Sustainable Urban Mobility Collective (SUMC)

Driving climate-resilient urban mobility through collaborative action - promoting electrification, inclusivity, and environmental stewardship for a sustainable regional future.

The Need

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand are home to a substantial share of India's population, yet their cities carry some of the country's most acute urban mobility gaps. Road transport drives roughly 90% of India's transport-sector energy consumption, with freight emissions projected to rise sharply by 2050. Locally, Uttar Pradesh's dense cities like Lucknow and Kanpur lean heavily on private vehicles due to weak public transit; Bihar's vehicle fleet grows 12% annually even as infrastructure lags; and Jharkhand's industrial growth is outpacing transport capacity. All three rank among India's poorest, where weak public transport compounds migration and job access issues - a scale no single actor can address alone.

Our Collective

The Sustainable Urban Mobility Collective (SUMC), formed in 2024 under the Harit Safar initiative, is a multi-stakeholder, intersectoral platform bringing together CSOs, CBOs, government bodies, academic and research institutions, and citizens. Its three-layered, bottom-up structure ensures that strategies and interventions are grounded in lived experiences, local evidence, and community realities rather than shaped by top-down assumptions:

City Forums

Where community members, including transport users from marginalized groups, surface the mobility challenges specific to their city.

11-Member Steering Committee

Sets strategic direction and holds the network accountable to its stated goals

Secretariat

coordinates implementation, knowledge-sharing, and cross-city collaboration

60% of seats are reserved for women and LGBTQIA+ representatives - a structural, not symbolic, commitment.

What We Do

Drive electrification of public transport fleets, supporting cities in adopting electric buses under national schemes like PM-eBus Sewa (targeting 10,000 e-buses) and FAME-II, while advocating that charging infrastructure be built on renewable energy.
Champion non-motorized transport (NMT) - dedicated cycling and walking infrastructure, recognizing that sustainability requires rethinking urban space, not just fleet technology.
Build stakeholder capacity through workshops and training that equip CSOs, planners, and local officials to address accessibility, sustainability, and inclusivity together.
Advocate for gender-responsive design - well-lit stops, functional CCTV, women's representation in transport jobs and planning roles, and subsidized transport for low-income women and transgender commuters in the informal sector.
Generate local evidence through community platforms - like the SangGati Kendra initiative, that ground policy recommendations in the real experiences of marginalized commuters.
Engage policymakers to fast-track EV-friendly regulations and integrate sustainable mobility into state and national climate frameworks, in support of India's net-zero-by-2070 commitment.

Our Impact

125+ Members

CSOs, governments, technical institutions, entrepreneurs, and citizens across 30+ cities in UP, Bihar, and Jharkhand

10 Cities

with on-ground activation - including electric bus transitions in Patna and Lucknow, grounded in local evidence

20+ Workshops and Convenings

building stakeholder capacity and powering community platforms like SangGati Kendra, where marginalized voices directly shape mobility priorities

60% of governance seats

held by women and LGBTQIA+ representatives, embedding equity into decision-making, not just outcomes

National alignment

supporting India's net-zero-by-2070 commitment through coordinated electrification across states

Beyond these numbers, SUMC’s regional model is designed to be replicable, a blueprint that, if scaled nationally, could improve mobility access for over 200 million urban residents by 2030.

Join/Connect

We warmly invite your collaboration, participation, and support to drive a sustainable and equitable transformation in the urban mobility sector, paving the way for cleaner, inclusive, and resilient cities.

Get involved with us: agenda.climate@gmail.com

The Climate Agenda