GEF-SUTP (India) Quarterly Newsletter ge GEF- World Bank-UNDP supported Happy Easter! Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) SUTP, an initiative of the Government of India, assisted by GEF, World Bank, and UNDP aims at strengthening capacity in the Government, participating states and cities in planning, financing, implementing, operating and managing Sustainable Urban Transport Systems; also to assist states and cities in preparing and implementing select demonstration "Green Transport" projects for reduction of greenhouse gases in urban environment. The Project objectives support implementation of the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), particularly the aspects that emphasise priority to public transport usage and to non-motorised transport. Project Update Reflections SUTP is in its fifth year of implementation. Out of forty four technical assistance activities in capacity building, thirty eight have been awarded till date, five have been completed and six consultancies are in various stages of procurement. On the training front, as part of Capacity Building, 2818 participants have been trained under SUTP in various workshops & training programs on urban transport. That is a significant contribution in capacity building. Of the seventeen Goods & Works procurement packages, eleven have been awarded, one is complete and nine are in various stages of procurement. Each of the five demonstration cities viz. Mysore, Indore, Naya Raipur, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Hubli-Dharwad have made progress but issues of safeguards remain as concerns. In Pimpri-Chinchwad; the civil work of Nashik Phata Flyover is substantially complete; it's the Empire Estate Flyover contract progress which continues to be painstaking though despite assurances that it will now improve. In Naya Raipur, Hubli- Dharwad and Indore, procurement of major contract packages are underway Events Capacity Building Workshops for TMICC and NUTH Workshops were organized through Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS) Limited on behalf of the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and SUTP on 20th and 21st January, 2015 in Delhi. In addition, to provide participants exposure to actual working environment, field visits to the DMRC and DIMTS' control rooms were conducted on 19th and 22nd January, 2015. The objectives of the workshops were to present, discuss and get comments on the draft operations documents prepared for Traffic Management and Information Control Centre (TMICC) and National Urban Transport Helpline (NUTH) systems with a view to assist and encourage National/State/City governments in establishing these systems, share the details of these systems and concepts, best practices, and build capacity in the areas of planning, implementing and operating these systems. The workshops received enthusiastic participation from across the country. Representatives from state government, transit agencies, traffic police, municipal corporations, consultants etc. participated in the workshops and field visits. During the workshop, overview of TMICC and NUTH concepts, brief regarding TMICC and NUTH and their need in the present conditions of transportation system were presented. International best practices in the field of TMICC and NUTH were shared with the participants. Examples shared in TMICC field were Virginia Department of Transportation Traffic Operations Centre, New York City Joint Traffic Management Centre, and Transport for London (TfL). In NUTH field San Francisco 511, TfL, and DIMTS web based Passenger Information System, NextBus Delhi mobile application etc. were shared. Contents: About SUTP . ........... .................................................. Articles - BRTS vs. Car users... ........... 4 Project Update ....................................................................................1 Articles- Parking-An Element of Strategic Transportation Plan.......6 Events - National W orkshop .............................................................. 1 Articles - Smart Cities - Beyond M obility ............ ...............8 E vents - Leaders Pro gram m e ........................................................... 2 Project pro gress .... ............... .........................................11 "You can't understand a city without using its public transportation system." - Erol Ozan Representation from various organization types is provided in the following table: S. N. Type of Organizations No. of Organizations No. of Participants 1 Consultancy 18 25 2 State Transport Undertaking 16 26 3 State Government 14 18 4 Central Government 11 19 5 Municipal Corporation 5 10 6 Funding Agency/Others 2 2 Total 66 100 The participants were able to develop an understanding about: * ITS Architecture and Systems Engineering process of planning, designing and implementing TMICC/NUTH for minimizing risk. * TMICC and NUTH systems, components and related concepts: the way systems work; their components like Back end Application Software, back end Hardware, Back end Standard Software, Utilities, Field Equipment and Communication system. * TMICC applications like Traffic management and monitoring, signal timing and operations, road network surveillance, city road active traffic demand management, were deliberated upon. Variable message signs, Interfaces with transit operations and other agencies. * NUTH, Transit, traffic, parking, construction/maintenance activities, incidents and events, and