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Recently, the CEO of NITI Aayog suggested that Indian cities need to embrace the new paradigm of ‘transit-oriented development’ where public transport is the backbone
What is Transit-Oriented Development?
- TOD integrates land use and transport planning and aims to develop planned sustainable urban growth centers, having walkable and livable communes with high density mixed land-use.
- Citizens have access to open green and public spaces and at the same time transit facilities are efficiently utilized
- TOD increases the accessibility of the transit stations by creating pedestrian and Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) friendly infrastructure that benefits a large number of people, thereby increasing the ridership of the transit facility and improving the economic and financial viability of the system.
What does a TOD include?
A TOD typically includes a central transit stop (such as a train station, or light rail or bus stop) surrounded by a high-density mixed-use area, with lower-density areas spreading out from this center. A TOD is also typically designed to be more walkable than other built-up areas, through using smaller block sizes and reducing the land area dedicated to automobiles
What are the factors which drive towards Transit Oriented Development?
Factors such as Rapidly growing population, Urbanization, migration to cities, and traffic congestion are the drivers for TOD
Benefits of TOD
Following are some of the benefits of TOD;
- Higher quality of life with better places to live, work, and play
- Greater mobility with ease of moving around
- Increased transit ridership
- Reduced traffic congestion, car accidents and injuries
- Reduced household spending on transportation, resulting in more affordable housing
Transit-Oriented Development policy in India
The vision of the policy is three-fold:
- Enable Transformation: to assist in transformation of cities from private vehicle dependent city to public transport oriented development
- Accessible Public Transport: to promote the usage of public transport by making it accessible, encourage green mobility by encouraging people to walk and cycle and at the same time curb pollution and other negative impacts of motorization.
- Compact Walkable Communities: to create livable and affordable communities, which are compact and walkable
Objectives of TOD Policy
TOD integrates land use and transport planning to develop compact growth centers within the influence zone of 500-800 m on either side of the transit stations i.e. areas within walking distance, to achieve the following objectives:
- To promote the use of public transport by developing high density zones in the influence area, which would increase the share of transit and walk trips made by the residents/ workers to meet the daily needs and also result in reduction in pollution and congestion in the influence area.
- To provide all the basic needs of work/ job, shopping, public amenities, entertainment in the influence zone with mixed land-use development which would reduce the need for travel.
- To establish a dense road network within the development area for safe and easy movement and connectivity of NMT and pedestrians between various uses as well as to transit stations.
- To achieve reduction in the private vehicle ownership, traffic and associated parking demand.
- To develop inclusive habitat in the influence area so that the people dependent on public transport can live in the livable communities within the walkable distance of transit stations
- To integrate the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and affordable housing in the influence zone by allocating a prescribed proportion of built-up area for them in the total housing supply.
- To provide all kinds of recreational/entertainment/ open spaces, required for a good quality of life in the influence area.
- To ensure development of safe society with special attention to safety of women, children, senior citizen and differently abled by making necessary amendments to the building bye laws.
- To prevent urban sprawl by accommodating the growing population in a compact area with access to the transit corridor, which would also consolidate investments and bring down the infrastructure cost for development.
- To reduce carbon footprints by shifting towards environmentally friendly travel options for the line haul as well as for access and egress trips.
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