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INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & MANAGEMENT KOLKATA

4th Semester

1st Mid-Semester Examination

Integrated Transportation and Business Logistics Management

PROJECT REPORT

On

Impact of Autos and Buses in completing an integrated transport network for passenger

movement in relation to Railways and Metro

SUBMITTED BY: SUROJEET BASAK

Roll No: PGDM/2013/043

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ROAD NETWORK AND TRAVEL CHARACTERISTICS

1.1 ROAD NETWORK

NETWORK CHARACTERISTICS

A detailed inventory of 308 km. of road network has been compiled through primary surveys and earlier studies (refer Table 1). The road network inventory data has been analysed in terms of type of road, Right of Way (RoW), carriageway, service lane availability, on-street parking and speed.

TABLE 1: SALIENT NETWORK CHARACTERISTICS OF MAJOR ROADS

No. of Lanes Length (km) Percentage Divided Length (km)

Undivided Length (km)

2 84.6 27.5 0.0 84.6

3 24.6 8.3 0.0 25.6

4 139.9 45.4 17.3 122.6

6 57.9 18.8 16.8 41.1

Total 308.0 100.0 34.1 273.9

OBSERVATIONS

The following characteristics are observed from existing road network study: • 27.5 per cent of the network has two lane carriageways; 8.3 per cent has three lane

carriageways; 45.4 per cent of the road length is of 4 lanes; 18.8 per cent road network has 6 lane or above configuration.

• 273.9 km (89 per cent) of the road length in the study area has undivided carriageway. • On-street parking results in loss of carrying capacity of the road network. It is observed that

all major roads have on-street parking which reduces the effective carriageway width for traffic movement. The average road width for 4 lanes is 14 meters of which 3 meters on each side are being used for on-street parking leaving only 8 meters for vehicular traffic (refer Annexure 1)

• The absence of sidewalks on major corridors and wherever available they have been occupied by the hawkers, this has resulted towards the pedestrian being forced to share the carriageway intended for vehicular movement (refer Annexure 1)

1.2 TRAFFIC

TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS

Traffic characteristics help in understanding the correlation between spatial character and the movement pattern. This understanding is essential for identifying the present conditions and constraints, eliciting proper policies and strategies, selecting relevant systems and designing the individual components of the system. The study for traffic characteristics has been carried out on 28 major corridors (refer Table 2). OBSERVATIONS

• The maximum fast moving traffic flow on Park Circus Road and V. I. P. Road having 1,11,080 and 1,01,208 PCU (passenger car unit) respectively are the links between the CBD, Salt Lake, Rajarhat and Airport with the rest of the city.

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• The highest number of slow moving traffic is on NH – 34 and 35 which passes through Barasat – an area highly congested due to conflicting traffic mix, on-street parking and narrow carriageway which adversely affects the speed.

• GT Road also has a high ratio of slow moving traffic as it passes through Howrah which is a very densely populated area with no infrastructure for pedestrians. The existing traffic mix, on-street parking and narrow carriageway also adversely affect the speed.

TABLE 2: TRAFFIC VOLUME COUNTS ON THE MAJOR CORRIDORS OF KMA

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TRIP DISTRIBUTION IN KOLKATA METROPOLITAN AREA

The study area relies heavily on road based transportation, as evident from the fact that only 20 per

cent of the trips are non-road based. Public and private owned bus lines have 45 per cent share, 23

per cent by Auto Rickshaw/Taxi, 11 per cent by personalized vehicle and 2 per cent on foot. 16 per

cent trips are served by suburban railways (including 0.14% share of circular railway) and 2 per cent

each by metro and ferries.

The existing land under transportation use is only 6% as compared to a minimum of 15-18% as prescribed in the UDPFI (Urban Development Plans Formulation & Implementation) guidelines. Since the road density cannot be increased to meet this standard in the existing urban environment, the only feasible option to facilitate the mobility within the study area, is to develop non-road based mass transit system.

