Bangalore Cycling Workshop 31 Jan 2009

When: 31 Jan 2009. Where: KSRTC Central Office, KH Double Road, Shanthinagar, Bangalore. Entry: Open for all. No entry fee. RSVP: contact@rideacycle.org

Why, What and How

Cycling Inclusive Planning Workshop

Bangalore

WHY

Bangalore is a city with progressive transport policies and has institutions like the BMLTA which are focused on integrating land use and transport to make for a more livable city. Yet, Bangalore is plagued by problems of congestion and pollution. In a city of 5.7 million, there are 298 vehicles registered per thousand people, with motorization increasing at 10-20% per annum. However, the private vehicles account for only 38% of the trips in the city - 40% of daily trips by public transport and walking and cycling account for 17% of trips. Traffic studies cite poor condition of pavements (30% of Bangalore’s road network is in that shape), low travel speeds (down to 10-12 km/h), high intersection delays, and poor or non-existent parking facilities. Traffic accidents are high at about 50 per 10,000 registered vehicles in Bangalore and Chennai, respectively, with about 800 fatalities per year. High pollution levels have made Bangalore citizens prone to respiratory diseases like asthama. These problems cannot be resolved by traditional supply enhancing short-term measures like road widening, one-way streets and flyovers.

There is a need to rethink the entire paradigm of transportation in a manner which is sustainable and inclusive. The first step for that is to encourage and plan for low-energy, less-space consuming and zero-pollution modes like cycling. Bangalore wants to not only be a cycle friendly city, but, be a model for other cities in India to emulate.

WHAT

The objectives and goals of the workshop are to:

1. Understand the current International and Indian discourses on cycling friendly cities in order to formulate a base awareness of the issues involved, among the various stakeholders
2. To reach an informed consensus together with all stakeholders as to what approach would work best for the city of Bangalore
3. To formulate a base structure for capacity building of the city of Bangalore and outline a plan for inputs needed to make the city self-sufficient to implement plans on cycle inclusive transport systems.
4. To put together an action plan that will identify both short term and long term plans such as, demonstration projects with implementation timeline and get commitment from the stakeholders to their roles in its implementation. The action plan will also identify long term needs such as, Bangalore Cycle Master Plan, Institutional Arrangements, and Capacity Building.

HOW

Workshop Design:

The first session of the workshop will provide data that will help in the workshop sessions.

1. The video of “cycling friendly cities” outlines the steps taken by various cities in Europe and Latin America to make their cities cycle inclusive.
2. Dr. Geetam Tiwari will present the conclusions of a study which discusses the position of cycling in Asia. This presentation highlights best practices from Asian cities and the trends of cycle use and planning. A thematic focus will highlight the planning, design, health, gender and poverty aspects of cycle inclusive planning in India.
3. Case study presentations on 3 levels of cities in India will be made to highlight methods and practices of cycle inclusive planning in Indian cities. Dr. Tiwari will present the case of Delhi, Sujit Patwardhan, the case of Pune and Pradeep Sachdeva will present the case of Nanded.
4. Focus on the initiatives and context in Bangalore city to set the stage for Bangalore specific needs and approaches
5. A technical session by Dr. Anvita Arora and Dr. Vijay Kovalli will illustrate the specific issues and tools needed to plan for cycling at the road design and operation level.

The second session will focus on Action planning and commitment by the city of Bangalore:

1. The first step will be to identify issues and starting points for different stakeholders. This will be in the form of focused group discussions and presentations by the different groups.
2. The second step will be to design a Cycling Action Plan (CAP) for Bangalore city with identification of methods, timelines and people/organizations involved.
3. A Pilot exercise will be identified from that Cycling Action Plan and the roles and commitments of different players will be delineated
4. A final discussion at the end of the day will focus on achieving commitments towards the CAP in general and the Pilot in specific with timelines.

January 31^st, 2009

Organizer

The Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) is Unified Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority created by Government of Karnataka in March 2007 on the recommendation of the National Urban Transport Policy (2006). It is the first organization set up in response to the recommendations of NUTP. The BMLTA co-ordinates all land transport matters in the BMR. It prepares a detailed Master Plan for Transport Infrastructure based on the comprehensive Traffic and Transport Study for Bangalore. It oversees implementation of all transportation projects, and appraises and recommends transportation and infrastructure projects for bilateral / bilateral Central assistance. They function as empowered Committee for all Urban Transportation Projects. They are empowered to take any other decision for the integrated urban transport and land use planning and Implementation of the projects.

Gaurav Gupta, IAS

Gaurav Gupta, M Tech from IIT Delhi. Joined the IAS in 1990. At present he is working as Managing Director, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). He also holds additional charge as Commissioner, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) & Member Convener, BMLTA. Has initiated comprehensive Traffic & Transportation Plan (CTTP) for 6 city corporation limits of DULT and other studies to resolve problems related to Traffic and Transportation in the city of Bangalore.

