Parisar recently completed an outreach project in Pimpri Chinchwad to bring about more awareness about the Bus Rapid Transit system which will be introduced in Pimpri Chinchwad shortly. Pimpri Chinchwad is a part of the Pune metropolitan region, but functions under an autonomous municipal corporation.

Pimpri Chinchwad has a unique pattern of its own, largely an industrial area, evolving into a residential city. On account of it being in its earlier stages of residential development, it has much more scope to introduce new concepts of sustainable transport in the city with much less inhibition than its counterpart, Pune. Introducing the Bus Rapid Transit system in Pimpri Chinchwad runs on the lines of the same principle, to promote growth and sustainable transport at the same time.

Parisar and Janwani, in collaboration with GTZ and ITDP, conducted a workshop on Public Bicycle Systems - Overview and Planning, on 12th October 2010 at the International Convention Centre, Pune

The aim was to familiarize government officials, media and potential private sector partners about this system, how to plan one successfully [poster pdf] and look at examples from various cities, especially from China [poster pdf].

Parisar organised a national level round-table “The City and the Metro”, held at Yashada, Pune, on 20th and 21st July 2010. Many cities in India are going in for Metro Rail systems in an attempt to address their transportation problems. Such systems are already in operation in Kolkata and Delhi with other cities in the process of building a metro system. In total, India is expected to invest Rs. 2 lakh crores (40 billion dollars) in Metro rail systems over the next 10 years. Presently a public debate is taking place in the city across a variety of issues about the proposed Metro Rail System being considered for Pune.

A workshop was conducted on 20th June 2009 at the Central Institute for Road Transport (CIRT) located at Bhosri near Pune. Two major issues were discussed at the workshop: Public Private Partnership (PPP) in bus purchases and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems being developed in the cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Parisar was an invitee to the workshop.