2.1 METRO RAIL

Kolkata Metro is the first rail based urban mass transit system in India. The project was conceived in 1969 and subsequently came into existence in February, 1979. The first Metro train came into operation between Esplanade and Bhowanipur (now Netaji Bhawan) for a stretch of 3.4 km on 24th October, 1984 and served an average 13,085 passengers per day. The complete section of Metro Rail from Dum Dum to Tollygunj for a total length of 16.45 km, came into revenue service on 27th September 1995. There are 17 stations (15 underground and 2 at grade) and 196 trips operating on an average weekday, 170 trips on Saturdays, 64 trips on Sundays and 132 trips on holidays. On Sundays, the trains operate only in the second shift from 2 p.m. to 9.45 p.m. at headway of 10-15 minutes which consists of 8 coaches, each carrying 326 passengers and the total maximum carrying capacity of each train is 2558 passengers. The maximum speed of Metro Rail system is 55 km/hr. and the average speed is 30 km/hr. Total travel time for the entire stretch is 31 minutes.

Buses 44%

Auto Rickshaw/Taxi 23%

Suburban/ Circular Rail

16%

Personalised Vehicle

11%

Metro/Tram 2%

Pedestrian 2%

Ferry 2%

Figure 1: Trip Distribution in KMA

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The growth of passengers in Metro Railway since 1985-86 to 2007-08 has been given below:

TABLE 3: GROWTH IN PASSENGER VOLUME IN METRO RAILWAY

OBSERVATIONS

The decade 1986 to 1996 has seen a sudden increase in passenger growth in metro. This sudden increase can be attributed to the fact that the complete stretch of present Metro Railway from Dum Dum to Tollygunj was open to public from 1995.

From 1996 till date, the passenger growth rate has been declining. There are various reasons which explain the above fact.

o The metro alignment has not been extended from the time it came into revenue service.

o Total absence of feeder service. o The two railway stations, Howrah and Sealdah that have the largest share of

passengers have not been integrated with the metro system. o Operation and maintenance of the system is extremely poor. o It is being run on suburban railway system and not as urban Mass Transit system.

The benefits of Metro Rail can be summarized as:

Requires 1/5th energy per passenger kilometres.

Causes less noise, no air pollution and eco-friendly transport system.

Occupies no road space, if underground and only about 2.60 meters width of the road, if

elevated.

More reliable, comfortable and safer than road based systems.

Reduces journey time.

Offers point to point service.

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When quantified to some extent the following table shows the saving in terms of revenue

considering the social and economic costs.

TABLE 4: METRO RAIL BENEFITS

2.2 CIRCULAR RAIL

A rail mass rapid transit system for Kolkata was examined several times since 1947, some committees recommended extension of the suburban sections into the city. This was with the view to enable the suburban passengers to come directly into the city by trains instead of terminating their journey at the two important terminals at Sealdah and Howrah and taking other modes of transport to enter the city. Other committees favoured a rapid transit system to serve the needs of intra-city passengers. The Government of India eventually decided to build an underground mass rapid transit system connecting Dum Dum with Tollygunj. However, the Government of West Bengal considered that in addition to the Metro, suburban dispersal lines were also necessary and would be complementary to the Metro rather than competitive in nature. After examining the matter in greater detail, the Kolkata Terminal Facilities Committee 1947 (Ginwala Committee) recommended construction of the so-called 'Circular Railway' for Kolkata consisting of following 5 sections:

A surface railway from Dum Dum Junction to Chitpur (a distance of 3 miles).

An elevated railway from Chitpur to Fairlie Place over the Port Commissioners Railway along the River Hooghly (a distance of 3.07 miles of which approx. 2.81 miles would be elevated and 0.26 miles would be at grade level under the approach of the Howrah Bridge).

