How many ways from here to there

For the cover story 'Metronomics',  in the July edition of Infrastructure Today (an Indian Trade Magazine), the author asked me a few questions about my perspective as an urban planning consultant, about the plans for developing a rail based MRTS for over 20 Indian cities. The article extensively quotes my opinion, and can be access here . The following is my response to the questions posed by the author - 1. In a society that is urbanizing at a very rapid clip, what is the scope for MRTS across India? There is tremendous scope of developing and growing Mass Rapid Transit Systems in Cities that come under the Tier I and II (more than a million population), primarily to maiximise the locational efficiencies of economic engines/employment centers. Commute times are a drag on economic output, therefore reducing travel times should be a primary goal for all sectors of city/regional governance. MRTS is one such tool that can help in that. Secondly, India in general, a...

Last year in March, I was asked about resources on how to develop a TOD policy for Mumbai by a local planner via Linkedin. The following was my response on how Mumbai could approach developing a TOD policy. Fellow Planner, TOD is a primarily a North American urban development strategy, to try and shift travel away from cars to mass transit through changing land use policy and urban design. This was necessitated because of the huge dependence on cars by North Americans brought on by low density sprawl. There are places here that one has drive to buy a small pouch of milk. Mumbai clearly doesn't has that problem. Mumbai is probably the most transit rich cities of India, with a geography clearly suited for efficient transit networks (being a narrow peninsula similar to Manhattan). What Mumbai has is a problem of Transit capacity;  Access to Transit; and  A lack of multi-modal mobility.  With the new metro/ monorail etc coming up in Mumbai, the capacity aspects are bei...

The concept of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) as a planning tool is new to Indian cities, where quality mass rapid transit systems (MRTS) are a recent development. The idea of TOD has emerged due to the steep rise of congestion and poor air quality due to rapid urban development experienced in the last decade. Delhi, in particular, is looking to TOD as a solution to its mobility and air quality issues. The city recently prepared a TOD policy document that it will apply around Delhi Metro stations. TOD is being championed by UTTIPEC (Delhi Development Authority) as a solution to congestion, environment quality and housing equity . Global sustainability proponents are also encouraging TOD as a tool to achieve greater sustainability in the developing world, avoiding the costly mistakes of cities in industrialized West. TOD seems to be a win-win solution for local concerns and global sustainability. Can this concept, developed for the auto-dominated North American city, be univer...