Toyota Mobility Foundation Announces Plans to Scale Sustainable Mobility Solutions Across Indian Cities
NEW DELHI, INDIA
September 11, 2026
Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) announced plans to build on successful mobility pilots across India and support the wider adoption of solutions that improve crowd management, accessibility, and sustainable travel. The announcement was made at Connect Karo 2026, WRI India's flagship forum on sustainable development and urban transformation.
The announcement drew insights from initiatives including the Sustainable Cities Challenge (SCC) in Varanasi and STAMP: Nudging Commuter Behavior in Bengaluru, both of which tested approaches to improving how people move through cities.
In Varanasi, the successful completion of three-year long Sustainable Cities Challenge, implemented in collaboration with Varanasi Nagar Nigam, Challenge Works, and WRI India, piloted an integrated approach to managing crowding and pedestrian movement in the city's historic core. The selected winning solutions that include data-driven insights, real-time crowd intelligence, wayfinding improvements, and tactical urban design, will now be implemented on the ground in Kashi to enhance crowd movement, accessibility, and safety in high-footfall areas.
In Bengaluru, WRI India’s STAMP: Nudging Commuter Behavior project engaged with eight companies in Electronic City to test how behavioral science-based interventions including targeted nudges, digital tools, incentives and employer engagement, could influence everyday travel choices and encourage greater use of public transport. The initiative supported more than 1,800 employees in shifting travel behavior and facilitated over 120,000 metro trips, demonstrating how behavioral insights complement transport infrastructure and services to enable more sustainable commuting.
TMF, in collaboration with WRI India, will build on the key learnings from Varanasi and Bangalore to scale proven insights across India, taking them to other heritage cities and corporate hubs to institutionalize these lessons and extend their impact to a broader network of cities and tech hubs.
"Across our work, we are seeing that effective mobility solutions emerge from local needs, but their impact can extend far beyond a single city," said Prasanna Ganesh, Executive Program Director, Toyota Mobility Foundation. "The opportunity now is to help cities adopt and apply proven approaches that improve accessibility, safety and sustainability in line with TMF’s principles of innovation, sustainability and collaboration."
"The experiences from Varanasi and Bengaluru show how data, design, technology and behavioral insights can work together to address real mobility challenges," said Avinash Dubedi, Head, Integrated Transport, WRI India. "They offer valuable practical lessons for cities looking to create safer, more accessible and efficient urban environments."
TMF will continue to work with city governments, innovators, and partners to test, refine, and scale mobility solutions that help build more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities.
About Toyota Mobility Foundation
Toyota Mobility Foundation (Chair Akio Toyoda) was established in August 2014 by Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) to support the development of a more mobile society in which everyone can move freely. The Foundation underscores Toyota’s ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and respect for people. It utilizes Toyota’s expertise and technologies to support strong mobility systems while eliminating disparities in mobility. TMF works in collaboration with universities, governments, non-profits, research institutions and other organizations, creating programs that are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address mobility issues around the world. “TMF aims to create a truly mobile society that will help people live better lives no matter where they are,” said Chair Akio Toyoda.