Advocacy

Pune plans to execute a project providing improving bicycle connectivity to the proposed BRT corridors in the city. This project is funded by the UNDP-GEF and World Bank. Parisar reviewed the project report and presented its comments to the PMC authorities. In addition, Parisar also participated in discussions with PMC along with a cycle-inclusive planning expert from I-CE, Mr. Jeroen Buis, about oversight and monitoring of the project. Broadly, while Parisar whole-heartedly supports the idea of improved bicycle connectivity to the BRT corridors, it has some concerns about the project proposal and its monitoring.

Pune proposes to build a metro-rail as a solution to the traffic problems of the city and a detailed project report (DPR) for the same was submitted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Moreover, the DPR also asked for an increased in Floor Space Index (FSI) along the metro and BRT corridors for "corridor densification" and to raise funds for the metro!

Parisar analyzed the DPR and found that it had many problems across issues such as governance, the justification for the metro and techno-economic details. Key observations made by Parisar have been sent to the concerned authorities and Parisar hopes there would be some feedback and engagement on the issue before the project moves ahead, if it does.

Jangli Maharaj (JM) road and Fergusson College (FC) road are two important thorough-fares in Pune that house many important educational, commercial and recreational institutions and run approximately parallel to each other. Not surprisingly, these roads are also witness to some heavy traffic conditions. As a result, the city fathers – it is not very clear whether the idea originated at the PMC or the traffic police – proposed early in 2009 that these roads should be turned into one-way streets so that 'traffic can flow smoothly'. The proposal was to let traffic flow only in one direction from the Bal Gandharva junction to Garware bridge along JM road, from Garware bridge to the Ghole road intersection along FC road, and from the FC road intersection to the Bal Gandharva intersection along Ghole road. The thinking behind the idea was to reduce the idle-time spent by traffic on these stretches and to increase their speeds.