Analysis / Reports

In this second year of our “Lakh ko 50” campaign which seeks to raise the pitch for bus-based public transport in cities we used a thematic approach to explore the deeper connection between city bus services and “gender”, “urban development” and “environment”. This has been richly rewarding since many aspects of how the simple bus service depends upon and in turn influences the sector has emerged from the numerous discussions that we held with sector experts. We are pleased to bring to you the report on bus-based public transport and urban development. 

Not a day passes without there being some news in the media about how the Pune Metro Rail project is going to liberate Pune from its traffic issues. But the little known fact is that it is steeped in a deluge of issues. Several lofty claims that Pune Metro makes are nothing but an eyewash. With the project under execution now, it indeed is time for Punekars to start the real 'Samvaad' about Pune Metro. Keeping this in mind, we are starting a 'Debunking Metro Myths' series where we will pick up one data point and try to understand, analyze and share it with everyone. 

Urban transport has been riddled with problems of increasing congestion, air pollution, rising accidents, rising greenhouse gases emissions and many other consequential impacts.

Major investments are being poured into infrastructure and systems development to deal with these issues, and there have been several studies that have estimated the quantum of investments needed for infrastructure spending along with various policy regimes emerging to enable and guide these investments. National governments have been driving these policies, processes and projects – often under the assumption that the urban local bodies do not have the capacity to plan and execute them, thus rendering the entire process undemocratic. Large infrastructure projects, which are often accompanied by land reforms, are re-shaping cities in an unprecedented manner, causing social upheaval. The environmental impact of these changes is both significant and largely ignored, as are the long-term financial consequences for the country and the city itself.

Vishrantwadi Chowk is a complex mesh of streets and vehicles. Roads from Alandi, Pune Airport and Dhanori meet at this square, making it one of the most congested and perilous junctions in the city. Following a common narrative and logic a massive foot overbridge of 80 metres was proposed by PMC in 2011, to ‘safely’ remove the pedestrians from the streets. Although the work on overbridge was completed in the March of 2014, it opened for public a month later due to issues pertaining to code of conduct for Lok Sabha elections.