He has also served as Special Commissioner BMP during 2005-07 in which he co-ordinated several departments within BMP and also headed JNNURM cell from which major investments for Bangalore city were initiated. He was also instrumental in chalking out effective governance and administration systems for new areas added to BMP as a part of Greater Bangalore (BBMP).

He has also served as Managing Director of Mangalore Electrical Supply company (MESCOM) and Commissioner, Employment & Training. During his tenure as Commissiner, Dharwad and Udupi Districts he was responsible for overall development in the districts. Earlier, as CEO of Zilla Panchayats of Raichur and Shimoga, he coordinated functioning of number of Government Departments like education, Health, Rural water supply and evolved management information system to effectively supervise the functioning in Zilla Panchayats.

Partners

EMBARQ — The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport — is a not-for-profit program of the World Resources Institute. EMBARQ works with cities in the developing world to catalyze and help implement sustainable solutions to the problems of urban mobility to improve quality of life and protect the environment. By working with EMBARQ, cities can reduce the cost, risk, time, and complexity of diagnosing transport problems and designing and implementing sustainable solutions. EMBARQ has also proven that sustainable transport in developing countries can translate into economic opportunities for the forward-thinking business.

EMBARQ India, with its project office in Mumbai, currently providing technical support for implementation of Bus Rapid Transit Systems to Indore, under a partnership with Indore City Transport Service Limited, and Pune, under a partnership with Urban Mass Transport Company (a GOI and ILFS company). EMBARQ is also promoting non-motorized transport activities in Bangalore in partnership with Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority, City Connect Foundation and Interface for Cycling Expertise. In addition, EMBARQ collaborates with Ministry of Urban Development in their efforts for capacity building for sustainable urban transport in India.  EMBARQ is working in the creation of an independent Center for Sustainable Transport in India, and is scaling up its activities to become the leading organization in the connection between transport, environment and development for Indian cities.

Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-CE) is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization, a foundation created in 1996. Based in the Netherlands, I-CE has been founded to answer the ever-growing international demand for cycle policy expertise.

I-CE operates as an interface between the demand for cycling expertise from cities all over the world and the Dutch cycling culture: highly professionalized cycle planners and designers and cycle practice and experience at all levels of society. I-CE has specialized in cycling mobility in developing countries.

I-CE aims at the promotion of cycle inclusive sustainable integrated urban and transport planning, through transfer and development of cycling expertise.

I-CE is an expertise centre for training, technical assistance and research. In developing countries the foundation implements specific pluri-annual programs and projects with subsidies and other contributions.

City Connect is a registered non-profit organization representing various stakeholders of Bangalore, with an aim to engage with Governmental agencies and provide them with required knowledge base and support for the improvement of urban infrastructure and governance. Bangalore City Connect brings value at three levels by working with various Governmental agencies responsible for urban infrastructure; strategically - many of the strategic choices faced by government are complex in nature. Bangalore City Connect can enable the right decisions by providing complete technical resources and capacities necessary for making the right choices. Secondly, by providing project inputs as many urban infrastructure projects involve not just 1 or 2 agencies but a multiple of government agencies working with their own priorities. Bangalore City Connect can enable detailing of a project in the most appropriate manner through taking a holistic view of project planning and enabling better co-ordination amongst various government agencies. Lastly, by implementation Inputs, Bangalore City Connect can bring together multiple skills to ensure time-bound implementation of critical projects.

RideACycle Foundation (RAC-F) is a not-for-profit advocacy organization registered in 2008 that is promoting sustainable transport, responsible travel, and environmentally and socially responsible cycling opportunities. Its objectives are to create awareness in society about the virtues of using cycles; make cycles a popular mode of transportation that would help in addressing global warming and pollution. This also includes, organizing cycle rides to promote cycling tourism, without any commercial objectives. Make people understand the need of an uncontaminated environment, which would indeed help in maintaining quality of health, by making people realize the intrinsic worth of cycling. And lastly, encourage cycle-activists, cycle manufacturers, cycling communities, and government organizations to promote cycling. RideACycle Foundation also distributes free cycles and notebooks for the poor and deserving student.

Facilitator

Seema joined EMBARQ in August 2006 to initiate EMBARQ’s India program. As India Manager, she manages EMBARQ’s India activities and is currently scoping EMBARQ’s as well as WRI’s long term presence in India. Seema holds a Masters degree in Environmental Science and Policy from the Clark University and a Bachelors degree in Geography from the Loreto College, in Kolkata, India. Her research, prior to joining EMBARQ, explored visions for future integrated public transit systems for Bangalore, India, through a multi-stakeholder analysis.

She has also worked in the slums of Howrah, with Howrah Pilot Project, managing micro-finance and adult literacy program for women. At HPP, she also initiated a preliminary school for children in poverty. Her interests are institutions and policy systems, poverty reduction, non-motorized transport and sustainable urban design.

