Executive summary

The UK Government and the Government of Tamil Nadu (GoTN) are collaborating under the UK Partnering for Accelerating Climate Transitions (UK PACT) programme to support climate-resilient urban transitions in Tamil Nadu. Under this partnership, the Climate-Resilient, Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Mobility in Erode initiative focuses on strengthening Erode’s long-term sustainable development trajectory by systemically integrating climate recommendations into urban planning, governance, and mobility systems through data-driven, institutionally grounded, and financially viable pathways.

Initial engagements, such as the kick-off meeting held at the District Collectorate on 2 May 2025, brought together municipal authorities, state agencies, and civil society stakeholders, discussing key structural challenges defining Erode’s mobility system. The momentum generated at the city level was then consolidated at the state level through an inception roundtable on 22 August 2025, which strengthened coordination and aligned direction across institutions. The main outcomes included the formalisation of collaboration through a series of letters exchanged between the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company (TNGCC) and the UK government; high-level engagement between senior state officials, UK representatives, and technical partners; and focused discussions on the roles of digital tools, data-driven decision-making and planning, and climate finance in enabling climate-smart urban mobility in Tier-2 cities.

These deliberations aimed to present Erode as a potential model that might be scaled up for lowcarbon and inclusive urban mobility transitions across similar cities in Tamil Nadu. The Movement of People and Goods report is accordingly conceptualised as a data-driven and strategic framework to establish a contemporary baseline of travel patterns of people and goods in Erode.

Positioning and scope of the Movement of People and Goods report

The Movement of People and Goods (MPG) report was needed, as Erode’s most recent comprehensive mobility assessment–the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) by Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL)–was prepared in 2015, and thus no longer reflects current travel realities. Over the past decade, Erode has witnessed major changes in land use, economic activity, travel behaviours, vehicle ownership, and freight movement. The MPG report establishes a contemporary, data-driven baseline for the movement of people and goods within, into, and through Erode today, across public transport, intermediate public transport (IPT), and urban freight systems.

The report builds on earlier project outputs, including the Gap Assessment Report by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) India (2025), which diagnosed policy, planning, and data gaps in Erode’s mobility ecosystem; the Budget Assessment Note by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (2025), which mapped climate mitigation as well as gender equality, disability and social inclusion-aligned (GEDSI) services and expenditures; and the Public Transport and Pedestrian Infrastructure Assessment or People Near Transit (PNT) Analysis for Erode by ITDP India (2025), which evaluated access to public transport, the condition of bus stops, and pedestrian infrastructure in the city.

This report is organised as a consolidated yet modular assessment, comprising self-contained chapters that can be read independently while following a uniform analytical approach. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, combining primary surveys, stakeholder consultations, and analysis of secondary datasets. The primary surveys examined demand patterns, operational realities, user perceptions, barriers, and expectations. As a whole, this report provides a grounded, evidence-based understanding of Erode’s current mobility system. Its findings will directly guide subsequent phases of the UK PACT project by identifying interventions and actionable pathways towards realising more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable mobility in Erode through evidencebased decision-making.

Key findings

The findings presented in this section draw on primary surveys across multiple transport segments. Together, these findings establish a baseline understanding of existing mobility patterns, operational challenges, user perceptions, and infrastructure gaps, while highlighting opportunities for building a more connected, inclusive, and sustainable urban mobility system.