weather related information dissemination, Bicycle trip planner and Ride share etc. * Institutional considerations and proposed options for the institutional framework. Roles of various government levels, existing and potential stakeholders in deployment of TMICC and NUTH concept and typical framework for governing the relationships amongst the participating entities. * Project management, risk management, project implementation process, distribution of responsibilities, and risk management. * Operations and maintenance approach, performance monitoring, sizing, phasing and costing. Ahmedabad as the potential TMICC deployment city and Delhi as potential NUTH concept deployment city were discussed along with challenges faced by Participants/Stakeholders while implementing similar projects; -Capacity gaps in the area of intelligent transportation system. * Challenges in coordinating amongst multiple stakeholders that would be involved. * Capacity issues in defining the system requirements. * Challenges in undertaking procurement of such systems. * Availability of funds for implementing and operating the systems. The workshops were successful as these offered to participants and stakeholders a platform and an opportunity to gain an understanding regarding planning and implementing TMICC and NUTH systems. The field visits to DMRC/DIMTS control rooms provided the participants with an exposure to the live environment and operational facilities. We are thankful to DMRC for allowing site visit to their control centre. Participants gained a lot from the site visit experience. Participants appreciated the utility and benefits of the TMICC and NUTH systems and expressed their keenness in implementing these systems in their cities and regions. Capacity Building Programme - Building Leaders in Urban Transport Planning "Leaders in Urban Transport Planning" The Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, under SUTP, with support of the World Bank jointly with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) Academy, Singapore, Korea Transport Institute (KOTI), Seoul and UITP, Dubai has developed capacity building programme for the Government officials with an aim to develop them in the area of Urban Transport Planning. 2 The objectives of the programme were: * To help build capacity for holistic and comprehensive planning at leadership levels. * The target group of this programme is senior level decision makers at national, provincial or city level - those who are at leadership level and who have a responsibility for urban transport at the policy making level, rather than a purely technical level. 3rd Batch CEPT Programme: * Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology University (CEPT) - a Centre of Excellence in Urban Transport, in collaboration with the World Bank, designed 3rd Batch for the Leaders Programme in Urban Transport Planning & Management. 35 participants (including 3 from IUT) and 3 CEPT faculty members had attended field visit to Singapore and Hong Kong during 31 January 2015 to 8 February 2015 * Participants were from various states Chhattisgarh, NCT Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh World Bank LUTP Programme: * 15 officials attended LUTP at KOTI-Seoul during 21 Sept to 27 Sept 2014. Total programme duration was 20 Aug to 27 Sept 2014. Participants were from Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, NCT Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh * 11 officials including 2 from IUT attended LTA-Singapore during 19-24 Jan 2015. Participants were from NCT Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh Learnings from Singapore The Workshop used a "hands on" learning approach, with lectures, case studies, site visits and group works. This aimed at highlighting linkages of different components of Urban Transport System. The workshop was preceded by around 4 week self-learning stage. The workshop was sought to bring all the features together through case studies and group works covering the following topics: * Diagnosing problems faced by a city * Systematic approach to integrated mobility planning * Corridor management * Public transport planning: evaluating alternatives * Role of Government. * Financing and PPP. The profile of the participants included the categories of decision makers, policy makers and planners from national, state and city level government officials, who are responsible for "putting the pieces together". The programme was useful to the participants from civil society, consultants and professional staff of consulting companies and was attended by the participants from different countries like India, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Singapore. The potential faculty were drawn from World Bank; Faculty from the LTA Singapore; Harvard University USA and other Experts from the Urban Transport field.) Field visits included Land Transport Gallery at LTA Singapore, evolution of transport system and the role of planning in dealing with growing population and increasing number of vehicles could be viewed in the gallery. Field visits also included URA Gallery and Sengkang transport hub. The participants could see how the transport system works and that Singapore already has a plan for 2030 in which population growth, vehicle growth, need for more metro lines, etc. have been factored in. Singapore encourages non-motorized transport by providing cycle lane and cycle parking places at Metro stations. The walkways are covered to encourage