Access to transport is the key to success of Transit Oriented Development in India

The key to success of Transit Oriented Development in India is a good transit network, without which the model will not work, was the broad consensus at a recently held dialogue on “Future of Transit Oriented Development in India: Emerging issues and possible solutions”. The dialogue was organized by the RICS School of Built Environment, Amity University and is part of a series of dialogues organized by the institution to find possible solutions to problems faced by India’s built environment space.

Transit Oriented Development or TOD is defined as a mixed use form of development within walking and cycling radius of a mass transit station. Typically, a TOD has mixed use high-density development with easy access to public transport such as train, metro, bus etc. This model has been adopted globally by cities to integrate land use and transit in an efficient way.

The key take away from the dialogue was that for the TOD model to work in India, transit network must be developed first in any TOD, transport infrastructure needs to be integrated and there should be policy integration at the Centre and State level.

Vinay Kapoor, CEO, West Court Real Estate Pvt Development, cited the example of Canary Wharf (a commercial district in East London) to underline the importance of transit in a TOD model. The success of Canary Wharf was intrinsically linked to transport and access issue. The first phase of Canary Wharf (1987-1992), failed and the company which developed it went bankrupt because it could not convince its future tenants to take the leap of faith that infrastructure and connectivity will be developed. “In 1987, all of East London was underdeveloped. Canary Wharf was like building a new city. It was connected by one train, which ran every twenty minutes. The first phase of the project failed because of absence of transport and access. Canary Wharf eventually went through three different TOD’s. I believe that transit has to come first in any TOD. Whether it comes in full scale or whether it grows over a period of time is about strategy, density and what kind of movement you are looking at,” he said.

Sanjeev Kumar Lohia, Managing Director, Indian Railway Station Development Corporation, agreed that TOD cannot succeed without transit. “In Surat, three levels of government have come together to form a joint venture to do integrated development and make a seamless multi-modal transport hub to maximize value creation,” he said.

Dr M Ramachandran, IAS (Retd) and former Union Urban Development Secretary said the biggest problem is translating policy into practice. “We have been talking about a unified metropolitan transport authority for cities. It does not seem to be coming into existence. I see it as an important element in the process of integrating transit with what best can be done. Ideally, most residents should not have to travel beyond a certain point except for work,” he said.

Ramachandran said while this can be implemented in new cities such as Amaravati, the government will have to think of solutions for existing cities and towns. “It all gets linked to capacities at the urban local body level. We need to build capacity at the local level, so they can translate policy into action.”

Vishnu Surdarshan, Partner, J Sagar Associates Law firm, said to monetize TOD, foreign investment should be allowed in Transfer Development Rights (TDRs). “Increasing Floor Space Index is not the only way to raise revenue. There are additional sources of revenue such as TDRs. One of the limitations today is foreign investment has not been permitted in TDR. It is a good way to monetize, which has not been used effectively,” he said.

Akhil Palhelkar, Principal Architect, Larsen & Toubro, said securing approvals is one of the major pain points in designing a TOD. “There are multiple agencies in the government, which don’t speak to each other involved in approvals. There is a lot of ambiguity on who will give approval for what. We wish there was an easier system for approvals,” he said.

Ramachandran, said that while a single window clearance for approvals may not happen in India, we could perhaps look at achieving something closer to single window system. “With the kind of approvals you need for a project, single window clearance may not happen anytime soon,” he said.

Anjula Negi, Associate Director, RICS School of Built Environment, Amity University, believes that not all locations can classify as a TOD. Development is a sequential activity to the transit network, which necessitates classification of TOD through TOD qualifiers. These qualifiers can be widely adopted for the ‘5D’ concept, which includes Density, Distance, Diversity, Design and Destinations.

The relevance of each transit network based on public transportation requirements is essential to classify TODs. “We believe that TOD qualifiers must be developed to ensure success of the development model. TODs may be developed as an integrated public infrastructure provisioning exercise and for leveraging financing through multiple funds mechanisms,” Negi said.