UMTA Urban transport is an important component of urban infrastructure. In India, urban mobility is gaining immense importance and emphasis is being given to the movement of people and goods, rather than the movement of vehicles. The institutional framework that governs the urban transport system at the city level plays a pivotal role in the success of the system. A weak institutional mechanism, on the other hand, leads to an inefficient system and isolated function of various transport modes.
NUTP 2006, inter-alia, recommends the creation of a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (henceforth called UMTA/ the Authority) in all cities of population of ten lakhs or more, commonly referred to as “million plus cities”, to facilitate co-ordinated planning and implementation of urban transport programmes and manage integrated urban transport systems. In this context, this operations document has been developed as a guidance to cities for operationalization of UMTA.
The document elaborates on the need for UMTA in the Indian context and benefits expected from it. The multiplicity of laws and agencies involved in the sphere of urban transport in India have been analysed to highlight institutional gaps and overlaps in urban transport functioning and to throw light on the urgent requirement of integrated planning and coordinated management of urban transport. The document is broadly divided into two parts: pre-operationalization activities and operationalization activities for UMTA. Guidance has been provided with respect to operational procedures that UMTA may follow for effective establishment and functioning