Transit-oriented development policy
Transit-oriented development policy
Q) Transit-oriented development policy illustrate the relationship between transport and land use for development . Discuss
Why in news?
Karnataka government finally approved the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policy, which aims to boost vertical growth along public transit corridors.
Highlights:
- It is one among the several policy instruments that the state government has to implement as per the Metro Rail Policy.
- The policy seeks to boost the mode share of public transport through increasing the density of population along metro, suburban and other mass transit systems.
- It is urban development of residential, business and entertainment spaces oriented around and within walking distance of public transport like rail, road or air hubs.
- Policy provides an opportunity to leverage the existing and ongoing investments in non-motorized transport (NMT) and public transport (Namma Metro, suburban rail, and bus priority measures) to relook at Bengaluru’s urban form, reimagine spaces and restore Bengaluru’s vibrancy.
- The area within a 6-minute walk to the metro station represents the Core TOD This broadly translates to a distance up to 500 meters from the transit station.
- It is generally amenable to house the highest intensity of transit supportive land uses
- The area within a 6- minute cycling distance to the station broadly covers a distance up to 1000m around the station and is amenable for both walking and cycling.
- This zone will also be planned to host transit supportive activities
- Additionally, it is proposed to extend the transit ridership catchment beyond the TOD Zone up to 2 km from the transit station with a properly designed feeder service to achieve accessibility to the transit station within 6 minutes
- Congruence: Achieve high mode share of public transport
- Connected: Provide built environment and associated infrastructure conducive for NammaMetro Trains
- Coherence: Implement mixed-land use that leads to shorter commutes and reduced travel demand
- Equity: Ensure inclusivity for all economic classes, gender, age, and abilities in the design of TOD interventions
- Vibrant : Enable high quality of life through placemaking and sustainable practices
- Effective : Build enabling framework to deliver TOD projects of high-quality
- It is a framework for planning, designing, and transforming urban areas to make the best use of public transport network by orienting appropriate land uses in urban space.
- Revitalizing tool to transform urban core areas through redevelopment and decentralization land uses that create lively sustainable places in greenfield development.
- Successfully implemented TOD projects lead to a vibrant urban space, greatly reduce private vehicle dependency for commuting and lead to an improved quality of life.
- Promoting a diversity mix of uses/ activities/ jobs/ socio-economic groups.
- Creating an interconnected fine grained street network, multimodal integration, feeder services.
- For businesses, the ease of doing business helps them in scaling. Such corridors also create plenty of job opportunities and make the community economically sustainable
- It will serve to reduce car traffic, and household spending on transportation, will promote walk-to- work and cycle-to-work and therefore healthier lifestyles
- On par of environment it lowers pollution, higher foot-traffic for commercial businesses and decreased suburban sprawl
- It also directs the Bangalore Development Authority and other relevant planning authorities to integrate in the master plans the policy and the accompanying development control regulations for the local planning areas
- In the core city which is zone A, it is a huge challenge because of high densities and high property values.
- The policy pertaining to Bengaluru considers mass transit like Metro but not buses as a means of transpo But buses are a more popular means of commute in Bengaluru.
- In order to provide the right and accessible infrastructure, the government will have to acquire private property which will cost a substantial sum
- Limiting TOD to the city would be a fragmented approach since commute is more regional in nature.
- Bangalore metropolitan region (BMR) which is around 8000 kms comprises of Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and Ramnagara - Chennapatna belt
- Bengaluru actually needs a mobility plan rather than just TOD. The National Urban Transport Policy emphasises a mobility plan that integrates both land use and transport planning, through TOD.
