking. Accordingly, it has
worked out a scheme to upgrade not only
staff and institutional skills in cities, but also
to provide the cities with other relevant
professional support. This scheme has the
following main components:
1. Training of 2,500 city/state staff over a
period of five years
2. An academic programme to create a pool
of skilled manpower to enable cities to
recruit qualified professionals
The linked component of the capacity
building programme is the academic
programme to create a pool of skilled
manpower to be available in the
country for recruitment by cities/states.
Four “Centres of Excellence” have been
identified and a strengthening plan for
these institutions is being developed.
Faculty chairs would be established.
There is provision for research funds.
Table 4: Levels of training by city size
City
Population
Up to 1 million
Population
1–4 million
Population More than
4 million
Decision-makers
Yes
Yes
Yes
Middle level
Yes
Yes
Yes
Working level
Yes
Yes
Yes
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The other component of this programme
is making information on urban transport
available to various stakeholders. This is
proposed to be undertaken through the
development of a web-based K-Portal
and “Knowledge Management Centre”,
publication of a quarterly newsletter and
a half-yearly technical journal, and holding
an annual conference.
• Annual Conference on Urban Mobility
The theme of the annual conference
sponsored by the Ministry of Urban
Development is “urban mobility” and it is an
annual feature to be held on the same dates
every year. The 3rd conference was held in
Delhi, India, from 3 to 5 December 2010.
Earlier conferences have been attended by
more than 400 delegates, including decisionmakers, city officials and professionals.
Local and international speakers are invited
to make presentations on topics of current
interest largely based on case studies. There
is an attached exhibition and there were
30 booths last year. At the conference, the
Government gives awards to best practice
projects by cities in various categories. At
the last conference, 10 awards were given
out. This year, eight awards are proposed.
The sub-theme of the 3rd conference is
“Sustainable Urban Transport: Accessible
and Inclusive Cities”.
MRT and NMT
MRT systems are the backbone of the city
PT system and an essential feature of
sustainable transport. Similarly, NMT are the
most environment friendly and sustainable
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Figure 4: Delhi Metro rail
Figure 5: Ahmedabad BRT
modes of urban transport. Presently, however,
MRT and NMT facilities in Indian cities are
inadequate both in quality and quantity. The
Government of India, therefore, is financially
supporting MRT and NMT projects in
Indian cities.
There are seven cities with populations in
excess of 4 million. Nearly 100 kilometres of
MRT is operating in Delhi with another 250
kilometres of Metro rail under construction in
the first five cities. Two other cities are actively
planning their rail transit systems. In addition,
11 cities are introducing BRT while two more
cities have them in the planning stage.
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Towards Sustainable Urban Transport in India
• Standard bus services
Buses are a very crucial and critical
component of the mass transport system
in a city. Even in cities provided with a
good rail transit system, the bus plays, and
will continue to play, a major role in urban
transport. Take the example of Mumbai. It
has a very widespread rail transit system
called the “Suburban Rail System”, but
buses reportedly account for about 40%
of the total vehicular trips in the city. In
Kolkata and Chennai, both cities with rail
transit systems, nearly 80% of trips are
reportedly operated by buses. In Delhi,
the rail transit is limited to the Metro rail
with a few suburban trains while buses
carry 10 times the load of the Metro rail.
Bus services in Indian cities, however,
have been limited to 10–15 cities only.
This is primarily due to their poor financial
performance and the need for a heavy
subsidy to run bus services. The fare-box,
as a rule, is not able to meet the cost of
the services. There are instances of several
cities that initiated bus services but were
quickly forced to close them down due to
non-viability. However, of late there are
examples of bus companies doing well, for
example in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
A more recent successful example is that
of Indore, where bus services have been
introduced on an entirely self-financing
basis, including capital cost.
In order to improve bus services in Indian
cities, the Government has recently
sanctioned, under JNNURM, nearly
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16,000 buses to the 63 JNNURM cities.
To make the services financially viable,
cities have been mandated to develop
policies on parking, advertising, Transit
Oriented Development (TOD), set up an
Urban Transport Fund, waive or reimburse
state and local taxes on PT and use ITS
for operations. Thus, in the near future
many more cities should be operating
bus services.
As far as NMT is concerned, cities have
started providing dedicated lanes for
bicycles and improving pedestrian facilities.
The design of the cycle rickshaw has been
improved and a definite role is being
assigned to it.
Cities have started providing
dedicated lanes for bicycles and
improving pedestrian facilities. The
design of the cycle rickshaw has been
improved and a definite role is being
assigned to it.
Emission norms
Emission norms for new vehicles were
introduced in the year 1991. These have
been gradually tightened and Bharat Stage
IV norms for fuels and vehicles came into
force from 1 April 2010 in 13 cities. Similarly,
the Government of India has tightened the
emission level of CO2 and introduced the
measurement of HC emissions in petrol
vehicles. With respect to diesel vehicles,
oil temperature and RPM measurement
have been included in the test procedures.
Two-stroke engines are being replaced with
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Towards Sustainable Urban Transport in India
Delhi Situation
Delhi has nearly 6.1 million vehicles, mostly cars
and two-wheelers. Delhi has taken action in
nearly all areas to control air pollution over the
past decade; 15-year-old commercial vehicles
are off the road and transit freight traffic
passing through Delhi is restricted. Nearly
300,000 buses, three-wheelers and a great
number of taxis and private cars run on CNG.
Other steps include pollution checks, public
awareness, the use of catalytic converters and
phasing out of old vehicles. Last year, nearly
0.3 million vehicles were checked and most
four-stroke engines. The excise duty on big
cars and sports and multi-utility vehicles has
been raised by 2%.
