<span style="color: #222222;">The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has  issued an advisory to the States, Cities and Metro Rail Companies suggesting measures to be taken by them for providing urban transport services in view of COVID-19. In the advisory, the Ministry has suggested a three-pronged strategy related to Short term within six months,  Medium term  within one  year and  Long term from one to three years.<br />'' <br />'' The advisory sent by the Secretary, Housing and Urban Affairs, Durga Shanker Mishra suggested to encourage and revive Non-Motorised Transport (NMT). He said, as  most of the urban trips are clocked in under five kilometres, NMT offers  opportunity  in this COVID 19 crisis as it requires low cost, less human resource and it is environment friendly as well as easy  to implement.<br />'' <br />'' On recommencing Public Transport with greater confidence of Commuters, the advisory said that public transport is the backbone in urban areas especially for the low and middle income commuters for which these services are the mainstay of their daily transit needs. It said, however, it is imperative at this stage that transmission of infection through usage of public transport should be curbed by adopting the right sanitization and social distancing measures.<br />'' <br />'' The Ministry said, the advisory has been issued in view of COVID-19 pandemic which has suddenly impacted the  way of life and  local, regional and global transport systems.<br />'' <br />''<br />''Referring to the evidence, the Ministry  said there is a steep drop in public transport ridership volumes by 90 per cent and upto  60 per cent  reduction in air pollution has been observed. It said, re-establishing the earlier level of ridership in public transport is a big challenge for cities, as people may be looking for more options especially personal modes that allow for safer travel in the post lockdown scenario. </span><br />