Fixing the transport puzzle in our cities

India's metros are buzzing with an array of transport services — buses, trains, taxis, autorickshaws, private cars, and lately the modern Metros. While the options are many, in reality, nothing seems enough and perfect to carry crores of commuters. It's obvous that no 'transport planning' ever takes place in any city. The Metro train fever has caught on but are they really needed everywhere? Let's explore.

Maximum City

Mumbai's transport services carry more than 1.25 crore people everyday. And the number of vehicles on roads has gone up from 16 lakh to 33 lakh in the last ten years. The local trains are the cheapest mode of transport. Commuters pay Rs 16 paise to Rs 44 paise per kilometre. Recently, the Maharashtra government and Indian Railways approved the Rs 54,777 crore Mumbai Urban Transport Project-3A (MUTP) that talks about the addition of new rail lines in Mumbai's metropolitan region. The work on a Rs 11,000 crore MUTP 3 is already underway.

There are also plans of procuring 250 AC trains (it could also be a combination of AC and non-AC coaches) in near future. Yet, more vehicles find their way on the roads everyday. There is a heavy influx of private cars and bikes as statistics show that in the last 8 years, the number of vehicles on road has risen by nearly 16 lakh. Of these the number of two-wheelers have increased by 102 per cent, while number of cars have gone up by 87 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of daily train commuters is increasing; the latest being 78 lakh. While that of BEST buses has dropped to 28 lakh from 42 lakh, there are other modes of transport like the taxis, autos, and Uber/Ola, which are also used heavily by people to commute.

The government has realised the importance of an alternative with metro rail a little too late. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is constructing 136 kms of Metro rail, presently of the total 265 kms planned for Mumbai and its metropolitan region. There is a genuine need for offices to be near stations to allow connectivity through pedestrian walkways and cycles.

Transport experts blame lack of planning — namely the development of offices, its access through public transport and pumping of funds in creating car-centric bridges and roads. Projects like the multi-crore Coastal Road and the Bandra-Versova Sea Link are examples of promoting private cars on road. Internationally, there are cities like London and Singapore that levy cess for getting private cars into the city, the need of which transport experts feel has arrived here as well.

Meanwhile, the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro line has given little respite with 4 lakh people traveling daily. However, this too is getting overcrowded and there is a serious need for augmenting Metro rail network.

The MMRDA plans to give additional construction rights to commercial or residential structures that come up in the 500 metre radius of the Metro stations. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) integrates land use and transport planning in a way that people use public transport the most. As per thumb rule, TOD is successful if people can reach their offices after walking for 800 metres or cycling for 3 kms.

"There is a need to densify area around railway and Metro stations with higher Floor Space Index (FSI) allowing taller buildings to house commercial offices. An ideal TOD would be if people are able to walk and cycle to their workplaces," said Dhaval Ashar, Urban Transport and Road Safety expert with World Resources Institute.

The MMRDA is currently executing four Metro corridors namely Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro-2A corridor, Andheri east-Dahisar east Metro-7 corridor, DN Nagar-Mandale Metro-2B, and Wadala-Thane Metro-4 corridor. Civil construction work on Metro-2A and Metro-7 is completed by 60-70 per cent which started in 2017. The MMRDA has already started bidding process for procurement of platform screen doors, rolling stocks and other several required facilities like escalators and lifts for the Metro stations.

The commercial operations of both these Metro corridors is expected to start in 2020, and the civil construction is expected to end by mid-2019. On the other hand, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) is executing the underground corridor between Colaba and Seepz.

City of Joy

The fire at Metro Rail on December 27, 2018, brought to the fore many loopholes in one of the most popular means of transport in the City of Joy. It exposed how ill-maintained and overused the rakes were.

Prima facie, the metro city has several means of transport with several combinations of comfort and affordability but fact remains that even if one of those fails, part of the transport system paralyzes, like the strike by app-cabs on December 27 which left hundreds of commuters stranded at various points of the city.

The ever-growing population of the city, along with the floating population has made it necessary that the government should come up with better means of transport and that simply building roads and flyovers is not enough. Vehicles often seen stranded on the 5-km long Maa flyover is a burning example. Flyovers merely shift the traffic logjam from one point to another.

