Transport 4 All Challenge Stage-2 flagged off

New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri launched the Transport 4 All Challenge Stage-2 and Citizen Perception Survey 2022 on Wednesday.

The Transport 4 All Challenge is an initiative by the Central government that aims to enhance the mobility experience of citizens. The Challenge focuses on digital innovation and invites cities, citizens, and innovators to join hands to develop contextual digital solutions to improve formal and informal public transport to better serve the mobility needs of all citizens.

Solutions developed as part of the Challenge aim to integrate formal and informal modes of public transport wherever possible and desirable. Solutions that demonstrate the ability to meet the needs of citizens - those living in cities with different contexts - would be piloted in selected cities across the country.

More than 130 cities signed up for Stage 1 of the Challenge, launched on April 15, 2021. 100 cities formed a Transport 4 All Task Force (TTF) with key government stakeholders and governments working in the transport sector, along with academic institutes and non-profit organisations.

These cities successfully conducted surveys with more than 2 lakh citizens, 15,000 bus drivers and conductors and 22,000 informal public transport (such as autos, etc.) drivers, making it the biggest public transport data exercise in the country. The 46 cities that qualify for Stage 2 of the Challenge used the survey's findings to develop more than 165 problem statements, that is now curated into a final list of 8 problem statements by the Challenge team.

Stage-2 of the Challenge is open for startups to develop solutions for the issues identified by the cities. Interested startups can register with their idea pitches on the Startup India portal. The Transport 4 All Challenge is organised in partnership with The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) as co-host and challenge coordinator, Startup India and City Innovation Exchange as technology partners, and Association of State Road Transport Undertaking (ASRTU) as city-engagement partner.