Elevated railway from Fairlie Place to Hastings (a distance of 2.2 miles)

Elevated railway from Hastings through the Kidderpore Docks to Majerhat, where it would meet the southern suburban line of the Bengal Assam Railway (a distance of 2.46 miles) and from Majerhat via Kankurgachi Chord on the existing Bengal Assam Railway line.

Back to Dum Dum Junction (a distance of 11.18 miles, completing the circle of 21.91 miles at Dum Dum Junction).

The Committee further recommended that the Circular Railway should be elevated from Chitpur to Majerhat. In addition, the committee recommended several connections to link the Circular Railway to the main line.

The Circular Railway was commissioned in 1984 and its line provides direct access to the Central Business District (CBD). The line did not prove to be popular as it was a single line run by diesel-hauled trains requiring a transit penalty for passengers entering from the suburban north section.

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The number of passengers who utilize the Circular Railway to the CBD was only 20,000 passengers per day. A decision was taken to extend the Circular Railway by 4.9 km from Prinsep Ghat to Majerhat and this was sanctioned in the year 1999/2000 at a cost of Rs. 1,170 million. This is the missing link in the Circular Railway connecting Dum Dum - Prinsep Ghat and Majerhat - Ballygunge - Dum Dum. It diverts the suburban locals originating from the north section to the Circular Railway to the western section of the Line (Dum Dum - Prinsep - Majerhat) thus avoiding the 'saturated' Sealdah Station. The extension of this line to make it operate as a circular railway in the real sense has not been very effective as it remains a single line. This provides a capacity constraint, restricting the number of trains to 10 each way in the morning and evening during peak hours. This provides a single line track with 3.3 km on viaduct to minimize the extent of land acquisition in the heavily built up locality and to avoid surface road crossings. Against a train capacity of 2,600 passengers (9 coaches per train), 3,600 passengers travel during the morning peak hours, therefore running at 38% over-capacity. In addition to the Prinsep-Majerhat line extension, a project to connect Dum Dum Cantt. Station to Netaji Subhash Bose International Airport was completed and opened to traffic in September 2006. This is a 3.8 km extension and includes two elevated sections and runs at grade to UK Dutta Road and then on an elevated structure to the airport passing through Jessop, Jessore Road, VIP Road, and the domestic terminal road. Although there is a railway link connecting airport, but it is not being utilized because of lack of integration with the airport.

2.3 BUS SERVICES

In KMA there are several providers of bus services, both in public and private sectors. Private and minibuses are operated by individual operators. Following are the bus service providers from the Public Sector:

• Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC); • Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC); • West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC); • South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC); • North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC)

In the private sector, there are a large number of passenger bus and minibus operators with a small fleet each (often one or two buses each) plying on routes as specified by the Transport Department. Besides these, chartered buses carry a large number of passengers in the metropolitan area. Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC), Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC), West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC) operates mainly in KMA. CTC provides bus services in addition to tram services. WBSTC is the provider of ferry services across the River Hooghly as well as bus services. The other transport providers, South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) and North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) operate long distance buses with Kolkata as one of the terminal points.

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OBSERVATIONS

• There is institutional fragmentation in the provision of passenger bus services. CSTC, CTC (bus services) and WBSTC are all state owned and operated bus services. CTC, which primarily was provider of tram services for over a century has also started providing passenger bus services since 1978.

• The bus sector in Kolkata has a large number of small operators who offer their services in an unorganized manner.

• The lack of organization of the disparate operators leads to the absence of any form of control in terms of passengers carried or fares paid. On the one hand this encourages fares to be pocketed by drivers or conductors; on the other hand, no true idea of taxes to be paid is given.

• The high number of obsolete or extremely old buses in operation is a major cause of congestion, pollution and traffic accidents. This situation is made even more serious due to the non-existence of obligatory mechanical revisions and absence of a culture of preventive fleet maintenance within the private companies. In all cases, these scenarios of urban transport impose a heavy cost on society.