people to walk even during rainy seasons. The visit to ITSC where the control room for traffic control of Singapore is situated was very informative. The uses of CCTVs which are all connected to the control room have helped in quick response to any traffic issue. The other section of the training was case studies. The following case studies were taken up relating to Cities in different Countries - * Jakarta * Delhi Metro Airport Express * Trans Milano * Lamata * Sri Lanka Bus Industry * Yogyakarta Bus terminal The case studies have helped us understand the issues and the solutions in different cities. The same problem in two cities of different countries may not be solved with the same set of solutions as there is no one fit to all 3 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead solution exists in the field of urban transport. However the experience gained can help understand the issues in clearly and provide viable solutions. The role of different agencies in the planning for managing transport was highlighted in all the case studies. The knowledge gained from the training will go a long way in dealing with the issues of congestion and transport management, policy making etc. The training has made all of us realise that there are other aspects also to deal with urban transport issues such as land use planning, public transport management, regulation of vehicles, parking space management, availability of non-motorised transport etc. The training will help all the participants in future in providing inputs whenever one is involved in planning and implementation of urban transport measures. Looking forward Leaders Program in Urban Transport Planning and Management (LUTP) at CEPT, Ahmedabad (4tI batch) for the mid- level govt. officials at LTA Singapore from May-November, 2015 Articles Operational and other Challenges met by AICTL for BRTS in Indore Operational and other Challenges met by AICTL for BRTS in IndoreNational Urban Transport Policy, 2006 envisages for the movement of passengers instead of vehicles. This policy statement favours Bus Rapid Transit promoting Public Transport over private vehicles. This was duly supported in May, 2013, when AICTSL launched Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Indore. The ridership exceeded 30,000 a day within 3 months of the start of operations. The BRTS buses started plying freely on dedicated BRTS corridor on AB road for the service of the general public. Unfortunately, this was not palatable to private car users who have a mis-perception that their Carriage way rights have been encroached. They formed an association and the issue lead to the court case against the dedicated BRTS corridor for BRTS operation. AICTSL decided to overcome this challenge the way they 7.00 had been overcoming the challenges faced during the 6a.ooo construction of the BRTS- 50.000 Challenges during creation of assets reu00 30,000 Availability of Land: At the time of construction there were several issues and allied problems to acquire the land for the project. As the project started taking shape the perspective of the citizens also changed and people started understanding the need and benefits of BRTS. It is remarkable to note that in the interest of transportation for general public Indore citizens have shared land of more than Rs. 250 Crores worth for this project. Rldersh Eefore HC Order Rderslp Post HC Order ---DcneinRIderanippORK Order - PojeCted RderShip GroVhf(beoreMC Order) Change in perception: The change in perception of the citizens regarding BRTS changed with the start of the pilot run of the BRTS buses on the corridor. Several workshops were conducted for convincing the need and benefits of BRTS, focussing group including School & college students including Doctors and Media personal were taken on BRTS trial runs. The public and media slowly started understanding the importance of the BRTS project and change their attitude. This critical communication and outreach program was planned meticulously by AICTSL. Public was kept in loop regarding the project outcomes. Challenges Faced: during the operations Small group of representative, who had filed case against BRTS, was of the view that the BRTS is encroaching their 4 right of way (ROW). The car users took the case to court, in October, 2013 and Hon'ble High Court on 3rd October, 2013 allowed four wheelers to enter the dedicated bus lane with some safety instructions. The frequent interference due to mixed traffic affected BRTS operations. Huge decline in the ridership was noticed due to the resultant increase in travel time (by 20%) and safety concerns. The decision of the Hon'ble High Court initially diluted the concept of BRTS by allowing the entry of four wheelers into the BRTS lane, the passenger safety was at stake due to the fast moving vehicles in the BRTS corridor. It is evident from the data that the ridership declined in October, 2013, the travel time increased by 20% and travel speed down reduced to 16 Kms per hour. There were frequent traffic jams in the BRTS corridor with high chances of the accidents. Hon'ble High Court desired to understand the solution and therefore constituted a committee to examine the system. The committee was constituted with expert members from Indian Judicial services, Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, GoMP, lIT, IIM and NGO and required to submit the report. The committee examined the project & its operations and came up with the following findings- * Safety of the