CST – India has been working closely with the city of Indore to help plan and implement a successful bus rapid transit system. BRTS has been identified as a critical component for the future of sustainable and low carbon growth of Indian cities. However, initial efforts at busways in Pune and Delhi are only partial attempts that has set back thinking and attractiveness of BRTS within the community. India is in urgent need for a best practice example of a good, high quality and complete BRTS that is in keeping with international standards. In order to facilitate this, it is also imperative to build momentum at the grassroot level by educating stakeholder groups on the accruable benefits of sustainable mobility solutions such as BRTS in their respective cities. The awareness it is hoped translates to momentum that finally results to a demand for systems such as these.
Therefore, CST – India with the support of the Climate Works Foundation will engage with different stakeholder groups including local government, civil society organizations and the private sector to build awareness about the Indore BRT project and educate all groups on the merits of having such a system in place.
CST – India will actively seek local civil society organizations to formulate strategies for positive engagement with different sectors and community groups. CST – India has identified the Institute for Democracy and Sustainability and Prabal Vikas Sansthan to work in collaboration.
Building awareness about BRTS in Indian Cities
CST – India will actively aid the city of Indore by providing technical, financial, institutional and communications - related support. More specifically it will:
- Conduct a detailed stakeholder analysis, gauge and understand local public opinion towards the Indore BRT project
- Create a strategy to engage other civil society organizations and the general public;
- Formulate clear and positive messaging on the merits of BRTS systems to be disseminated to all groups;
- Plan and execute a campaign to communicate the advancements that should be made to the current bus system in Indore and how to convert it into a model of BRTS in India
- Prepare and deliver workshops and activities engaging state and local authorities from all sectors including government, civil society organizations, and private sectors to administer the above.
Implementation of a good BRTS in Indore will serve as a model for dozens of other ndian cites already working on or contemplating BRT.
Prabal Vikas Sansthan was formed to fill visible gaps seen in the development sector in India by associating with projects that work towards improving the living conditions in rural and urban areas through a focus on urban infrastructure and development, non conventional energy, agriculture in various cities in Madhya Pradesh.