• Baselining travel patterns
  • Corridor traffic has grown 32 per cent in a decade, driven by peri-urban expansion. Traffic volumes in Erode’s major cordon corridors increased between 2015 and 2025, with the sharpest growth along the Erode–Vellode, Erode–Kongampalayam, and Erode– Modakurichi routes.
  • Most trips are city-bound with peri-urban linkages. Our analysis of origin-destination patterns reveals a city-centric travel pattern, with most trips concentrated in the urban core and extending along key corridors towards growth areas such as Perundurai, Pallipalayam, Thindal, and the Bhavani Bypass Road.
  • Two- and three-wheelers dominate short intra-city trips, while freight clusters on industrial routes. Two- and three-wheelers account for around 60 per cent of intra-city personal and work travel, while four-wheelers serve both citywide and peri-urban travel. Freight traffic is mainly concentrated on industrial and intercity routes, such as Erode–Salem and Erode–Perundurai/Tiruppur.
  • Travel peaks sharply at commute hours, reflecting a local, activity-driven demand pattern. Across corridors, traffic exhibits clear peak travel periods (8:00–10:00 a.m. and 5:00–7:00 p.m.), likely owing to work- and education-related travel. Overall, travel demand remains largely local, frequent, and activity-driven, possibly due to Erode’s compact urban form and mixed land use.
• Erode’s public transport system: The regulated capacity spine
  • ​Bus travel is dominated by work and education trips, pointing to a peak-hour, fixed-route usage pattern. Our public transport user survey shows that medium- and long-distance commuter trips make up most bus travel rather than short local trips. Around 70 per cent of bus trips are made to access work and education, suggesting a peak-hour, fixed-route usage pattern.
  • Women depend on buses for care, social, and shopping trips that demand flexible, offpeak service. As these trips are often more dispersed throughout the day and involve shorter intra-city stops, they require flexible, frequent services beyond peak commuting periods, underscoring the need for public transport systems that accommodate diverse daily mobility patterns efficiently (Nikore and Ollivier 2022).
  • Bus trips average around 31 km one way with travel times exceeding 50 minutes; however, fares remain low at approximately INR 28 per trip. Bus stops are accessed mainly by walking or through personal two-wheelers, with limited use of intermediate modes. Access and waiting times average about 10 minutes each, indicating that most of the total travel-time burden is driven by the journey itself.
  • Passenger challenges centre on service quality and safety, with accessibility remaining a concern for persons with disabilities. These include vehicle condition, bus stop infrastructure, route coverage, schedule rigidity, lack of digital payments, and night-time safety. Perceptions of accessibility among persons with disabilities are mixed, pointing to the need for universal design, inclusive service planning, and staff sensitisation.
  • Perceptions of electric buses are strongly positive, but willingness to pay for service improvements remains limited. Passengers are mainly motivated to choose electric buses because they expect greater safety, accessibility, comfort, and environmental benefits. The most frequently cited factor was improved safety (19 per cent), indicating that respondents strongly associate electric buses with a safer travel experience.
• Intermediate public transport (IPT): The adaptive connectivity layer
  • ​IPT is a daily necessity travel mode operating along key corridors, with most trips combined with walking. Demand is concentrated along routes such as the central bus station–Vaikalmedu and PS Park–Thindal, with around 40 per cent of users making two or more IPT trips per day. Shared autos and tempos are accessed informally via fixed stands and street hailing, and 82 per cent of IPT trips involve walking, underscoring the importance of improving pedestrian access and last-mile integration.
  • Waiting times and safety concerns disproportionately burden women passengers, many of whom avoid evening travel entirely. Long waiting times, ride search time, and the need to walk to auto stands inflate total travel time and reduce reliability. More than half of the women passengers surveyed avoided travel after 7 p.m. altogether. Overall, safety emerges as a decisive factor for women choosing IPT.
  • On the supply side, operators are financially stressed and spend nearly half their working hours idle. Operators work an average of 8.7 hours per day but lose nearly half that time to fragmented demand and competition with buses and other autos for passengers. Nearly half reported financial stress driven by low earnings, competition, and maintenance costs, particularly among those operating petrol and LPG vehicles.
  • The shift to electric autos is held back by financial risk, not technology access. Willingness to transition is shaped primarily by upfront costs, access to finance, and ease of battery replacement — not range anxiety or charging infrastructure.
  • IPT is oversupplied in the urban core and absent in peripheral areas, pushing outer zones toward private vehicles. Operators reported congestion in the core city around PS Park, the government hospital, and major commercial areas, while peripheral zones such as Chithode, Veerappanchatram, and Perundurai remain underserved (Figure ES1). This limits IPT availability in industrial and peripheral areas, increasing dependence upon private vehicles.

Figure ES1. Congestion points identified by the IPT operators overlapped with commuters’ origin and destination points

• Freight: The commodity distribution and economic circulatory vein
  • ​Freight exhibits a dual structure: corridor-facing, transboundary flows dominated by medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs), while light commercial vehicles (LCVs) contribute to dense, high-frequency intra-urban traffic. While MHDVs serve intercity and highway corridors, they have nearly twice as many daily toll crossings as LCVs. Freight composition closely mirrors local economic activity, which is dominated by textiles, apparel, food-processing inputs and products, agriculture, construction materials, and light industrial goods.
  • Informal, low-speed freight, such as bullock carts, remains a livelihood reality for some households. Bullock carts continue to serve high-frequency short trips of around 3 km, highlighting that the transition to motorised freight is far from complete across all segments.
  • Operationally, freight is constrained by costs, congestion, and infrastructure gaps, with electrification barriers varying by vehicle segment. High operating costs, toll charges, congestion, poor road quality, and weather-related delays, with traffic management and infrastructure maintenance, emerge as the highest-priority areas for intervention. While most operators remain cautious about electrification, the main barriers vary by segment: LCV operators face tactical risks related to downtime and maintenance, while MHDV operators face strategic risks linked to technology maturity, vehicle availability, and corridor-scale charging readiness.

Common challenges across transport systems

In a nutshell, the findings show crucial gaps in connectivity, infrastructure, reliability, and coordination of services across Erode’s mobility system. Some immediate operational improvements and medium-term institutional and infrastructure measures are required to address this. The following action items outline priority interventions for the Erode City Municipal Corporation (ECMC), along with measures requiring coordination with relevant state agencies.

