Transforming Pune's Urban Mobility, from Congestion to Coordination.
Written by Nidhi Tambe
Beyond The Blueprint is the Blog Series by Pune International Centre (PIC) under Centre for Federalism and Multilevel Governance. It explores cities beyond policy, using data, field insights and analysis, bringing governance closer to people.
This month’s blog covers the theme of Urban Mobility. The blog explores how rapid urbanization, particularly in Pune, is straining urban mobility due to fragmented governance and poor data integration. It highlights the need for a unified transport authority and coordinated urban planning. Drawing on global examples, it emphasizes adapting Transit-Oriented Development for sustainable growth.
It is often said that “Urbanization is the key to India’s successful economy”. This is because the urban areas occupy only 3% of the land space and contribute almost 60% to the GDP. However, by 2050, 70% of the urban population will be residing in cities, with approximately 877 million people. This level of urbanization won’t only crowd out cities but overwhelm the roads, strain the public transport system, and challenge how we govern urban mobility.
According to the recent global TOM TOM global congestion index, 4 of the top 10 cities are from India: Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, and Hyderabad. For example, in Pune, it takes 33 minutes to travel just 10 km. Moreover, vehicle ownership in India is growing at 11% annually and is expected to almost double by 2050, reaching nearly 494 million vehicles on the road. In stark contrast, road infrastructure is expanding at just 4% per year. Wider roads may be necessary in specific congested corridors, especially where no BRTS or metro alternative is viable. However, these projects demand significant land, extensive coordination, high costs, meticulous planning, and strict environmental compliance. While they may offer opportunities for urban redevelopment such as road widening or upgrading public infrastructure without integration into a comprehensive mobility strategy, they risk becoming short-term, superficial interventions that fail to deliver sustainable, long-term impact. What India faces is not just a transportation problem, but also an effective governance problem. Infrastructure planning without proper governance leads to poor coordination, inconsistent planning, overlapping projects, and wasted investments. India’s urban transport suffers from what experts call a “ governance gap”. Multiple agencies operate in silos, leading to duplication, delays, and inefficiencies. Delhi is a well-known example of 10 agencies handling different aspects of transport. Pune, while being a smaller city as compared, still faces similar challenges. For example, the Pune BRTS system itself was managed by 3 authorities in Pune: PMPL, and infrastructure being developed by PMC and PCMC. While MahaMetro (Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited) serves as the primary executing agency for Pune’s metro infrastructure, it does not hold overarching authority over the city's broader urban mobility planning. MahaMetro is a 50:50 joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra.
Although the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) was envisioned to act as a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) under the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), it lacks the institutional authority and enforcement capacity to coordinate decisions across different transport modes. This absence of a strong, centralized transport governance framework means that despite MahaMetro’s operational prominence, it cannot ensure system-wide integration—leading to overlapping infrastructure such as metro and BRT corridors on the same routes and, ultimately, inefficient mobility outcomes. This gap extends to weak open data (fewer than 10 cities share transport data, unlike London’s real-time dashboards), opaque PPPs (35% of metro projects hide finances, unlike Canada’s transparency), low public participation (under 20% of projects involve communities, unlike NYC’s mandates), and rare audits (most agencies skip reviews, unlike Germany’s annual reports). To address current mobility challenges, Pune must activate its 2019 Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) policy and establish an empowered Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) to enable integrated multi-modal planning and enforcement. Increasing the existing 20% transport budget allocation can enhance public transit, strengthen last-mile connectivity, and support the development of walkable, accessible metro hubs with adequate parking for user convenience. Simultaneously, implementing disincentives like a universal pay-and-park policy can encourage a shift away from private vehicle use. These combined efforts can reduce car dependency, promote a more equitable access, and foster a more people-centric urban environment. While Pune does have a Non-Motorized Transport cell established in 2008 and a parking policy, its impact remains limited without overarching institutional coordination. Urban mobility is not just about transport; it shapes how we live, how cities breathe, and how economies grow. Currently, Pune stands at a critical juncture! Without bold steps in governance reform and proactive urban planning, it risks following the same congested path as India’s larger metros.
Can Better Planning Beat Congestion? A Look at Singapore’s Strategy.
Singapore offers a strong testimony to the success of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). Facing similar challenges like traffic congestion, the city-state integrated transport planning with urban design—something cities across the region, including Indonesia, can emulate.
Singapore’s approach focused on urban renewal through an expanded rail network, creating self-sustained satellite towns around a central core. These towns are well-connected to industrial hubs and the city center, with daily amenities within walking distance, minimizing the need for long commutes. Under the right conditions, TOD can also be applied to specific high-potential projects, not just entire city networks.
source: Rethinking The Future
Similarly, Tokyo’s Shibuya Station, serving 2.4 million passengers daily, is a bustling example of TOD. Surrounded by offices, shops, and apartments, it supports a car ownership rate of just 250 per 1,000 people half that of Western cities. With 80% of trips by rail or bus and 50% of short trips by foot or bike, Tokyo’s dense, walkable hubs cut emissions by 15–20% compared to car-heavy cities, promoting cleaner air and active lifestyles.
These are great examples and offer valuable lessons, but we must adapt them to our own urban and governance realities. Only by tailoring these strategies to our socio-political fabric can we truly realize the potential of TOD in Indian cities.
A critical step in transforming Pune’s urban mobility governance is addressing the data deficit caused by fragmented and siloed departments. Currently, there is significant hesitation among departments to share data openly, with many datasets being incomplete, outdated, or never uploaded to public portals. This lack of accessible, reliable data hampers evidence-based planning and leads to poor decision-making. It is essential to build the capacity of existing government bodies so they can systematically maintain, update, and manage mobility data. Additionally, a clearly defined urban transport data policy must be introduced to determine which datasets should be mandatorily available to the public, alongside regular audits to ensure data accuracy, timeliness, and accountability.
Beyond data, Pune needs to focus on breaking down institutional silos and integrating overlapping functions. Departments working in isolation must be brought together under a unified urban mobility framework to ensure better coordination and eliminate duplication of efforts. Inter-departmental communication and cooperation must become standard practice, not an exception.
Equally important is the reintroduction of holistic urban planning to avoid the ad hoc, reactive development patterns that have shaped the city so far. While Pune’s existing plans have guided development adequately until now, future urban planning must adopt a more deliberate, forward-thinking approach. Lessons can be drawn from international best practices, such as the pre-planned grid systems in the United States, which have provided those cities with scalable, adaptable urban forms. For Pune, the priority must be to work within its existing urban fabric, correcting inefficiencies and laying down robust frameworks for future growth.
Ultimately, the hallmark of a truly great city is its ability to move efficiently, inclusively, and sustainably. Achieving this demands a cohesive set of forward-looking policies, reduced congestion, and a shift in mindset. After all, as famously said:
"A developed country is not one where the poor own cars, but where the rich use public transport." - Gustavo Petro.
Beyond The Blueprint is an initiative of the Pune International Centre (PIC) under the Centre for Federalism and Multilevel Governance. PIC is an independent and multidimensional policy think tank based in Pune. PIC does not solicit any payments or subscriptions for this blog series.
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A very comprehensive piece, Kudos!