People of Kolkata are eagerly waiting for the new Metro Rail routes across the city so that connectivity from New Town in the eastern fringes to Howrah via a part of the route under the river can be done in a matter of minutes. The proposed tram route in New Town is also likely to improve the situation.

Pink City

Jaipur Metro was planned as a medium category Metro design for a peak hour traffic of more than 25,000 passengers. However, after three years in the operation of phase 1, the Metro draws only around 22,000 passengers per day. Even the buses, operated by the local corporations, are insufficiently used with barely 1.5 lakh passengers daily. Sources said that the detailed project report of Jaipur Metro was based on faulty assumptions. "It was predicted on unrealistic population estimates that resulted in unreal passenger load projections. This was done intentionally in order to get a medium class Metro for the city while it would have only required a 'light' Metro," said an official.

The Jaipur Metro had been proposed in two phases, East-West and North-South corridor. Optimally, the longer North-South corridor should have been developed first. It connected the Jaipur airport with the walled city markets via the busiest commercial route in the city. The East-West corridor though came under development first because the then state government, under Ashok Gehlot, rooted for the smaller route which passed mostly through residential areas and could be completed before the Assembly elections. The second phase is still in the planning stage and even Phase I, which has just eight stations is incomplete.

Buses play an important role for the Pink City though there is a Metro rail line there. The Jaipur City Transport Service Limited (JCTCL), which started in 2008, ferries 1.5 lakh commuters on a daily basis, with its fleet of around 200 buses. However, this is insufficient and so private bus services fill the void.

"The city has a population of 50 lakh. The number of buses barely manage to serve a part of the city. To be fully able to provide comprehensive transportation another 200 buses are needed," an official said. The JCTCL is looking at procuring 40 electric buses that will reduce the carbon footprint. Maintenance of these buses is a big issue, which also affects the frequency of buses while the breakdown of buses is on a higher side.

In Jaipur, there is a 9.63-km long Metro line from Mansarovar to Chandpole Bazaar, which started from June, 2015. However, in these 3.5 years, the Metro rail has not been able to generate efficient transportation of public, which is barely 22,000 passengers per day. One of the primary reasons being that there is insufficient feeder connectivity using buses and autos from these Metro stations.

There were only 17 per cent commuters in the city using public transport services when the Jaipur Metro was envisaged, this has dropped to below 14 per cent now. The failure of authorities in the implementation of more viable schemes such as the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and lack of connecting feeder services make it an effort to use public transport.

Thus, the whole concept of TOD is poorly implemented.

Dandiya Land

In 2017-18, the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) reported 1,934 lakh commuters and BRTS flaunted 15 lakh users annually. Against which, there were 23 lakh new vehicles in city, according to the data by the regional transport office.

Presently, BRTS and AMTS cater to the public transport needs of around 8 lakh commuters daily. 

"Our public transportation is aimed to provide seamless and affordable commutation services to the citizens. Our buses and terminuses are giving safe and secure ferry," said Rakesh Shankar, transport manager, and deputy municipal commissioner of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

Still, only 15 per cent of the city's population uses public transport, including AMTS and BRTS. The workplaces of the commuters are within 5 km of area compared to other metro cities. When BRTS was conceptualised, it was estimated that it would carry around 6 lakh passengers daily, while at present it is carrying only 2 lakh commuters a day.

According to the official, the main reason of failure of BRTS is last-mile connectivity. "The BRTS covers 97 km in city. More than 220 buses are plying daily, while in AMTS more than 600 fleets run within and out of AMC's jurisdiction. But, there is no last-mile connectivity, which is why people are using private vehicles," said a senior official.

Recently, the civic body has introduced feeder buses to newly-developed areas. Mostly, the officer goers use private vehicles in the eastern and western part. Hence, during the peak hours, 9.30 am to 11 am and 6 pm to 8.30 pm, the city roads see traffic jams. Students, senior citizens and the working-class opt for the mass transport system. Due to the high number of vehicles in city, the administration has opened up many parking lots to provide off road parking facility.

