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Causes: Environment, International, International Development, Pollution Abatement & Control, Public Transportation Systems
Mission: The institute for transportation and development policy works in cities worldwide to bring about transport solutions that cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce poverty, and improve the quality of urban life.
Programs: Cycling & walking: the newly-opened dart brt system, more than a public transit system, has brought improvements for pedestrians and cyclists as well. The project includes cycle paths, sidewalks, and improved pedestrian safety with well-designed, at-grade pedestrian crossings also complying with universal accessibility principles. This makes dart a best practice in the region for transit, cycling, walking, and disability access. With pressure and encouragement from itdp africa, the world bank and kenya agreed to consider more inclusive, pedestrian-friendly designs for the kenyatta highway renovation, one of the largest transport investments in the area of kisumu, kenya. As a result, itdp is actively working to insert complete streets principles into the reworked designs, which will provide more equitable infrastructure for a wider range of road users. Itdp laid the groundwork for equitable, best practice demonstration projects in the area, including developing non-motorized transport infrastructure through the kenya municipal program. Itdp engaged a variety of stakeholders-including from academia, government, and the local community-in the mobility planning process. This engagement was an innovation for kisumu county, helping foster more inclusive planning and setting a precedent for future implementation processes. Itdp indonesia is working with transjakara to increase the integration of bike share with the brt. Itdp is working with bike share operator secure bike share (sbs), who currently operates in australia and singapore, to implement bike share in jakarta as a way to extend the reach of transport. The conceptual study has been completed and plans for a bike share system in jakarta have been developed, based on the bike share planning guide published by itdp. Implementation time is expected to be heavily influenced by the governor election in 2017 and the asian games held in jakarta in 2018. In yichang and guangzhou, itdp china continued to help scale-up sustainable transit corridors surrounding the cities' world class brt systems. Yichang spent the year expanding bike lanes, improving pedestrian connections to brt stations, converting dedicated parking into public space, and celebrating the opening of a new bike share system featuring 600 bikes. In guangzhou, a five kilometer non-motorized transport (nmt) network is currently under construction along with 3,800 kilometers of greenway improvements that are planned with direct itdp support. Sao paulo, brazil, completed a 387 km bicycle network, and as a result, saw a 66 percent increase in cycling, and a 34 percent decrease in cyclist fatalities compared to 2015. Itdp has worked with the city on this projects with technical assistance and advocacy.
public transport: itdp china's projects continue to inspire replication. In 2016, 558 delegations from 215 cities visited the guangzhou brt on study tours and 119 delegations from 68 cities visited the yichang brt. The site visits directly influenced up to 50 cities, who have built or planned brts incorporating knowledge from guangzhou and yichang. The long-awaited dar es salaam brt (dart) opened its first phase this year. Dart is a high-quality, high-capacity brt system incorporating best practice design and features, is the first true brt system in east africa. The first phase of the network was supported by the world bank, and opened may 16, 2016. It spans 21 km of trunk route, and serves 160,000 passengers per day on average with the current fleet of 140 buses. By mid-next year (2018), when the first phase becomes fully operational with over 300 buses, the system is projected to carry an estimated 400,000 passengers per day. Dart has reduced commute times by more than half for residents, who previously faced upwards of four hours stuck in traffic every day. At stations with passing lanes, some of the existing bus fleet can provide express service to key destinations, saving even more time. Itdp africa began work on urban transport infrastructure in kisumu. Kisumu is in urgent need of improvements that can provide safer, more convenient, and more equitable access for city residents. Through a process of constant engagement, itdp was able to build trust among local stakeholders, improve technical capacity, and catalyze implementation of pilot initiatives. Local capacity and funding resources are severely limited, but itdp was able to strengthen the ability of the county government to drive change. As a result of itdp's engagement, investments that otherwise would have led to unsafe, car-centric transport infrastructure are now supporting more inclusive street designs that can become a model for mid-sized cities in kenya. Itdp india's continued advocacy to state officials, including the secretaries of planning, finance, and transport, has resulted in the tamil nadu state government beginning detailed project planning for a brt system in the city of chennai. The request for proposals from consultants is based on the model terms of reference (tor) prepared by itdp. The detailed project plans are expected to meet the brt standard developed by itdp. The city of coimbatore in tamil nadu also has initiated detailed project planning for complete streets with focus on non-motorized transport based on the model for consultants prepared by itdp. Itdp indonesia began a major, comprehensive plan in partnership with the indonesian federal government, who made a commitment to implement brt in 29 indonesian cities by 2021. This is particularly beneficial for itdp's ongoing project in medan. Itdp is working with the cities to ensure that these systems are high quality and meet the needs of their riders with true brt, rather than the low quality "brt-lite" systems that have been built in some cities over the last decade. Itdp indonesia is developing the conceptual plan design for the medan brt, which also lays out the cost components of the project. Once it is developed, together with the medan city government, itdp will prepare a business case proposal to bappenas and mot to enable national government funding of a brt project. This process will be documented as part of the best practice document in urban transport funding. Itdp indonesia is also working with transjakarta on a plan to improve service and ridership, with the goal of reaching one million passengers per day by 2019. Specific goals include increasing the number of stations integrated with other transport modes, particularly metro, and increasing federal government funding for transjakarta, adding passing lanes at key stations, and working with the city to better enforce dedicated brt lanes. In china, itdp had success advancing both new bus rapid transit (brt) and complementing sustainable transport corridors in rapidly growing, mid-sized cities. Two new cities began construction on brt systems with direct input from itdp: nanning, whose 11 km brt design includes bike lanes, sidewalks, and public space improvements to be built along the route, and zhuzhou, which chose to replace a planned metro with two brt lines with conceptual designs by itdp. In brazil, the brt transol mpica opened, with 23 kilometers of dedicated brt in rio de janeiro. This is the third brt system, after transoeste and transcarioca, to open in rio in the last four years. Together, the brt system carries 520,000 passengers per day.
