Ahmedabad's Janmarg bus rapid transit (BRT) system is a best practice example of sustainable urban mobility. Photo by Meena Kadri.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB), one of six major divisions of the National Research Council—a private, nonprofit institution that is the principal operating agency of the National Academies—announced a study mission to visit India and China in an attempt to learn about technologically innovative and environmentally conscious public transportation systems. Researchers will examine how these systems reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, enhance the quality of life, shift travel behavior and improve mobility, accessibility and safety for urban citizens.
Ahmedabad, India was selected for the study mission “because of the impressive public transport system that has been developed to improve the environment and encourage higher use of public transport,” stated the official letter from TRB, according to a recent news report.
The study mission to India and China is part of the International Transit Studies Program (ITSP), a project of the Transit Cooperative Research Program, a publicly funded and independently governed transportation research organization managed by TRB. The purpose of ITSP is to enhance the understanding of U.S. public transport professionals of best practices by providing opportunities to experience other transportation systems firsthand.
This will be the first time in the the program’s ITSP’s 17-year history that India was selected for a study mission.
Ahmedabad’s Janmarg bus rapid transit system (BRTS) was recently in the news for winning the 2010 Sustainable Transit Award, created by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, in association with several partners, including EMBARQ, the producer of this blog.
EMBARQ was also involved in the conception of Janmarg by exposing city officials to best design and operations practices during study tours in Mexico City, Mexico; Bogota, Colombia; and Curitiba, Brazil. In August 2009, EMBARQ also conducted an in-depth review of the Janmarg system and provided ongoing advice to CEPT University, the project’s technical leader, to strengthen the system’s success.