citizens is of the highest priority in any project. And hence the concept of the BRTS should be followed. * Committee collected requisite data to understand the lane utilization from different locations and observed that for such a marginal increase in the throughput of the BRT lanes, the corridor experiencing long queues, which otherwise could have been catered by adding 6 more buses. * Given the marginal reduction in the traffic on the motor-vehicle lanes, any significant relief to the private motor vehicles is unlikely. Year 201 3-14 Ridership C0 On the other hand, AICTSL went on carrying out research for innovations and changes to ensure 50000 45000 -r - passenger safety and system reliability. AICTSL with 40000 o 0 heavy enforcement and with more number of police 35000 CO 30000 U personnel deployed is trying to focus on the safety as 25000 C well as on the reliability of the system. The total 20000 response time of the field officials became 2-3 minutes ioooo that brought the changes in the passenger's 0 perception and reinstated the belief for the reliability of the BRTS system. C The ridership started rising up gradually and climbed to 600% of the starting ridership in just one year of time. AICTSL through this project achieved 25% mode shift and is moving towards sustainable transport. Slowly, every section of the society has started understanding that the public transport is the only solution for the increasing traffic mobility and safety issues. Ultimately Hon'ble High Court reversed its decision and has passed fresh order saying that the bus lane should be used by buses exclusively and other vehicles should be moved out. Current Status Currently, 35 buses are operating on the BRTS corridor, from 06:45 AM to 10:45 PM daily. Approximately 45,000 passengers travel daily by iBus on an average. The system has already exceeded ridership estimates, achieving 86% of the 1st year target ridership (of 35,000 passengers per day) in just 3 months. On an average, the ridership is increasing weekly by 6-8%. The system is already providing an average of 26% travel time saved, resulting in approximately 2,250 man hours saved per day, which will continue to increase as the system expands. The BRT services would be streamlined further by reducing delays at junctions and the boarding/alighting times etc. The relatively high frequency of the service, the average waiting times for passengers has dropped below 3 minutes from roughly 20 minutes for the city-buses in Indore. The system, when fully operational, is expected to increase the public transport mode share of the city by 50%, and help save about 10 lives every year from road accidents. With the outward movement of other vehicles from the BRT bus lane, this will reduce the travel time of the buses and other vehicles in the MV lane and also dilute the chances of traffic jam. AICTSL is estimating more then 60,000 Pax per day within one month after the plan gets implemented. Also the bus priority provided in the Witrac signals shall be started and this will ensure the increase in overall speed to 21 Km/hr of the bus. 5 "Parking is not a constitutional right, it is a commodity and one has to pay the price according to its usage." Unknown With the success of the pilot corridor, the city administration is now looking to expand the BRT corridor to other busy corridors of the city. To this effect, the Municipal Corporation has already sanctioned works for a new BRT corridor, known as the 'Riverside Corridor', which will be integrated with a comprehensive riverfront development scheme. In addition, AICTSL is presently in the process of preparing detailed project reports for corridor extensions. flAll informatio n, data and the article have been assimilated & written by Mr. Rahul Shrouti, Technical Manager & Project Manager SUTP-GEF ITS project, AICTSL-INDORE. He is an Automobile engineer and MBA in M&S (Operations). He works with the procurement, operations, management and planning of ibus and other projects. He played an important role in the designing of bus for ibus BRT and is also involved in the training of staff and orientation of the manpower in ibus. Parking - A strategic element in a city's Transportation Plan Parking - A strategic element in a city's Transportation Plan Roads and public transport are commonly addressed in the development and implementation of a strategic transportation plan, but parking gets ignored and is seldom addressed explicitly. Nonetheless, parking is an important part of an integrated multi-modal transport system. Parking demand has been increasing with private vehicle ownership and its linkage with the need for travel by public transport. Due to the present gap in supply, this parking has become a factor that militates against public transport. Demand for parking spaces is obvious in areas with high land values (office, market, recreational areas) and parking must necessarily come at an equitable and rational cost. Often available space at public places gets occupied by vehicles during active periods of the day. The demands of different groups vary with time and space. Poor parking discipline impacts the overall mobility and aggravates congestion as vehicles searching for parking spaces also contribute to congestion. Obvious results of negligence in the street parking management are as follow: * Congestion on streets, * Pedestrian-vehicle conflicts due to illegal parking on street and sidewalks, * Impact on Public Transport System and * Safety. A strategic view