Sustainable Urban Transport Policies to Improve Public Transportation System: A Case Study of Bengaluru, India

Abstract

Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India and one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities in India today is suffering from a severe issue of traffic congestion over last few years. The exponential growth of vehicles and population has resulted in uncontrolled emissions. The bus services by Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), which is still the backbone of city’s public transit, is suffering from losses from last few years. For a city like Bengaluru, sustainable urban transit is a must and it can be achieved in the quickest and the least costly way by improving the ridership of existing public transport as a result of mode switch from private to public transport. This can be done by promoting the use of buses and discouraging the use of private vehicles simultaneously through various policies. This paper discusses about the few of those policies that can be implemented in order improve the ridership of BMTC and proves with the detailed analysis that such policies can result in reducing the overall vehicular emission in the city and, hence improving the sustainability. The paper shows that policies as simple as restructuring of bus fare can impact the ridership significantly and will prove to be the paths of moving towards livable Bengaluru.