Increasing urbanization, population growth and rising incomes have led to rapid growth of travel demand in Indian cities. The paper provides a modeling approach for forecasting urban travel demand and assessing public transport options for large metropolitan cities. A travel characteristics model is used to forecast the pattern of travel demand in Bangalore city up to the year 2014. The paper examines the scope of a public bus transport service and a mass rapid transit system for meeting the projected travel demand and thereby curtailing the growth of personal vehicles in the city.