would be to recognize that parking policies can shape cities develop and function. They can impact land-use development and travelling pattern for a city and its people. Parking policies should therefore be a key element in finalising Master Plans and Strategic Transportation Plans deciding the desired city vision. The strategic role of parking for the efficient mobility of the city can be realised in following three ways- * Parking policies impact the traveller's choice, in terms of both destination and selection of his mode choice. Key variables remain the availability of parking spaces and the pricing policy. If parking is not available or is priced very high, travellers could: a. Forego opting for public transport and travel by car. Travel to another potentially lesser congested destination or abandon the trip * Significant land space and money are required for off-street and on-street parking. * On-street parking affects traffic flow, while illegal parking on the sidewalk affects safety because pedestrians are forced to walk in the vehicular lanes. Real estate values also plunge. Key Factors - Parking management There are two major factors for regulating the quantum of parking supply to be provided in the city. One obvious factor is the level of public transport service provided. Cities with low parking spaces should offer high-quality efficient and reliable public transport services, competitive to alternative motorized travel. The second factor is the land use and overall development pattern of the city. Cities with high-density and mixed land use development would need less parking as some trips can be performed by walking. On the contrary in low-density environments, these trips cannot be made by walking and would require motorized vehicles. Development Strategy On-street parking management strategy is essential to comprehensively address the parking issue and could be dealt as per following four actions: * Demand analysis to determine the parking needs of users during peak and off-peak period of the day. 6 * Assignment of parking spaces by time-of-day and day-of-week * Design of an on-street parking pricing policy for addressing the fee structure and the revenue collection * Identification of an enforcement approach and agency for curbing the illegal parking and violations. Four-step approach should be periodically reviewed and updated with changing traffic scenario and city growth. Demand Analysis Demand by travel purposes and durations must be ascertained: * Residents, employees, and employers require parking for long duration (up to 24 hours) * Customers and retail business owners require parking for short duration (1-4 hours) * Service and freight delivery agencies need kerb space for delivery trucks and vans * Public transport and taxi providers require space for pick up and drop off of passengers. Demand also varies by time-of-day and day-of-week. Customer parking is needed every day for short term during business hours, while parking for employees may be needed for full day during the week. The demand analysis helps identifying opportunities when parking can be shared among purposes. For example, parking used by offices during the day can be used by people attending theatres at night. Parking used by offices during weekdays can be used by shoppers on weekends. The analysis usually relies on direct data collection. Street observations and surveys of user groups such as employers, business owners, residents, and public transport providers would decide the common approach. Space Assignment The space assignment for on-street parking decides the need of prioritization to allocate the space. * Space should be allocated to achieve the best turnover (most users per day) * Providing street space is costly in terms of street maintenance and opportunity costs (for example, the parking space could be used as another travel lane). By maximizing turnover, the costs per vehicle are minimized. The space assignment approach prioritises short-term parking needs (e.g., customers, deliveries, passenger pick-ups, drop-offs) over long-term needs (e.g., employees, residents). Parking Pricing A rational pricing approach is needed to reduce parking demand and match parking supply and also to enforce discipline. In the absence of an integrated pricing approach, the parking demand will tend to exceed the on- street supply and problems will continue. The objective of pricing policy is not to maximise revenues but to control the demand. However, the revenue earned can be a component of making on-street parking management financially sustainable. There are three key principles that should guide the pricing approach. * First, base pricing on the duration of parking so that the user pays more for longer parking. * Second, set pricing to provide 85% use during peak periods. * Third, limit the duration of parking. * Punish or de-incentivize on-street parking. Revenue Collection Methods Several approaches can be attempted for revenue collection. * The traditional approach is single space meters. * Contracting private companies by the govt. (Generally used in Delhi) * Multiple space pay and display meters are more robust. * Mobile phone/ IC Card technology is another option. * Cashless transaction parking. Enforcement Enforcement is very critical for a viable and successful program. Parking enforcement can be handled by the regular police, the traffic police, special parking wardens, or contractors. The regular and traffic police may not view parking enforcement on priority. Special parking wardens or using contractors may be preferred. A viable on-street parking management strategy will specifically address enforcement issues. There is a need to have a legal basis for enforcing illegal parking and parking violations in legal spaces. Sometimes this means either amending existing laws and regulations or enacting new ones. Enforcement methods should be addressed through parking fines and ability to quickly tow away the illegally parked vehicles is important. This helps restore smooth-flow of traffic. 