West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC) and South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) mostly provide services between suburban area and the city. WBSTC links the city to different Ferry Ghats within as well as outside Kolkata. SBSTC had a fairly strong presence in the city service few years back, but the number of buses with service within Kolkata is now limited. CSTC is the largest government owned Bus Company serving the city of Kolkata. The organization was established in 1949. During 1960's, CSTC enjoyed almost total monopoly of bus services in Kolkata, but now its share of services has fallen considerably. CSTC also provides long distance bus services to and from Kolkata. CSTC has a strong infrastructural base with 11 Depots and one Central Workshop to support the bus services. CTC bus services have started playing an important role in passenger transportation in Kolkata since their inception in 1992. CTC has different route types, one being routes within the city and the other routes connect the city with suburbs. Apart from normal bus services, there are some Express and Super Express services running between the city and suburbs. Private buses in Kolkata have the major share of passenger traffic. Currently, the total number of routes is 253 with an aggregate route length of 2932 km. The total estimated bus-km of services provided by them on an average weekday is about 2.89 lakh.

Mini buses in Kolkata are privately owned and operated. There are 71 mini bus routes with a total route length of about 9,784 km. About 1,150 buses provide about 114,400 bus-km of services per day. Kolkata minibus services are under the administrative control of Regional Transport Authority of Kolkata. In addition, on an average weekday about 140 mini buses come from Howrah to Kolkata. These buses are operated under the administrative control of Regional Transport Authority, Howrah. However, their service coverage in Kolkata is fairly limited.

All bus routes mentioned above are under the administrative control of Regional Transport Authority, Kolkata. Apart from these buses, about 809 buses under the administrative control of

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Howrah Regional Transport Authority provide passenger services between Kolkata and Howrah as regular city services.

2.4 BUS TERMINALS AND BUS SHELTERS

The bus transit system in KMA is the most important mode of mass transit in KMA carrying 78 per cent of the total daily trips (India Infrastructure Report, 2007). The bus service is adversely affected by lack of adequate and appropriate bus terminal and depot. Poorly designed existing terminals and bus stops with inadequate capacity at conflicting locations have resulted in congestion on the carriageway. The buses starting from Howrah bus terminal create traffic congestion in front of the railway station entry point. The existing practice of parking along the bus stops on the carriageway aggravates the problem for movement of the traffic.

CHARACTERISTIC OF EXISTING BUS TERMINALS Following are the existing terminals in the Central areas of Kolkata and Howrah

Esplanade Bus terminus

Babughat Bus terminus

Howrah Station Bus Terminus

Sealdah Station Bus Terminus

OBSERVATIONS

All the above terminals in the central area are operating above their existing capacity.

The long distance bus routes operating from the Esplanade bus terminus and the Howrah station Bus terminus need to be moved out of the city due to their conflicting location.

Land is not available for further expansion of the bus terminals.

Majority of the bus terminals in the KMA are inadequately designed with no civic amenities for the passengers.

Majority of the bus and mini bus routes end at on–street bus stops adversely affecting the movement of other vehicles on the carriageway.

The existing depots and terminals lack proper basic infrastructure such as safe embarking and disembarking facilities, toilets, drinking water, and eateries, ticketing system, clean and hygienic waiting room/halls.

2.5 AUTO RICKSHAWS

About 20,000 Taxis, 38,000 Auto rickshaws and 26,000 cycle rickshaws operate daily within the KMA.

TABLE 5: MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS WITHIN KMA

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OBSERVATIONS

The increase in the number of auto rickshaws and taxis is 5.5 per cent per year this puts severe environmental concerns for the KMA.

While the use of eco-friendly hand driven cycle rickshaw is declining, these cycle rickshaws should be replaced by better non-motorized ones rather than making them extinct.

Absence of authorized auto rickshaw stands or taxi stands has resulted in parking of these para-transits on the carriageway causing bottleneck.