Recommendations

Erode City Municipal Corporation (ECMC)

• Formalise IPT as Erode’s first-/last-mile network
  Notify, demarcate, and enforce designated IPT pick-up and drop-off locations, supported by standard wayfinding signage at major transit nodes, including PS Park, the central bus station, the government hospital, Thindal (Vellalar College stretch), and Karungalpalayam.
• Improve pedestrian access and safety; implement universal design at transit nodes
  Undertake targeted improvements to pedestrian infrastructure, including lighting, ramps, tactile paving, shaded waiting areas, and obstruction-free walking paths for the government hospital bus stop and the central bus station area.
  Reallocate kerb and footpath space through surface markings, traffic signage, and bollard installation at PS Park and Thindal to minimise conflicts between pedestrians, buses, and shared autos.
• Strengthen IPT–PT integration through information and predictability
  Provide static route maps and QR-enabled passenger information displays within buses and at bus stops located near PS Park, the central bus station, and the government hospital, supplemented with high-contrast physical maps to enhance accessibility.
  
  Supply basic digital information through QR codes and signboards showing shared-auto routes, pick-up and drop-off locations, and approximate waiting times along the PS Park– Thindal and the central bus station–Karungalpalayam corridors.
• Reduce congestion in busy institutional and commercial areas
  Notify and enforce designated stopping locations for shared autos at a minimum distance of 150 m from bus stops near the government hospital, Thindal (around Vellalar College and the temple), and the central bus station for uninterrupted operations and smooth passenger movement.
  
  Implement location- and time-based regulation of roadside parking and street vending at PS Park and along hospital access roads. Demarcate parking zones and allocated vending areas to maintain clear pedestrian paths and effective carriageway capacity.
• Regulate bullock cart operations near high-traffic areas
  Issue municipal orders specifying permitted routes and time windows for bullock cart movement near Gani Market and other inner-city market streets.
  Phase in restrictions on arterial and high-traffic roads, including Chennimalai Road, Sankari Road, and core-city market roads, with advance notice and gradual enforcement.
• Manage freight congestion and decongest core markets
  Ensure systematic traffic management on freight-intensive corridors and junctions through targeted road maintenance, signal optimisation, and kerbside control, particularly along Chennimalai Road, Arachalur–Kangeyam Road, and Sankari Road, and at PS Park, Bullfight Circle, Solar Junction, Swastik Circle, and Surampatti Four Road. For example, peak-period signal plans can prioritise public and light motorised transport, while off-peak and night-time signal settings can be adjusted to allow heavy vehicles to clear major junctions, such as Solar Junction and Swastik Circle, more efficiently.
  
  Notify, demarcate, and strictly enforce time-bound loading/ unloading bays and no-parking zones along the Old Bus Stand– Gani Market (Mettur Road and Brough Road) route, the VOC Park Road–Karungalpalayam stretch, and Kongampalayam Lorry Stand, including adjoining access streets. For instance, clearly marked, time-shared loading bays can be reserved for freight vehicles at night and used for short-term parking by commuters during the day to prevent double-parking and kerbside blockages.
  
  Regulate kerbside commercial activity and freight movements in core market areas at Gani Market, along the VOC Park Road corridor, and in the Non-Gazetted Government Officers’ (NGGO) Colony, and progressively shift freight operations to designated outer-city market yards along wider arterial roads, with phased implementation and adequate transition time to ensure compliance without undue disruption of livelihoods.

ECMC, in coordination with state agencies

• Support the regulation and integration of private bus services
  Map and integrate private bus services within the public transport planning framework by establishing a centralised database of routes, schedules, and fleet details to enable evidencebased route rationalisation and the reduction of service overlaps.
  
  Support monitoring of fleet standards by maintaining transparent records on fleet age, vehicle condition, and renewal cycles for the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) and by sharing operational benchmarks with the state transport department to enable fleet age monitoring and phased retirement policies for private buses.
• Pilot service upgrades for TNSTC bus operations within approved fare and policy frameworks
  Pilot targeted improvements in TNSTC-operated services, such as enhanced vehicle cleanliness, improved onboard comfort, and staff behaviour training. Coordinate with the ECMC on stop-level upgrades, such as shelters, lighting, etc.
• Improve emission and vehicle fitness compliance through stringent enforcement
  Enable the state transport department and regional transport offices (RTOs) to undertake joint enforcement actions in coordination with the ECMC, such as periodic emissions and vehicle fitness checks, targeted ‘pollution under control’ (PUC) drives, and compliance monitoring of older freight vehicles, with a particular focus on high-demand corridors, cordon points, and congested urban nodes.
  
  Flag national highway 544 (NH-544, the Chithode–Bhavani Bypass Road), state highway 83A (SH-83A), NH-381, SH-96, the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT)–Perundurai Road, Thindal–Vijayamangalam stretch, and Chithode Junction as priority corridors for targeted PUC drives and fitness enforcement.
  
  Facilitate PUC and fitness check camps on the municipal land near the Old Bus Stand–Gani Market corridor, VOC Park Road, and the Perundurai Road entry point near SIPCOT for lastmile freight vehicles.