7 "Number of people transported is more important than number of vehicles transported" National Urban Transport Policy, 2006, India Enforcement agencies need to be clearly identified for the effective enforcement and smooth operations. Conclusion Parking is an important element of the strategic transportation plan. The availability and pricing of parking spaces would regulate the use of motorised vehicles and public transportation. Parking policies help shape how cities develop and function. The policies impact how land-use development occurs and how people travel. The policies should address pricing, requirements & regulation for off-street parking. Pricing and management of on-street parking and use of street space should also be addressed in policies. This integrated approach is needed to ensure that the parking policies support the achievement of the sustainable vision for the city. There is need for restriction on the entry of private vehicles in the down town and Central Business District. There should be provision of parking sites away from CBD areas and "Park & Ride" services should also be provided to commute from parking areas to Central Business District. Only public transport vehicles should be allowed in CBD & down town areas. All information, data and the article have been assimilated & written by Dr. Ravinder Singh Minhas, working at DTC as Deputy Chief General Manager (Operations, Public Relations & Publicity). The Author has done M.Sc., MBA, PG Diploma in PR&A, M. Phil in (Management) and Doctorate (PhD) in Management. He has an experience of about 28 years in Planning, Operations and Management of Urban Transport in Delhi. Smart Cities - Beyond Mobility Smart Cities - Beyond Mobility Government of India envisioned in June, 2014 for the concept of building 100 new smart cities in the country and has prepared a concept note on Smart Cities in December, 2014. The government is aiming to build smart cities that will have better facilities, better connectivity and better environment. Shri Venkaiah Naidu, the Urban Development and Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister (M/o HUPA) categorically announced that Smart cities would include 44 cities in the population range of 1-4 million people, nine satellite cities with a population of 4 million or more, 10 cities that are of religious and tourist importance and 20 cities in the 0.5 to 1 million population range. (http://www.urbannewsdigest.in/?p=12730) Source: indiansmartcities.in/site/index.aspx What will be a smart city in India? In current scenario the word "Smart" is associated with any act that is quick, environment and user friendly, has advanced technology for operation and makes living simple. Therefore, to call a "city" smart it would necessitate the use of technology that enables reduction in need for dependence on natural resources, citizens' time, reduce greenhouse emissions and improve wellbeing. "Smart" in a city will mean different to different people. It could be smart design, smart utilities, smart mobility, smart housing, smart technologies, etc. It is rather difficult to give an exact definition of smart city. People migrate to smarter cities primarily in search of employment and economic activities, beside better quality of life. Therefore, a Smart City for its sustainability needs to offer economic activities and employment opportunities to the wide section of its residents, regardless of their level of education, skills or income levels. For cities to be sustainable today, they will have to be smart. Apart from employment, it is also important for a Smart City to offer decent liveability options. This would imply that it will have to provide a very high quality of life with affordable housing, cost efficient physical, social and institutional infrastructure. This would include 8 and ensure adequate and quality water supply, sanitation, 24 x 7 electric supply, clean air, quality education, cost efficient health care, dependable security, entertainment, sports, robust and high speed interconnectivity, fast & efficient urban mobility and an urban administration that connects Period. Need of smart cities Urban population will continue to grow at an exponential pace, since people will migrate to cities in search of secure and somewhat subsidized services, where employment lures with reasonable or good living standards, appropriate and affordable infrastructure and services; but ground space and resources are limited. It's time to create smart solution for ensuring mobility and reducing any negative impact on the economy, environment, and quality of life being the central challenges of the era. Experts have predicted that the world's urban population will double by the year 2050. Urban areas contribute a higher share of GDP. After all, it will be the cities in India from now to 2050 that will be the engines of economic growth. The urban population is currently 31% of the total population