sustainable urban development: itdp made significant progress towards publishing an updated tod standard that not only addresses climate change, but equity as well. In support, itdp developed new urban mobility metrics that focus on a mix of incomes, affordable housing, avoiding displacement for residents or businesses, upgrading slums, and open and green spaces. The first draft of the new metrics was presented at habitat iii in october. Itdp is finalizing the tod standard for release in spring 2017, incorporating feedback received from partners and peers received at habitat iii. Itdp successfully refined and promoted population near transit (pnt) as a means to evaluate city performance on linking transit and land use, as well as equity issues. In october 2016, itdp released a report, "people near transit: improving accessibility and rapid transit coverage in large cities", that analyzed how well 26 global cities are performing in ensuring access to the city through public transit. The report ultimately found a disconnect between both urban growth and transit investments and between land use and transport. Results further indicated that low income people have less access to the city, as reflected in a lower proportion of population near transit, and that transit investments are not closing--and in some cases actually growing--that gap. The report announcement and press release resulted in coverage in twenty-six original news articles, which were picked up by more than 200 outlets in the first weeks after release. These include the associated press, cnn indonesia, le monde, politico, city lab, business news americas, and treehugger. Itdp will continue to use this research and outreach to recruit cities to adopt pnt as a tool to improve policymaking, including as part of the map partnership. Itdp china is working on guangzhou's panyu wanbo district, a transit-oriented development (tod) demonstration project with design input from itdp is currently under construction. The project integrates principles from itdp's tod standard, and incorporates mixed-use, nmt improvements, and a 25% reduction in parking spaces. This potential best practice tod project could become a regional precedent. Itdp indonesia has identified five cities with political interest in tod plans in addition to jakarta: medan, makassar, bandung, manado, and surabaya. As the initial step, itdp decided to engage medan to influence the local government on urban transport. While close engagement has been made with the government, itdp also plans to engage city-wide and provincial-wide audiences on the importance of this issue by planning a workshop on sustainable transportation in medan, with an additional workshop in jakarta. Itdp india has made significant progress in achieving the adoption of state urban transport policies (sutp) that include budget guidance and long-term transport goals that prioritize low-carbon mobility in tamil nadu and maharashtra, two of india's most urban states and potential policy-making leaders. Sutps are in advanced stages of consideration in both states. In jharkhand, one of india's poorest states, an itdp-drafted tod policy which would promote compact growth, reduce travel times for a majority of the population, and transform the way citizens live and work has progressed through several rounds of internal government consultations and is awaiting final approval. The progressive, state-wide policy would be the first of its kind in india, potentially setting a precedent for other indian states. Itdp brazil has continued to make progress in institutionalizing tod principles in brazil's urban development policies at the national and city levels. The ministry of cities developed and distributed guidelines on mobility plans incorporating brt and tod principles, in particular promoting the revision of land use instruments to deliver denser and more compact cities, incentivizing public transport and non-motorized modes over private vehicles, as well as the planning of travel demand management measures. Mobility plans for both rio de janeiro and sao paulo have been approved and are underway. The final plan for rio includes not only the four brt corridors previously planned (transoeste, transcarioca, transol mpica and transbrasil), but also 11 other brt corridors, 2 subways and 3 lrts, carrying a total of 2. 2 million new passengers a day (out of which 1. 2 million will be carried by brt). It also emphasizes the need for land use reform along corridors, pushing for more intensive occupation (denser and with mix use). The sao paulo mobility plan follows the main principles out of city's master plan, which includes significant tod elements, in particular the definition of areas along mass transit corridors to increase building density, widen sidewalks, and promote mixed-use developments.