Ahmedabad moves ahead with bike lanes and BRT

Posted: 01 Aug 2005

Related to: Ahmedabad BRT, Developing High-Quality, Low-Cost Mass Transit, India
Contributed by: Nalin Sinha, ITDP India

Authorities in the Indian state of Gujarat are taking active steps to promote the increased use of bicycles.  At the request of the Municipal Commissioner for Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city, the Environmental Planning Collaborative (EPC) is re-designing 120 kilometers of road space with clear plans to include bike lanes.  In January of this year, a rally was organized with support from the Deputy Commissioner of Police that gathered 12,000 bicyclists.

The Gujarat authorities are also moving forward with plans to implement a Bus Rapid Transit system that were inspired by an ITDP-sponsored visit by Enrique Peñalosa in the winter of 2004. The first corridor is planned on Ahmedabad’s “132’ Ring Road”. While the first corridor does not have the highest demand, the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) recommended it as the easiest to implement politically, and notes that it is a high growth corridor.  ITDP has been requested by the Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board to provide technical support to CEPT for the design and planning of the system.  Ahmedabad also recently started to improve their public transit system by adding new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.

CEPT also plans to include a bike lane in the redesign of the ring road for BRT.  “The bicycle still has significant mode share in Ahmedabad”, said John Ernst, the Asia Regional Director at ITDP.  “With the current political support for this mode, there are opportunities to increase mode share both together and separately from the BRT system.”