• Quality of fuel
The quality of fuel has been significantly
improved; leaded petrol has been
completely phased out. Sulphur content of
diesel has been reduced in stages from 0.8%
to 0.05% with effect from March 2001. The
quality of petrol being supplied to Delhi
has been improved by reduction of sulphur
content to 0.05% and benzene content
to 1%. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is
emerging as an attractive alternative fuel
due to its clean burning characteristic and
very low level of exhaust pollution.
had ‘pollution under control’ certificates. PT
is being augmented by the Metro and buses,
while NMT has been promoted by upgrading
pedestrian and bicycle paths. In the context
of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi,
infrastructure has been upgraded through
the construction of flyovers and bridges, road
widening, junction and corridor improvements,
street-scaping, installation of new street lights
and signage, and the construction of new
parking sites. This will provide long term
benefits to the city.
impetus for the growth of renewable energy
technology in the country.
Walk-able Cities are World
Class Cities
Walking is the most sustainable mode of
commuting. It does not consume fuel, causes
no pollution and is good for health. It can be
said that everybody in the city walks; some for
part of the trip and some for the entire trip
length. A study of 30 cities in 2008 showed
that on the average, almost 28% are walking
trips and 11% are bicycle trips.
Figure 6: An inclusive vision for our cities
Budget 2010 has set up a National Clean
Energy Fund for financing research and
innovation in clean energy technology. Taxes
and duty reductions for solar energy
technologies and LEDs will give the necessary
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However, walking and cycling are in a decline
due to growing city size, increase in trip
lengths and lack of safety. Delhi has embarked
on a programme to improve pedestrian
facilities and bicycle tracks in the city. This is
low cost and can be done quickly, with long
term benefits. A campaign is under way to
encourage other cities to follow.
Essential Ingredients of
Sustainable Transport
There are four essential ingredients of
sustainable transport:
1. Comprehensive mobility plan for the city
2. Compact city so that it is NMT and PT friendly
3. PT system to be citywide, multimodal
and integrated
4. Interchanges with minimum time penalty
Comprehensive city mobility plan
Urban transport has nearly 20 components
that can be categorised into three groups,
i.e., modes of transport, infrastructure, and
related activities. Modes are buses, paratransit, autos, taxis, goods vehicles, NMT and
personal vehicles. Infrastructure includes roads
network, intersections, bridges, by-passes,
terminals, interchanges, parking, pedestrian/
bicycle facilities and bus priority schemes,
with dedicated pathways and terminals
for water and rail transit. Related activities
include traffic management, enforcement,
training of drivers, licensing and transport
demand management measures. All these
features must be planned and implemented
simultaneously for full benefit.
Role of Institute of Urban Transport India (IUT)
IUT is a professional body set up in 1997
under the purview of India’s Ministry Of Urban
Development (MOUD). The Secretary to the
Ministry is its ex-officio President. It has more
than 1,000 members spread throughout the
country and provides professional support
to the Ministry in implementing various
projects. IUT is already assisting MOUD in
the capacity building exercise under the GEF
project and will continue the programme after
the implementation of the initial phase of
the project.
campaign to make small and medium sized
cities aware of the adverse environmental
consequences of inaction, introduce them
to the importance of urban transport and
to advise them on “how to start and where
to start”. Thereafter IUT will handhold cities
and assist them in initiating steps to grow
along a sustainable path until they develop
in-house skills. Otherwise, these may end up
as major problem cities of tomorrow requiring
expensive solutions.
The primary mission of IUT is to assist cities in
developing transportation along a sustainable
path. Accordingly, it has launched an awareness
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Compact city
NMT are short distance modes of transport.
PT requires concentrated demand to remain
financially viable. NMT and PT are sustainable
modes and a compact city which will promote
both is thus preferable to an urban sprawl.
Figure 7: Integrated multi-modal public transport
network-Delhi 2021
Interchanges with minimum
time penalty
Urban agglomerations usually do not permit
point-to-point transport services. Therefore,
most commuters will need to change modes.
Interchanges should enable commuters
to do so conveniently and with minimum
time penalty, contributing to seamless
travel. Designing efficient interchanges is as
important as planning an integrated multimodal PT system.
Concluding Remarks
City-wide public transport system
A commuter needs to be assured that he
can complete his entire journey by PT.
Therefore the PT system has to be city-wide.
It is often the worry over the last mile that
makes a commuter use his personal vehicle
over PT. Hence, PT planning should be
“door to door”. Stations and stops should
be conveniently and safely accessible to
pedestrians and cyclists. This will promote
the use of PT and improve its financial
viability and sustainability.
Urban transport in India is finally getting
attention. The role of urban transport in
controlling pollution, energy consumption,
accidents and improving livability and
economic well-being of the city is being
increasingly appreciated.
India is on the move – in the right direction.
It is often the worry over the last
mile that makes a commuter use his
personal vehicle over PT. Hence, PT
planning should be “door to door”.
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B.I. Singal is the Patron and the Director-General of the Institute of Urban
Transport (IUT), India. He is also associated with mega infrastructure projects,
such as the Kolkata Metro project, East West line and is the former Managing
Director of RITES, a large transport consultancy in India. He led the RITES team
responsible for the planning and design of Delhi Metro. Prior to that, he worked
in Indian Railways for 15 years, Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway for nine years
and Taipei Underground Metro for two years.
Mr Singal graduated in civil engineering from Panjab University, Chandigarh, in 1960, and is a Chartered
Engineer (UK). As an internationally recognised expert in urban transport, Mr Singal was a visiting Professor
of Transportation to France in 1998 and a member of the Urban Transport Strategy review group of the
World Bank 2002.
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