INSTITUTE OF URBAN TRANSPORT (INDIA) was established in May, 1997 as a premier professional non-profit making organization and registered under the Societies Registration Act. The membership of the Institute comprises Academicians, Architects, Economists, Engineers, Transport Planners, Town Planners and professionals from various disciplines. The Institute has as on 29th July, 2010, the Institute has 57 institutional members and 1131 individual members. The Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, is the ex-officio President of the Institute and its Governing Council has members from various premier organizations connected with Urban Transport. The Institute has Chapters at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Roorkee.

OBJECTIVES

The aim and objective of the Institute is to promote, encourage and coordinate the state of the art of urban transport including planning, development, operation, education, research and management and also to organize lectures, seminars, workshop, conferences, etc on subjects pertaining to urban transport.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

With the growth of cities and increase in travel demand combined with poor or almost nonexistent public transport facilities in most of the cities, the number of private vehicles is growing exponentially. Thus to develop not only proper transport infrastructure but also the sustainable public transport systems for all types of cities, the institute endeavors to address the problems of infrastructure and sustainable urban transport systems in the country.

The institute has been organizing various national and international Conferences, Seminars, Workshop, Lecture Meetings at regular intervals.

The Institute organized a Conference & Exhibition on Urban Mobility from 3rd to 5th December 2008 at Pragati Maidan which was inaugurated by Hon'ble Minister for Urban Development Shri S. Jaipal Reddy.

DATABASE

It is managing National Urban Transport Information Centre (NUTIC), established by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, to compile a reliable and comprehensive database for proper planning and policy making at the government level as also in the conduct of meaningful research. The Institute is striving to serve as a storehouse of information on the various public transport technologies being used in different parts of the world and act as a comprehensive repository of the best practices in the field.

TRAINING

Institute of Urban Transport also provides for training needs of the government officials and practitioners in the field of urban transport. The Institute has already successfully conducted training programmes of Urban Transport for government officials and proposes to organize similar programmes as a part of the capacity building programmes sponsored by the Ministry.

NATIONAL LEVEL INSTITUTE

The Institute, with active support and guidance of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, has been actively involved in a variety of professional activities to promote and develop the state-of-the-art of Urban Transport in the country. The National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) document, brought out by Government of India in April 2006, emphasized that IUT would be suitably strengthened to serve as a National Level Facility to provide continuous advice and guidance on the principles of good urban transport planning as emerges from its research. The Capacity Building Programme envisaged for the Institute provides for creating a knowledge management center, sponsored research, building up of database for use in planning, research, training and skill development of public officials.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

In its endeavor to assist the Ministry as its Technical Arm, the Institute is rendering continuous administrative and secretarial assistance to the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the Ministry of Urban Development for the various urban transport projects like: World Bank – DFID Capacity Building for Sustainable Urban Transport. World Bank – GEF UNDP assisted – Sustainable Urban Transport. ADB-Component-I Integrated Urban Transport Strategy. ADB-Component II- Sub sector Measures Component including road traffic management and urban rail and bus safety certificate and requirements.

Assistance was also provided to the Task Force constituted for setting up of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA). In past the Institute had also given similar assistance for other projects e.g. Safety Certification Committee on GUMTS; Technical Advisory Committee for Enhancement of knowledge base on Urban Transport in India; and Working Group for developing the approach for Urban Transport in the 11th Five Year Plan.

BUS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEMS

Bus Rapid Transit is being increasingly recognized as amongst the most effective solutions for providing cost effective and high quality public transport services in urban areas of both the developed and the developing world. Keeping in view the growing popularity of the system as a viable solution to urban mobility the Institute of Urban Transport provide logistic support IUT had organized Workshops as indicated below:-

• Conference & Exhibition on Alternative Technologies for Public Transport in March 2006 at Delhi
• Regional Workshop on Urban Planning and Transportation in August 2006 at Kolkata l Workshop on BRT system in Ahmedabad, Indore, Jaipur and Pune in September 2006 at Jaipur
• Workshop on BRT System in December 2006 at Delhi
• Training Course on BRT Planning for Indian Cities in June 2007 at Pune
• Training Course on Management of Urban Bus Systems in June 2007 at Indore
• Training Course on BRT Planning for Indian Cities in June 2007 at Ahmedabad again
• Meeting to review progress of BRTS projects in India in May 2008 New Delhi.
• Workshop on Guidelines and Toolkits for Urban Transport Development in Medium Sized Cities in India, in June 2008 at Goa
• Workshop at on Guidelines and Toolkits for Sustainable Urban Transport Planning in India at New Delhi in June 2008.

In these Workshops, presentations have been made on various aspects of “BRTS as a Sustainable Urban Transport Solution” and also on Guidelines.