Transit Oriented Development has great potential, but only with a master plan Premium

TOD looks great on paper. It was drafted by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) in May 2019 and approved first by the Bommai Government in November 2022. Besides ease of access, TOD also proposes a boost to vertical growth through land use changes, and a consequent push to population density along Metro, suburban, and other mass transit corridors.

Can Transit Oriented Development (TOD), where homes, offices, and commercial spaces are within walking, cycling, and public transport distances from a Metro or Suburban station, be retrofitted to fix Bengaluru’s perennial mobility issues? That looks like a far cry, but without a proper master plan in place, a TOD-first approach to guide the city’s future looks even more complicated.

TOD looks great on paper. It was drafted by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) in May 2019 and approved first by the Bommai Government in November 2022. Besides ease of access, TOD also proposes a boost to vertical growth through land use changes, and a consequent push to population density along Metro, suburban, and other mass transit corridors.

Now, this should sound like a dream for anyone caught in gridlocked traffic, struggling to access even the nearest Metro station or bus stop. Cycling lanes are non-existent today, and footpaths everywhere are almost always in dire need of maintenance. In a core TOD zone, a mass transit station will be just 500 metres or a six-minute walk away. Beyond this core area, the TOD extends to a kilometre where the station will be within a six-minute cycling distance.

The obvious question that crops up is this: TOD looks fine in a green-field area, where a new Metro or suburban line enters with the promise of local development. But what about the congested heart of the city, or even its outskirts, left to grow unregulated in wild, haphazard ways? Besides, Multi-Modal Integration (MMI), a key element of the TOD concept, is almost a joke today, with even a pedestrian bridge linking a Metro and Railway Station taking years to get off the drawing board.

Embedded in the proposed TOD ecosystem, MMI talks about ensuring seamless connectivity from transit hubs to homes / destinations through easy, sustainable, and convenient mobility options. MMI is also about ensuring easy transfers between different modes such as the Metro, BMTC bus, cycling, and walking. This is achieved both physically and digitally through infrastructure, ticketing and travel information.

But to get moving on TOD and other critically linked policies, the State should have clarity on the way forward. Seeking public and institutional feedback on a sustainable ‘Brand Bengaluru’ cannot go with an unrelenting push for questionable projects such as Tunnel Roads, say mobility activists and experts. As one of them puts it, “This government is sending mixed signals. I don’t think they have a clear vision of what they want to do.”

TOD might be a challenge in brown-field situations, where retro-fitting the concept on already congested areas will prove tough to execute. But, as Dr. Ashish Verma, convenor of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Sustainable Transportation Lab, points out, it can work in green-field situations if planned and structured well. A new Metro station in an area with less development could be a start.