AMC is planning an inter-transport hub, which will connect state transport, railway, Metro, AMTS, BRTS and upcoming bullet train. Metro has two phases, which will connect the north-south and east-west city.

AMTS is covering the entire city but it suffers due to frequency. BRTS has promised a bus after an interval of three minutes, which is also like a dream in Ahmedabad.

North-South Corridor: 18.87 km and 15 stations

East-West Corridor: 21.16 km and 17 stations

Estimated completion cost: Rs 10,773 cr

National Capital

As the national capital bursts at the seams with an exponentially growing population, basic amenities like public transport are left to bear the brunt, often leading to an acute shortage. While the capital boasts of an exhaustive Metro and a well-equipped Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) running its fleet of buses, the latter has often failed to provide a robust and kicking mode of commuting.

The DTC has been grappling with acute shortage of buses for the past few years, with the Delhi government making promises annually to augment the fleet. Currently, only 5,554 buses are plying on the roads of the Capital against the required number of 11,000 vehicles. These include 1,275 low-floor AC buses, 2,506 low-floor non-AC buses and 101 Green standard floor non-AC buses. Besides, these, 1,672 orange colour standard low-floor buses are also being operated under the Cluster Scheme, which was introduced in 2011 to replace the erstwhile Blue Line buses.

The Delhi government, that has been trying to increase its fleet, has hit one roadblock or the other over the years. According to the government, its "all-out efforts" to augment a bus fleet to meet the requirement of 11,000 buses was hindered due to non-availability of land for depots and repeated failure of tenders issued by the DTC for procurement of vehicles.

The Delhi cabinet had taken a decision on September 1 last year to induct 2,000 standard floor buses through procurement of 1,000 buses by the DTC and engagement of 1,000 vehicles under the Cluster Scheme.

However, the Delhi High Court had on June 1 this year stayed the implementation of this decision, which was at an advanced stage, and if the stay was vacated, 2,000 standard floor buses would be ready for induction.

In another Cabinet decision taken on May 18 this year, the government decided to procure an additional 2,000 low-floor buses which were likely to be procured by May 2020. The DTC board has also decided to procure 500 low-floor CNG buses.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has allotted 19 acres of land at Rohini phase five and five acres of land at Dwarka Sector 22 for bus depots. Two parcels of land in Bawana Industrial area were also purchased from the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (DSIIDC).

However, the millennium depot, where 1,200 buses could be parked, is stuck in a legal warp as the Supreme Court had directed that the depot cannot be used any more for parking till the DDA changed the land use.

The Delhi government has said that DDA has given its consent for the same, but the matter was pending before the National Green Tribunal.

The government claims that if the millennium bus depot complex and aforesaid two parcels of land are made available by the DDA along with additional 15 acres of land, it would be in a position to meet the depot space requirement for the fleet of 11,000 buses in Delhi.

Metro has eased travel financially as well as saving Delhi from the dreaded jams, especially during peak hours and rains when the entire city comes to a standstill. The minimum price for a ticket to any place in the Metro costs Rs 12. Definitely, the mode of commuting is favourite amongst large section as opposed to paying through one's nose in cabs. The private players charged Rs 8-15 per kilometre, depending on the kind of cab one has chosen.

"Metro turns out to be a far cheaper and safer transport for us at least. We can travel late night in ladies' coach and feel safe. This is not possible in DTC buses because they carry the same stigma of being unsafe," says Shruti Goyal, an architect who lives in Kalkaji.

OTHER METROS IN NCR

Rapid Metro: 12 km and 11 stations
Aqua Line: 29.70 km and 21 stations
A total of 1,930 coaches (as on March 31, 2018)

NO. OF VEHICLES REGISTERED

From April, 2017 to March 31, 2018: 7,20,519

2016-17  6,81,275
2015-16  6,73,932
2014-15  5,88,349
2013-14  5,29,566

SOURCE: DELHI METRO RAIL CORPORATION LTD, DELHI.GOV.IN

(Shashank Rao, Mehul Thakkar, Chhavi Bhatia, Gargi Raval, Abhishek Tiwari, Arshad Ali, and Avanindra Mishra)