Presenters

Anvita Arora

Anvita Arora is an urban transport planner with a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. She has a Bachelors degree in Architecture and a Masters degree in Transport Planning. She is, currently, the CEO of Innovative Transport Solutions (iTrans) Pvt. Ltd., an incubatee company of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and the resident representative of Interface for Cycling expertise (I-CE), Netherlands for their Bicycle Partnership Program in India.  She has been working on the social dimensions of urban transport for over 10 years, specifically on poverty and gender issues. She works to incorporate the needs of marginal road users like the pedestrians, bicyclists, rickshaw pullers, hawkers and the disabled in the mainstream of urban transport design and is a certified trainer on non-motorized transport. She is currently working with several cities in India on these issues.

Dr. Geetam Tiwari

Geetam Tiwari, is Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Department, and Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP), in the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. She is also Alderbrastka Guest Professor for sustainable urban transport at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden 2007-2009. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and has professional experience in the areas of Transport Planning, Traffic Engineering and safety. She has been teaching at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi since 1990. and has published over 60 research papers on transportation planning and safety and edited four books. She received the Stockholm Partnerships Award for local impact, innovative thinking and a potential for replication or transferability for TRIPP. She received Center for Excllence grant from Volvo Research and Education Foundation, Sweden in 2002 for Sustainable transport in Less Motorised Countries. Dr. Tiwari is an invitee in the Urban Age conference series by London School of Economics 2005-2008 and Principal Voices program on urbanization sponsored by CNN-Time and Shell company in 2006.

Pradeep Banavara

Pradeep Banavara is one of the Founders of the Ride A Cycle foundation as well as Mapunity: Social Technology at Work. The Ride A Cycle Foundation is a not for profit advocacy organization promoting sustainable transport, responsible travel and environmentally and socially responsible bicycling opportunities. As part as their endeavor, they organized a 7 day, 919 km bicycle ride in the Tour of the Nilgiris in December 2008. Mapunity on the other hand develops technology to tackle social problems and development challenges in India. For example, Mapunity has led the development of Urban Transport Information Systems for a number of cities including Bangalore. These systems use several types of inputs from various organizations like teledensity data from Airtel; video company/images from police cameras etc to create real-time knowledge of traffic conditions in cities. These are then made widely available through Airtel’s mobile telecom network to city residents and also accessible online.

Pradeep has also worked with the Karnataka state remote sensing application centre, (Dept. of IT&BT, GOK center) for 4 years. He also worked with the Karnataka Chief Ministers office under the Janaspandana programme. He was the coordinator of the VTU EDUSAT programme at Visweswaraya Technical University for 2 years. Pradeep has always been a sportsman – he was part of Karnataka state junior hockey team and represented Karnataka at national school games.

Pradeep Sachdeva

Pradeep Sachdeva is a renowned architect in Delhi working on urban design and urban redevelopment projects in India and abroad. His firm Pradeep Sachdeva Design Associates started in the early 1990s as a small design studio, working mainly on domestic projects. Today, the practice has 25 architects and designers involved in a wide range of projects, from the design of a chair to the redevelopment of a street.

His more notable projects in the public realm are Dilli Haat and Jaipur Haat; the Garden of Five Senses, Delhi; and the redevelopment of the Jama Masjid in Delhi.

Sujith Pathwardhan

Sujit Patwardhan graduated from the London College of Printing and Graphic Arts, U.K. in 1966.  He is visiting lecturer in Printing at the Pune University School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Ranade Institute Pune for more than 15 years. He is an active environmentalist and is the founder member of Parisar, an independent NGO working in the field of environmental awareness, education and action. As a result of his work in this area, he has been appointed as Member, Maharashtra Environment Protection Council of which the Governor of Maharashtra is the Chairman; Member, Mahabaleshwar Panchgani Regional Planning Board; Member Urban Heritage Committee, Pune Municipal Corporation; and Member Monitoring Committee for Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani appointed by the Mumbai High Court. He is also founder member of PTTF (Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum) a coalition of NGOs working in the field of Traffic in Pune.

Dr. Vijay Kovalli

Dr. Kovvali has more than 15 years of experience in the field of Transportation Engineering. His extensive experience in the field includes; Professional Engineer – Traffic for the State of California, USA; Principal developer of an Arterial Signal Optimization Software (PASSER V) that is used in United States for progression and delay optimization; as well as Project Manager and Technical Lead on multiple Transportation Engineering Projects. He also has extensive knowledge and experience with Traffic Signal Systems Design, expertise with NMV and BRT microsimulation and evaluation and ITS system implementation. Dr Kovalli has worked on developing behavioral algorithms for road users as part of the Next Generation SIMulation (NGSIM) program.

Dr. Kovalli has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with Specialization in Transportation Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, USA.