Journal of Sustainable Urbanization, Planning and Progress

Urbanization has accelerated in the 20th century. This paper will try to examine the stages we have gone through in this past half century and where we seem to be going on infrastructure planning in this century. It will trace the history of infrastructure planning from the modernist period that began in the 1940’s to the postmodernist period from the 1980’s, followed by the emerging sustainability period in the early 2000’s and now as we face an uncertain future, the disruptive innovation period. The paper emphasizes transport and land use planning along with some consideration of energy, water and waste and uses the dominant planning paradigm of the time to frame the discussion and observe how that has influenced the resulting infrastructure outcomes. Illustrations are used from the author’s home town of Perth based on practical experience in the planning system.

Urbanization has occurred rapidly in India principally due to social, economic and political drivers and has offered improved quality of life, access to amenities and economic opportunities for many. However, this has been accompanied by challenges that include insufficient energy, lack of urban infrastructure, and poor delivery of basic ser-vices, resulting in undesirable environmental impacts, congestion, and urban sprawl. India’s urbanization has placed tremendous demand on the country’s resources. Providing energy to all while maintaining a low carbon footprint is a global priority. Although economic development is anchored by both urbanization and industrialization, urbanization itself is a major determinant of energy use, including energy use related to transportation. Deficiencies in urban planning and management have to be overcome if India’s urban environment is to meet the rising expectations of an expanding urban population and provide an environment consistent with rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth. India's energy demand in 2030 is likely to be double that of current demand. Achieving a greener future in a sustainable way with low energy costs can be addressed by measures such as preferential policies towards renewables, investment in technology and empowerment of local government to meet the low carbon energy needs in India.

In most urban areas, buses are the most heavily used form of public transportation[1] and more so in Indian cities where buses make up for over 90% of public transport ridership[2]. In the selected Indian metro cities, where formal bus based PT systems are operated by public agencies, they are over-reliant on state support to sustain operations as fare box collections are inadequate in spite of having relatively high ridership. The main challenge for all this is to achieve long term financial sustainability of public transport systems while providing good quality and affordable bus services.
This paper investigates internal and external factors that led to the steep and recurrent fare increases in the Bangalore city bus services in the period from 2012–2014 which are operated by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. In order to estimate the impact of the recent bus fare increases that have had on the economically weaker sections of the society dependent on these services, the paper presents the results of a random sampling survey study carried out in a central locality in the city that has a large slum area.
The key findings throw light on the various ways in which the low income bus users have adapted to reduce their travel costs through changes in travel behavior, travel pattern and modal shifts. The cost of the behavioral changes through lost opportunities and the cost of the modal shifts of the persons earlier favoring public transportation draw attention to the significance of public transport fare policies. Furthermore, the management and operations of the BMTC agency show scope for improvement which can translate into better revenue generation and consequent reduction in fares.