6 minute read
Ms. Rupa Nandy
UITP is internationally recognized for its work in advancing the sustainable urban mobility as a critical policy agenda. It is, perhaps, the only worldwide network to bring together all public transport stakeholders and sustainable transport modes, with an agenda of enhancing the quality of life and economic well-being of the masses by promoting sustainable public transport. Urban Transport News interacted with Ms. Rupa Nandy, who is Head of UITP India office and taking part in various initiatives of Govt. of India towards advancing the sustainable urban transport system in India. Here are the excerpts:
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How long have you been in the public transport industry? Tell us about your journey in this industry and your role in UITP in brief.
In the industry it has been about 19 years now which includes about 7 years of studies. My first rendezvous with Urban Transport was in my first year of college when I was studying Bachelor of Planning in School of Planning and Architecture. Every semester had a component of Urban Transportation. After my Bachelors I went into specialising in Urban Planning which again followed the same pattern. My first work in public transportation was when I was working in a infrastructure consultancy firm on JNNURM projects. The next stint was in DIMTS for 5 years, which has its core in Public Transportation from planning to operations –the full lifecycle of public transportation. I left DIMTS to do my full time MBA at Indian School of Business and even there I was actively involved with the infrastructure club. I have worked with Ola for about an year and learnt how the new mobility players operate in this ecosystem. I joined UITP in the beginning of this year and its been a fascinatingride since then.
Please brief our readers about the role of UITP in India. How does UITP help policymakers in the planning of urban mobility projects in the country?
UITP is the only worldwide network to bring together all public transport stakeholders and all sustainable transport modes. UITP has three main functions as its core -Advocacy and Outreach, Network, Knowledge Sharing. In India also UITP follows the same core. We help various public transport players to come together by providing various platforms for them to interact. We have a huge knowledge base that is readily available and all our members can access them to learn not only from developed countries on the efficient public transportation they have but also how developing countries are moving forward and growing themselves to provide adequate systems to their residents. We have various working bodies and groups within UITP that keeps producing cutting edge research on latest transportation issues. We help authorities in India to connect with their counterparts within India as well as abroad to learn from their experiences. We have year round trainings across the world in which many of our Indian members participate and learn. Recently UITP was also part of the screening committee for selection ofcities under the FAME Scheme.
We also have a few research projects within India on electric buses and through them we are trying to help the Indian authorities to make informed choices in transitioning to cleaner transportation systems.
Women's safety in public transport is a major challenge in India. What measures you would like to suggest policymakers to make Public Transport safe and comfortable for women?
The foremost requirement is to have a gender sensitive planning, while planning for public transportation and infrastructure around it should have suggestions from women and have a gender expert in the policymakers group planning it. Better lighting from transit stops till to surrounding streets so that women feel safe walking back and going to, having transit personnel inside the public transport mode can enhance the safety. More frequent services to reduce overcrowding, information on arrival of public transport to allow reduced waiting time and increase certainty will increase safety. Help point kiosks, police presence, 24 hours hotline can also address the issue. Public Transit drivers should also be trained on how to address such issues
on-board. Technological Solutions such as CCTV cameras, panic button may also enhance the safety.
How do you perceive things can change? What according to you is the role of various stakeholders in developing ‘New Mobility’ solutions for India?
Indian public transportations systems face many issues such as lack ofadequate public transport, accessibility, last mile connectivity, reliability, frequency, absence of seamless intermodal travel, absence ofintegrated ticketing to name a few. The new mobility players have cropped up in last 10 years to plug in that gap. Having said that these solutions are not a replacement of public transport nor do they compete with public transport.
Unfortunately all these solutions are the new age start-ups with substantial funding and non profitable. It would be interesting to see how these start-ups convert to full fledged profitable business and still maintain the level of service that they are providing right now and maintain low fares.
How do you view the Indian government’s ambition to create metro, RRTS and high-speed rail network in the country?
I believe all decisions of implementing transportation projects should be backed by studies and justification. The ambition of RRTS, metro , high speed rail are great, having said that there are other modes of public transport such as light rail transit, buses and few more and they should not be ignored. Any new project should be an informed choice based on the various, geographic, economic, social, population, institutional fabric of the city today. Every public transport project should consider the situation today and future growth and be proactive and not just reactive.
The transport as well as manufacturing sectors have both been male-dominated. However, women are now making inroads in both sectors. What do you think the industry should do to get more women into the transportsector?
The workforce participation rates (WFPR) ofwomen in India is quite low and beyond that much lower in sectors such as Public Transport. I think more than focusing on how to bring more women to this sector we should ask a question why women do not join this sector, it could be access to education, disparity in pay with men, workplace biases, non-inclusive workplace, additional family responsibilities, limited growth opportunities, harassment.
publications i.e. online news portal and bi-monthly magazine?
I follow Urban Transport News portal and the magazine and I think it is doing a fantastic job of being a one stop information centre to learn about all that’s happening across the world in this sector. I wish you the best to achieve greater heights.
We need to cater to each issue to provide a wholesome and inclusive environment for women to work. e.g. if the sector is non inclusive we should make it more inclusive may be by providing facilities for taking care of children or providing flexible timings. We need to ensure that there is a well defined career path as well as no pay difference in the same work between men and women. Many women take a break due to many reasons from their career, provisions should be made so that they have an option and an environment of joining back the workforce as and when they can. UITP has a campaign called PT4ME. The PT4ME campaign is meant to spread awareness and advocate for an inclusive public transport to better serve our women passengers, as well as to promote the benefits of a diverse workforce comprised of women as well as men, in efforts to advance public transport Anything else you want to tell our readers about UITP’s future plans in India? UITP plans to increase its engagement in the sector by organising more trainings and providing knowledge exchange platforms as India is going through a change in this sector, UITP is in a perfect position to handhold the authorities and the operators in this transition. We also understand the change has to be driven from the top and hence we plan to increase our engagements with various ministries involved in the public transportation. ***