A survey was conducted by the daily newspaper The Times of India, Kolkata and Synovate according to which 68 per cent of the respondents want auto rickshaws to be banned from the main roads. (The Times of India, 21 January 2008)

The Para-transit modes have become competing in nature to the bus system, MRTS and the tram service in the core city area.

The Para-transit modes use adulterated fuel (petrol/diesel mixed with kerosene) to overcome the ever-increasing fuel cost which has major health ramification.

One of the major areas of concern is the overloading of three wheeler auto-rickshaws as their occupancy rate is 5 against the design capacity of 3.

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PROBLEMS AND ISSUES

Congestion, parking problems and non-integrated Mass Rapid Transit System with obsolete technologies and aged fleet are some of the common issues of KMA. In the absence of proper governance, time to time policy formulation and implementation has not been done in the recent decades. The chapter summarizes some of the issues and problems of the existing transportation infrastructure in KMA. This has been consciously done to provide a streamlined unidirectional approach for the proposals. ROAD NETWORK

• Only 5 % of the KMA land is under transportation use. • Traffic congestion and low speed. • Absence of ring road in the KMA, no high-speed alternate route available to bypass the

congested core area. • Uncoordinated road infrastructure planning. • Inadequately designed and maintained carriageways and intersections. • Lack of traffic facilities (e.g., traffic signals and U-turns).

MASS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM (METRO RAIL)

• Underutilised. • The MRTS system in KMA does not provides point to point connectivity. • Poorly managed metro system has very low mean distance between failure, old

technology and very poor headway. • No integration of the metro with other surface transit modes. • No dedicated senior management cadre. • Metro is not a focus area of the parent body which is Ministry of Railway.

CIRCULAR RAIL

• Coaches used for the suburban trains are out-dated and need to be upgraded. • The trains run overloaded beyond capacity also the seating facilities are inadequate. • There are no rest room facilities at any of the suburban stations. • There is no provision of public convenience in coaches used for suburban trains. • Long waiting time at Ticketing Booth • Bottleneck situation at Chandmari and Banaras Bridge

BUS SERVICE

• Lack of coordination between operating agencies. • Obsolete and poorly maintained bus fleet. • Lack of bus terminals resulting in on-street parking of the buses. • Routes not rationalized. • Bus stops are not properly located. • Poor level of service in terms of the carrying capacity of each bus and the strength of the

bus fleet. • Bus drivers abuse traffic rules.

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FUTURE TRAVEL AND TRANSPORT DEMAND

POPULATION PROJECTION

A study of the demographic structure of the population gives an insight into the appropriate development approach for the area. Demographic analysis provides an insight into the past trends in population growth and based on the reasons for the growth trend in the past, the future population growth can be projected. These projections are critical for transportation planning and the success of the transportation plans depends on considering the future demand due to increase in the population.

TABLE 6: PROJECTED POPULATION FOR KMA (IN MILLION)

The future population indicates that the population of the KMA is likely to increase from its present size of 16.69 million to 17.2 million in 2011, to 19.9 million in 2021, and to 21 million in 2025. The transport infrastructure of KMA has to be expanded and improved to meet the travel demand of the future population in efficient and effective manner. There is no choice but to increase mass transit usage – not buses – but improve Tram and heavy rail mass transit.

