Indian city Pune hits brake on car traffic to curb pollution
August 7, 2019
Project goal: Transforming urban mobility in Pune to address noise and air pollution problems and to inspire other Indian cities to do the same
Project implementation: A rapid transit bus launched in 2015. Building sidewalks and bicycle lanes to encourage people to leave their private vehicles at home
Project partners: Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP), India's Ministry of Urban Development
Budget: €2,350,000 ($2,620,062) from the German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety within the framework of its International Climate Initiative (IKI). It covers the implementation of changes to urban transport in cities like Pune and Chennai.
Young and cosmopolitan Pune, with its 6.5 million inhabitants, is one of India's smaller cities. But like many other cities in the world's second-most populous country, it has an air pollution problem. A new sustainable transport concept, including bicycle lanes, footpaths and a rapid bus system, aims to save the city from the same fate as India's capital New Delhi. There, simply breathing causes the same damage as 40 cigarettes a day.
A film by Maria Lux