Surya Sugathan is a Transport Planner with four years of experience in transport research and advisory. She is currently a Senior Transport Planner at the Center of Excellence in Urban Transport (CoE-UT) where she contributes to multidisciplinary projects on sustainable mobility in Indian cities. 

Surya has been involved in projects such as the HVT Low Emission Zone in Core Areas of Indian Cities, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for Greater Ahmedabad, Bus Priority Measures in Indian Cities, and UK PACT Electrification of Public Transport in Ahmedabad.  Her work spans strategic transport plans, low-emission zones, integrated public transport systems, bus operations, electric mobility, and capacity-building initiatives. Currently, she is involved in strengthening the capacity of government agencies on transit-oriented development with the Asian Development Bank.

She holds a Master of Planning with specialization in Urban Transport Systems from CEPT University, Ahmedabad, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. Her interests lie in bus operations, electric mobility, integrated public transport, transport modelling, data analysis, and visualisation. She is actively engaged in formulating the technical framework of the project, preparing contents that demonstrate analytical depth and technical understanding, developing spreadsheet-based models for analysis and visualisation, and supporting the bid documentation for transport initiatives.