FUTURE SPATIAL STRUCTURE AND TRAVEL DEMAND In addition to the projected population, future travel demand in the KMA will depend on a number of factors including the economic growth and subsequent growth in employment opportunities, the existing spatial structure of the city and the direction of spatial growth in future, etc. The present growth trend of the KMA is such that new activity centres are being developed outside the metropolitan core (KMC) in the suburban areas. This has propagated growth of new settlement areas in the form of small townships in the suburban areas, namely Rajarhat and Dankuni Townships. Although this has helped to decentralize the city core to some degree, the core city area continues to exert a strong pull pressure on the suburban areas. This is because all major institutes and commercial areas are located in this area. A majority of the trans-river traffic is also gets attracted to the core city area since four out of the five trans-river bridges of the KMA are located in the KMC. Also, all trade and commerce activities are concentrated in the core city area. Therefore, the dependency on the core city for educational, health facilities and for trans-river connectivity remains intact. Hence, the future development strategy would be to decentralize the core city area by creating self-sufficient suburban areas and to channelize the future growth to these areas. During the last few years, the economic development prospects of the KMA have improved to a significant extent. The KMA has gained attention of national and multi-national companies for business investment and is fast becoming a major destination of IT as well as real estate sector. This large scale investment, increase in the income and affordability of the people along with the increase in the production of low-cost small cars; will have an incremental effect on the vehicular growth in the KMA.

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MOTORIZED VEHICLES PROJECTION The present average annual growth of fast motorized vehicles in KMA is 8.64%. Due to the growing traffic, the roads are getting overloaded. In future, the effort would be to encourage usage of various modes of public transportation, which would decrease the growth of personal vehicles, decongest the city and help in managing the environmental degradation. Substantial improvement programme of the level of service offered by the Metro with an outreach programme, buses and other modes of public transportation would reduce the dependency on private vehicles. Thus, it is projected that the motorized vehicles are likely to grow at a rate of 5 per cent per annum, from the present growth rate of 8.6 per cent.

TABLE 7: PROJECTED GROWTH OF REGISTRATION ON MOTORIZED VEHICLES IN KMA

TRANSIT PASSENGERS PROJECTION

The transit passengers are likely to increase at the rate of 3 per cent. It is estimated that the total transit trips by all modes of transit vehicles will be about 235 lakhs per day in 2011 and in 2025, it will be 322 lakh per day. To accommodate an increase of almost 100 lakh trips per day, a two-fold strategy needs to be adopted. Firstly, the existing road network needs to be urgently upgraded and augmented. Secondly, the usage of public transport needs to be increased by establishing an efficient and inter-linked public transportation system, through bus, light rail transit (LRT), metro rail, trams, ferry etc., which would help in reducing the congestion.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The strength of KMA is that it has a strong ‘public transport travel culture’. People of all economic classes prefer to use public transport more than private vehicles. This is reiterated from the fact that 80 per cent of the total passenger volume uses public transport for commuting. This culture needs to be promoted further by improvising this mode of travel by providing better infrastructure and services in terms of frequency. Also, a better inter modal integration is desired to facilitate travel with higher level and comfort of accessibility and this is the goal of this Comprehensive Mobility Plan – 90 per cent of the total passenger volume would use public transport by the year 2025. Since transportation is the most important urban facility for the KMA and its hinterland, immediate redressal of the transportation issues are critical to improving the productivity of the city. During the past several decades, there have been some investments in development of transportation network for the different modes. However, these were mostly addressed to individual component development without considering the mobility of the city as one single issue. To meet the future demand (2025: 27 million per day), there is a need to establish an integrated transportation system for supporting the new growth such that all operational modes of transportation function in a complementary manner. The goal for increasing mobility in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) is “to develop a balanced, integrated and multi-modal transportation system which provides equity, accessibility and mobility to all users, thereby serving the existing and future needs of the KMA in a sustainable manner”, yielding the greatest good, not only from a transportation standpoint but also for the overall quality of life for the users and residents.

STRATEGY

FIGURE 2: COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY FOR ENHANCING MOBILITY

Dispersal of metropolitan activity from the core of the city is needed to evolve a decentralised structure of development. For achieving a dispersed metropolitan structure and to reduce congestion, the development strategy in transportation will involve the following actions:

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Better connectivity between the different employment centres in KMA and the new settlement areas outside the Metro core, would be established.

