India's urban transport and mobility are likely to change after the current COVID-19 epidemic, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said at the 13th Urban Mobility India Conference.

The Covid crisis presents an opportunity to improve urban transport to meet long-term growth goals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for using the current corona crisis to create a "self-reliant India" and this time is suitable for making bold decisions and investments. 

Puri said, "Various studies show that about 16-57% of urban commuters are pedestrian and about 30-40% of commuters use bicycles in the country. Considering this as an opportunity, elevating the priority of these modes gives travellers another private vehicle alternative, which is clean, safe, secured particularly if it is integrated with other modes and affordable for all."

Puri said that having non-motorised transport has many advantages, and will succeed in all kinds of situations in urban mobility.

Professor Jan Gehl, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari , Minister Delegate for Transport, Ministry for the Ecological Transition, Government of France, Dr. Claudia Warning, Director-General GIZ and D.S. Mishra, Secretary, Housing and Urban Affairs also attended the conference

(IANS)