Transport planning needs to be incorporated in a region’s development plans and public transport paths segregated from other amenities as a basic skeletal structure for an efficient city, said key experts at a meeting on Wednesday to encourage buses as primary mode of public transport. Former MMRDA chief planner Vidyadhar Phatak said that cities and regions have development plans, but surprisingly, transport is not included as it should be, and transport routes and other key elements should be made part of it.

Renowned architect Shirish Patel said, "Public transport and other city amenities and transport modes should be completely segregated in grid form, so that public transport gets a right of way and becomes more acceptable." The panel of experts was speaking to explore the role of bus-based public transport in planning at a talk organised by Parisar for Sustainable Urban Mobility Network (SUM Net).