The current structure of governance for the transport sector is not equipped to deal with the problems of urban transport. These structures were put in place well before the problems of urban transport began to surface in India and hence do not provide for the right co-ordination mechanisms to deal with urban transport. The Central Government will, therefore, recommend the setting up of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities (UMTA's) in all million plus cities, to facilitate more co-ordinated planning and implementation of urban transport programs and projects and an integrated management of urban transport systems. Such Metropolitan Transport Authorities would need statutory backing in order to be meaningful.

The Central Government would also encourage the setting up of professional bodies that have the capacity to make scientific assessment of the demand on various routes and contract services that can be properly monitored. Towards this end, it would encourage the setting up of umbrella bodies that regulate the overall performance of the public transport system and ensure that the city has a comprehensive public transport system. Such bodies would, inter-alia, design networks and routes, assess demand, contract services, monitor performance, manage common facilities like bus stations and terminals, etc. They would have representation from all the major operators and stakeholders.

The responsibility for the planning and implementation of urban transport systems rests with the State governments and the municipal bodies. However, since the problems associated with urban transport are of relatively recent origin in India, having surfaced only from the early 1990s, the ability to fully understand and deal with these problems is yet to fully mature. This calls for concerted efforts at strengthening capabilities at the State and city level to address these issues and undertake the task of developing sustainable urban transport systems.

Capacity building will have to be addressed at two levels - institutional and individual. Institutional capacity would primarily involve creating a pool of knowledge and a knowledge management center that would sustain and enhance expertise as well as facilitate more informed planning. It would also sponsor regular research to help formulate the right mitigation strategies, without merely adopting what other countries have tried. The Institute of Urban Transport (India), an existing institute under the purview of the Ministry of Urban Development would be suitably strengthened to discharge this responsibility. It would be built up 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. Advice on new technologies would also be regularly available to implementing agencies from this institute. For this purpose, the institute would become a store house of information on the various public transport technologies being used in different parts of the world and would maintain the latest information and literature on the experience with such technologies. It would, in fact be a comprehensive repository of the best practices in the field.

The virtual lack of a database on urban transport statistics has severely constrained the ability to formulate sound urban transport plans and reliably assess the impact of the different initiatives that have been taken. The national level institute would build up a database for use in planning, research, training, etc in the field of urban transport.

The Central Government would also encourage the development of such institutional capacity at the State level through the platform of the National Urban Renewal Mission. A specific scheme would need to be formulated for this purpose.

At the individual level, a major exercise of training and skill development of the public officials and other public functionaries would be taken up to make such officials aware of the nuances of urban transport planning and the specific issues involved in managing city transport. This would be targeted at personnel belonging to the State transport departments, municipal corporations, metropolitan development authorities, traffic police, environmental authorities, State Transport Corporations, Public Works Departments, etc.

It is recognized that there are several proven technologies for public transport around the world that have yet to be adopted in India. In order to build up the necessary capacity to adopt such technologies within the country, the Central Government would facilitate joint ventures and collaboration agreements between such technology providers and suitable Indian companies. Necessary incentives would be provided to enable such technologies to get commercialized in India. This could be by way of financing customized prototypes, development of designs to suit Indian conditions, trial operations, training of the technical personnel, etc. The objective would be to ultimately build a level playing field for all proven technologies.

As part of the exercise of skill development, academic programs in urban transport, especially at the post-graduate level, would be strengthened so that a nucleus of qualified urban transport professionals becomes available in the country. Suitable collaborations, with leading institutes abroad, would be established to offer expertise to such programs in the initial years. An annual urban transport conference would also be institutionalized, to bring together the urban transport professionals in the country to share their experiences. International experts would be invited to such a conference so that Indian professionals are able to exchange information and learn from developments and experiences abroad. A well rated urban transport journal would also be started.