Citizen groups, industry stakeholders and key decision-makers met Dr. CN Ashwathnarayan, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka through a virtual town hall to submit their recommendations to ease the traffic situation in the city and help adopt public transportation. The recommendations are a result of the #BengaluruMoving campaign, a combined effort by multiple organisations and individuals over the last few months.
The campaign aimed to highlight the challenges of public transport in Bengaluru and the need for better first and last-mile connectivity while championing bus lanes, non-motorised transport (NMT) solutions and investment in urban transport infrastructure.
The town hall was organised by Bengaluru Needs You (BNY), Environment Support Group (ESG), Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) and Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC). The recommendations submitted were basis the multiple programmes like the hackathon, mobility champions and webinars hosted over the last couple of months. Some of the key recommendations included leveraging tech for the first mile and last-mile connectivity, increased focus on urban design in city and transport planning, encouraging and incentivising shared mobility and pedestrianisation of commercial streets.
Speaking at the town hall, Dr. CN Ashwathnarayan, Deputy Chief Minister, Karnataka said, “Building a transport system that is beneficial for both commuters and environment is the priority of the Government. In line with this, we are taking steps to increase the adoption of public transport from 41 per cent to 73 per cent through a regulated public-private partnership (PPP) model. Road congestion is one of the biggest deterrents to Bengaluru’s economic growth. These recommendations will give us insights into what each stakeholder needs.”
Sharing his thoughts during the townhall, Dr. Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Bengaluru said, “We have installed over 1,500 cameras across the city to monitor the vehicular movement and have collected enough data to predict traffic hotspots and decongest the city. The participation of industry stakeholders and citizens is crucial to bring awareness and change. Bangalore Traffic Police department is firmly behind the Government’s vision to encourage the use of public transport in Bengaluru.”
The virtual town hall saw an engaging discussion around Bengaluru’s traffic issues and possible solutions with active participation from key opinion leaders like Prof. Rajeev Gowda, Former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha); NA Harris, MLA (Shanthinagar) and Former Chairman Bengaluru Metropolitan Transportation Corp. (BMTC); Nandeisha Reddy, Chairman BMTC; Anjum Parwaiz, Principal Secretary Transport, Government of Karnataka; Leo Saldhana, Full-Time Coordinator and Trustee, ESG; Revathy Ashok, CEO, B.PAC; Rajiv Aggarwal, Head of Public Policy South Asia, India, Uber; Pawan Mulukutla, Director, Electric Mobility, World Resources Institute (WRI); Dr. Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Bangalore; Kamal Bali, President & Managing Director, Volvo India; Athira Menon, Head of Public Policy, South India & Sri Lanka, Uber.