and contributes over 60% of India's GDP. It is projected that urban India will contribute Prime Pillars of Smart City nearly 75% of the national GDP in the next 15 years. There is an emergent need for the cities to get smart to handle the large-scale urbanization that will be thrust upon and finding new ways to manage the complexity, increase efficiency, reduce expenses and improve quality of life. A Smart City aims towards ensuring the best for its entire people, regardless of social status, age, income levels, gender, etc. To provide better quality of life, Government needs to strengthen the four prime pillars of the smart city i.e. physical infrastructure, social environment, institutional arrangement and economic activities. The centre of attention for each of these pillars remains the citizen. Benchmarks for smart cities There is need of development of related standards to be followed by each city while implementing smart cities. Ministry of Urban Development has prepared draft benchmark for the smart cities for the parameters like Transport, Spatial planning, Water supply, Sewerage & Sanitation, Solid waste management, Storm water drainage, Electricity, Health and Education facility etc. Benchmark measures the performance of the cities (parameter wise) and taking further action has not been institutionalized in urban agencies. It is therefore important that the basic minimum standards are set as performance benchmarks are commonly understood and used by all stakeholders. Depending on the specific needs of a city, performance parameters can be defined and used to improve the quality of cities. Transport benchmark for the smart cities * Maximum travel time of 30 minutes in small & medium size cities and 45 minutes in metropolitan areas * Continuous unobstructed footpath of minimum 2m wide on either side of all street with RoW 12m or more * Dedicated and physically segregated bicycle tracks with a width of 2m or more, one in each direction, should be provided on all wider streets with carriageway exceeding 1 Om width (not ROW) * High quality and high frequency mass transport within 800m (10-15 minute walking distance) of all residences in areas over 175 persons / ha of built area * Access to Para-transit within 300m walking distance. For other benchmark parameters refer http://indiansmartcities.in/Site/index.aspx 9 "The sustainable city of the future is an enabling environment for its citizen's health, happiness and prosperity." Jason Group, WSP Group Each smart city should follow an integrated multimodal approach by demonstrating and testing under real life- conditions a set of complementary and reinforcing mobility solutions. These solutions should combine newly- emerging technologies, policy-based, and soft measures with a strong replication potential. "If this could be India too!" Source: indiansmartcities.in/site/index.aspx Smart Solution to build smart city framework * Attract young wealth creators and others by setting-up incubators and certain new-investment areas to lure next generation * Constant physical renewal by providing vibrant connectivity of Public Transport and environment friendly streetscapes, which will also help in increasing the liveability index of the area. * Unique and strong city identity that attract and reflects the values, interests, skills of its residents * Dynamic and viable connections to other regional cities * Inculcate innovative/ out of box thinking * Have strong dynamic political and administrative leaders Way Forward - Efforts required from states/cities * Cities/ state are required to develop concept of smart cities by segregating various parameters in phased manner. For example in the first implementation phase; cities could adopt non-IT parameters like institutional integration, providing basic amenities i.e. Cycle track, Footpath (not requiring any IT mania) etc and in 2nd implementation phase; cities can immerge with technologies to strengthen the existing infrastructure. * Cities/ State needs to strengthen their staff through capacity building. Senior Officers to Organise and participate in the workshops/conferences or events focussing on smart city concepts. National Smart City Conference meant to provide a platform to bring the major stakeholders of the urban development and e-Governance to discuss participate and deliberate on various models of Smart City. Organising such summits and conferences would help the government's agenda of smart cities. Searching out the best possible contribution from each stakeholder towards the development of smart cities across the nation would bring the ultimate success. Key stake holders from the Government of India and various state government officials could also be engaged for elevation of such Smart City conferences. All information, data and the articles have been assimilated & written by Hitesh Patel, Transport Planner working at Mott MacDonald (Project Management Consultant-Sustainable Urban Transport Project, India). The Author has done B.E (Civil) from S.P University and M. Plan (Urban Transportation Planning & Management) from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. Progress on components and sub-components of SUTP till March 2015: Component 1A Capacity Building of Institutions and Individuals: Subcomponent 1 - Strengthening Institute of Urban Transport (India) Strengthening of IUT As part of this, under the LUTP, two UT experts of IUT attended capacity building training held at LTA, Singapore during 19-24th January, 