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SMART MOBILITY 2018

to minutes. A large part of the funding road design integrates facilities for
came from carbon credit offsets pedestrians, as well as Metro stations.
earned from deploying cable cars, an Under the National Urban Renewal
environment-friendly solution. Shah Mission, a 60km BRTS network has
emphasized that like Medellín, Indian been put into place in Pune and
cities need to find unique solutions the neighbouring areas of Pimpri-
pertinent to their specific problems. Chinchwad. This is being continuously
The Ahmedabad BRTS project is a expanded through municipal funds, with
successful model that can be replicated a target of reaching 112 km in the next
by other cities. Recently, it used five years. Instead of conventional diesel
technology for better route planning and CNG buses, Pune plans to introduce
and route rationalisation, automated 500 new electric buses, with a tender for
ticketing and mapping of buses. 150 buses already issued under the first
This led to more efficient dispatch of phase. The city will also use an Individual
buses and informed commuters about Transport Management System to get Roads are the most
the Expected Time of Arrival (ETA). real-time data on the positions of 2,000
Consequently, ridership increased, buses, availability of drivers, and fuel important factor in a
collections increased and the BRTS consumption. A city app will provide city’s mobility.
saved `40 lakh per week. In many commuters with the exact position of
Indian cities, public transport does not buses in their vicinity. Dr Rajendra Jagtap
break even; the Ahmedabad model Two Metro corridors are currently
shows technology can help make public under construction in Pune, and a third
transport financially viable. has been sanctioned. For first and last information on traffic conditions.
Shah said that for a modal shift to mile connectivity, the city has signed Dr Jagtap said that Pune envisages a
occur, we need to envision a person’s MOUs with four companies to start Universal Mobility Card that is common
entire journey, from his home to the first street-level, dock-less public to all modes of transport and can
wherever he has to go, at any time bicycle sharing system. 4500 bicycles integrate with other cities as well.
of the day. Can it be planned in an will eventually be pressed into service, “Where the police fall short, technology
integrate fashion, especially when it bridging short distances between can make up for it”, he claimed. He
comes to fares? What are the options Metro stations and homes/offices. also emphasized the importance of
available to him? How comfortable and Hop-on-hop-off e-autos have also been citizen engagement and studies that
reliable are they? Only when we have introduced as feeders for the BRTS and involve engineering colleges, of which
done this, standardised our roads and will eventually serve Metro stations. Pune has several. Recently. The city
found solutions tailored to each city’s Pune is also redesigning intersections authorities held a three-day meeting
unique transport woes can we think of and implementing adaptive traffic under the auspices of an urban mobility
shifting to futuristic modes of transport management to reduce stoppage time lab with experts from NITI Aayog and
such as autonomous vehicles. and ensure that the average speed – the Rocky Mountain Institute, along
Dr Rajendra Jagtap, CEO of Pune which has been declining – stabilises, or with all stakeholders, to get their inputs
Smart City Development Corp Ltd said goes up. Cameras have been installed on urban mobility as well.
that Pune implemented new initiatives to monitor traffic. The Integrated Venkata Chunduru, Director of IBI
in public transport even before it was Command and Control Centre receives Group, who has 20 years of experience
designated as a Smart City. Roads are real-time data from 160 locations, in transport planning said that urban
the most important factor in a city’s while public address systems at 136 mobility primarily has three key
mobility; by choosing a set of Smart spots can be used to better stream constituents i.e. the people/goods to
road design rules, Pune ensured that traffic. Additionally, 1400 surveillance be moved, the transport infrastructure,
over 100 km of new roads built in the cameras keep an eye on road safety, and the vehicles. However, the most
last 1.5 years followed certain norms with 2,000 more in the pipeline. Mobile important and neglected element is the
and have certain parameters. New police vehicles also gather real-time fourth one i.e. institutional set-up which

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