24 September 2007 - Sophie Punte, Deputy Director, and Bert Fabian, Head of Transport Unit of CAI-Asia Center participated as resource persons at the "Workshop on Bus Rapid Transit System" in Ahmedabad, India on 24-26 September 2007. Partners of the Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) program who likewise participated at the event and provided expert advise were Walter Hook, Executive Director, Institute for Transportation Development and Policy (ITDP); Shreya Gadepalli, Technical Director, ITDP; and Dario Hidalgo, Business Development Director and Senior Transport Engineer, World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transportation (WRI-EMBARQ). Marie Thynell of Gothenburg University also shared her expertise on social impact issues.

The workshop presented the status of four bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in India. Delhi, Pune, Indore, and Ahmedabad are in the implementation stages and about nine cities (Bhopal, Jaipur, Mysore, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Rajkot, Surat, Vijaywada, Vishakhapatnam) are in the planning stage. The participating cities showed high levels of commitment and enthusiasm in coming up with a more sustainable urban transportation for Indian cities through a BRT system. The Indian government equally showed their commitment in helping their cities achieve economic development while addressing the problems of urban development through the activities of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The workshop was organized by the Ministry of Urban Development, the Institute for Urban Transport in Delhi, the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology in Ahmedabad, and the Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation. It was funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). More information on the workshop is found here: http://www.urbanindia.nic.in/moud/programme/ut/Workshop_Ahmeadbad.pdf

Panelists at the BRT workshop in Ahmedabad; From left: Dr. Shivanand Swamy, Professor at Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad; Mr. I.P. Gautam, Municipal Commissioner of
Ahmedabad; Mr. M. Ramachandran, Secretary of Ministry of Urban Development; Ms. Sherry Little, Administrator of Federal Transit Authority (FTA), USA; Mr. S.K. Lohia, Director for Urban Transport, Ministry of Urban Development; and D. Thara, Deputy Municipal Commissioner and Mission Chief of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) (Photo by Bert Fabian)

Sophie Punte, Deputy Director of CAI-Asia Center (2nd from right) participates in the break out session at the BRT workshop in Ahmedabad. (Photo by Bert Fabian)