2015. Three Urban Transport Planners attended CEPT-Batch-3 capacity building program and visited Singapore and Hong Kong during 31st Jan-7th February, 2015. IUT is providing 10 handholding support to the cities; this training will enhance technical expertise of IUT in the field of Urban Transport. Knowledge Management Centre (KMC) The contract of KMC has been awarded to UMTC by UNDP. Second deliverable resource document was submitted on 24th December, 2014. Completion of web portal and cloud hosting is on-going. Training and Skill Development Consultancy for Individual capacity development through training of trainers and training professionals (PC2): Training of Trainers and Training of City Officials As part of Training of city officials, out 1000 officials to be trained a total of 817 officials have been trained. As part of training of city officials, IUT has organised 15 training programmes at Shimla, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Kolkata, Guwahati, Ranchi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram. Developing Toolkits Consultancy for preparation of toolkits (PC3): r hablfls contrIbute hi 10 toolkits have been completed. 5 additional toolkits are taken up which ig are Revision of CMP guidelines, city transport network, Urban mobility laws, Urban Freight Management and ITS for public transport and BRT. 3 out of 5 are submitted and 2 are being submitted by May, 2015. Dissemination activities (PC 4): * Fourteen issues of GEF-SUTP Newsletter have been distributed to all stakeholders. * Website (www.sutpindia.com) is modified and updated regularly. Do your bit! The website has scored 29294 hits. Be a god and responsible ctieml * ITS dissemination workshop at Mysore was held successfully during 8t -9t December, 2014. * Public awareness sustainable transport through advertisement published in national daily newspaper. Component 1B: Technical Assistance to the MoUD for capacity enhancement at National, State and Local level for to implementation of National Urban Transport Policy * City Specific documents being prepared. List of available atempanelled consultants for TMICC and NUTH available at - http://moud.qov.in/sites/upload files/moud/files/ Contracts for City document for Bus Private NMT, Bike sharing Empanelled.pdf. * Daft guidance document for NMT, TOD and PBS being revised. E; * Operations Manual for National Urban Transport Research Program prepared Estimation of emission reduction for five SUTP cities being done periodically. * Leaders program for officials working in urban transport on-going PC1B 5: Estimation* Data collection for 31 cities JNNURM bus Building for o d GHEers n funding being done Leaders in Urban A, osmto o Transport Planning CSUrPctis* State of art review completed for preparation of model contracts for city bus private operators. 11 "Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race." H.G. Wells Component 2: Implementation of Demonstration Projects in Selected Cities Naya Raipur-BRTS The two major works package on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) infrastructure are ongoing albeit with slow progress. The tender evaluation for Intelligent Transport System (ITS) is being done. Pimpri-Chinchwad-BRTS The flyover on Corridor 3 i.e. interchange section at Nashik-Phata is substantially complete and opened to traffic. The entire corridor is 89% complete and expected to be substantially complete by June, 2015. The interchange at Empire Estate is at only 42% financial progress. The pace of the Contractor for Empire Estate interchange appears to be picking up but will take time to complete. BRT station contract packages are ongoing on both corridors. Indore-ITS The technical evaluation of ITS for BRTS is being done. Technical evaluation of consultants for BRT Accessibility Plan is done. Mysore-ITS Many of the problems encountered by the ITS system for Mysore city bus have now been addressed. Operational acceptance is expected soon. Comprehensive Services and Operations Analysis (CSOA) study to improve bus operations is on-going. Hubli-Dharwad BRTS Procurement of Depot, Terminal, NMT and BRT station works and key consultancy services under the project have been concluded. The packages for foot-over-bridges, road works in Dharwad, and ITMS are being finalized. Upcoming Events * Leaders Program in Urban Transport Planning and Management (LUTP) at UITP, Dubai (2nd batch) from 18th - 24th April, 2015 * TOD, NMT, PBS and UMTA, UTF workshops in May/June, 2015. * For upcoming events/workshops please visit www.sutpindia.com & http://www.iutindia.orq. Calling comments & suggestions on * Guidance Operations Document for TMICC, NUTH. For further details contact at- iutindia.sutp(dfqmail.com Contact Details: Shri M.K. Sinha, OSD(UT)&EO (JS) Shri I.C. Sharma, Shri R.K. Singh, Shri Sudesh Kumar National Project Director National Project Manager Director (UT-1) Team Leader Ministry of Urban Development PMU, GEF-SUTP Ministry of Urban Mott MacDonald Pvt. Ltd. Development Tel: +91-011-23061114, Tel: +91-011-23062615 Tel: +91-11-23062798 Tel: +91-120-254 3582 23061102(Fax) Email: Email: Email: Email: osdut-moud@nic.in iutindia.sutp@gmail.com rknarwals@yahoo.co.in sutp@mottmac.com Newsletter coordinated by Ms. Sonal Agrawal, Transport Planner, PMU, SUTP Edited by Ms. Surabhi Kureel, Senior Transport Planner, Mott MacDonald & Ms. Rana Amani, Deputy Project Manager, PMU, SUTP www.sutpindia.com 12 "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" The Brundtland Commission, 1987