India’s urban population is expected to increase from 286 million in 2001 to 534 million in 2026 (38%). Our country has to improve its urban infrastructure to achieve objectives of economic development. However, most of the cities in India have inadequate infrastructure. Urban transport is one of the major problems, affecting the mobility of people and economic growth of the urban areas.

These problems are due to prevailing imbalance in modal split; inadequate transport
infrastructure and its sub-optimal use; no integration between land use and transport planning; and no improvement or little improvement in city bus service, which encourage a shift to personalized modes. In view of this, the Government of India approved the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) in April 2006.

The Policy primarily focuses on the mobility of people and not the mobility of vehicles. This will require the public transportation system to be more attractive to use. The challenge for improved bus transport is to provide good quality service at an affordable price. It is important to evaluate alternative public transport technologies in the context of city characteristics. The public transport options vary between low cost buses to high cost rail metros. Moreover the shape of a city is very important for selecting the appropriate mode of transport and capacity building is a very important factor in introducing and implementing public transport system.

Several initiatives have been taken in India in this regard: Many cities have prepared
Comprehensive Mobility Plans and have plans to introduce modern bus services; Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) is coming up in eleven cities; six cities are planning new metro rail systems; and Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities have been set up in two cities. The Government of India has funded 15,260 modern and intelligent transport systems enabled buses for city transport for 61 mission cities as a part of the economic stimulus package.

Amongst various urban transport projects, rail based Metro are being developed in many cities of India, viz. Delhi (357.37 km, ` 58298.47 crores), Mumbai (62.89 km, ` 20587 crores), Bangalore (33 km, ` 6395 crores), Kolkata (13.77 km, ` 4676 crores), Chennai (50 km, ` 14600 crores), Kochi (25.3 Km, ` 2991.5 crores), Hyderabad (71.29 km, `11892 crores).
Light rail systems have been proposed in Kolkata while monorail systems in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Under road based Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in JNNURM, many projects have been sanctioned, the cities, namely, Ahmedabad (88.50 km, ` 981.35 crores), Visakhapatnam (42.80 km, ` 452.93 crores), Indore (11.45 km, ` 98.45 crores), Jaipur (39.45 km, ` 479.55 crores), Bhopal (21.71 km, ` 237.76 crores), Rajkot (29.00 km, ` 110.00 crores), Vijayawada (15.50 km, ` 152.64 crores), Pimpri-Chinchwad (42.22 km, ` 738.16 crores), Pune (101.77 km, ` 1051.00 crores), Surat (29.90 km ` 469.00 crores) and Delhi (14.6 Kms- implementing with its own funds)

Urban Transport Initiative under JnNURM

*Private Sector would be involved in future for constructing bus stops / bus shelters.