This document summarizes CDRI’s CoP on Extreme Heat Management in Public Transport Systems. It provides policymakers with a framework to enhance heat resilience, emphasizing health, safety, environmental, and economic considerations.
Key strategies include establishing baselines through research, stakeholder collaboration, and data-driven decision-making. Practical recommendations involve long-term urban planning, heat-resilient materials, clean energy fleets, and enhanced transit stop climatization. The document outlines interventions across connecting, waiting, and riding phases, such as shaded walkways, cooling systems, and increased service frequency to reduce heat exposure. It also highlights co-benefits like reduced heat stress, lower emissions, and economic gains through increased ridership and infrastructure durability.
By integrating nature-based solutions, predictive maintenance, and effective communication, the guidance promotes sustainable, equitable, and climate-adaptive public transport systems, offering actionable steps for policymakers, researchers, financiers, communities, designers, and operators to address heat-related challenges.
Key points
- Use heat maps, surveys, and energy data to identify vulnerabilities.
- Fund health-focused, heat-resilient urban planning for vulnerable populations.
- Apply green infrastructure and passive cooling for thermal resilience.
- Retrofit vehicles with cooling, shift fleets to clean energy.
- Upgrade transit stops with shade, cooling, and real-time data.
- Use predictive maintenance, frequent service to reduce heat-related risks.