Decongesting the city core by effective utilisation of the by-passes and connecting roads

Traffic management strategies like restricting the movement of vehicular traffic in specific areas during specific hours of the day and banning the entry of cars in such areas, would be considered to bring down the congestion level. This action would be supplemented with high frequency transit services in the area and provision of parking facilities in the periphery of the restricted zones. Higher parking fees on the existing parking facilities will discourage the vehicular traffic.

The existing wholesale trading centre in core and adjoining areas would be gradually relocated to the periphery of the Metro core by setting up Integrated Freight Complexes (IFCs) at appropriate locations on the periphery of KMA, having road connectivity with the railway goods terminals and the ports. The IFCs would serve the following functions: • To provide facilities for regional and intra-urban freight movement • To provide facilities for freight in transit as well as interchange of mode • To provide warehousing and storage facilities and interlink these sites with specialized

markets • To provide servicing, loading and boarding, parking, restaurants and other related

functions in the complex.

PRIORITY TO PUBLIC TRANSIT

Whilst a majority of the passengers in the KMA use public transport, due to the poor service level and lack of interlinking modes, people are left with no choice but to shift from public to private modes. The operations of Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) would be improved for increased mobility, enhanced safety and reduced congestion. This would be achieved through a number of measures such as:

• The number of buses and minibuses would be increased, high capacity buses would be introduced and the routes would be extended to cater to the peripheral areas also.

• The railway network would also be extended and the services intensified so that the areas within the metropolis are served by the railway system.

• Freight and passenger movement would be segregated for ease and convenience. Regular maintenance of such corridors would be given priority so that the journeys of passengers become more comfortable and safe. To ensure fast movement of transit vehicles, on street parking along major transit corridors would be banned.

• The existing transfer points between the different modes of passenger transport viz. road, rail and water would be provided with passenger dispersal facilities such as parking areas for surface transit vehicles, exclusive right of way for movement of passengers, proper channelization of vehicular traffic, among others.

• The existing ferry services would be strengthened by providing more number of vessels, improved jetties and better dispersal facilities for passengers. The ferry services would be intensified at locations along the desired trans-river passenger routes. Ferry services between Serampore – Barrackpore and Chandannagar – Bhatpara are likely to have excessive growth of passengers in future years, therefore the ferry services have to be augmented to meet the future increase in demand. Also, a number of new ferry crossing points would be developed in KMA.

• Efforts would be made to introduce integrated route structure of all the transit modes with particular attention to provide feeder bus and tram routes to metro rail and suburban rail stations.

• The development of Light Rail Transit (LRT) by redeveloping the existing tram system and linking it with the existing circular rail corridors would establish connectivity with new areas within the KMA and would increase the mobility of the city.

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RECOMMENDATIONS • A balanced, integrated and multi-modal transportation system, which provides equity,

accessibility and mobility to all users thus serving the existing and future needs of the KMA.

• An environmentally sensitive transportation system that supports existing and future patterns of land development enhances the quality of life in the KMA.

• A transportation system that stimulates economic development, and establishes a spirit of commitment to interagency coordination.

ENHANCE MOBILITY – INTEGRATING ALL MODES OF TRANSPORT The Plan aims at providing seamless transfer of passengers across different modes of travel. It is therefore, proposed that the different modes operating in Kolkata function in unison. To increase the efficiency of the transportation system, time-bound synchronisation between different modes of travel would be planned such that more and more people are lured into using public transport and the journey from the place of origin to the destination becomes one single trip rather a number of successive trips. The coordination between the transportation modes should also be complemented by availability of multiple affordable travel options at each interchange. At the operational level, the different modes would be integrated by

• Point of Interchange – The ‘Point of Interchange’ across all transportation modes would be designated in the city. Each point would have multiple choices of public transit modes for the commuter to access.

• The mobility in KMA would be enhanced by having Transit Oriented Development (TOD) around ‘Points of Interchange’ of the mass transit modes, i.e. higher density mixed–use around transport nodes which would result in reduced time to travel, increase in usage and cost-efficiency of public transport. The resultant high density areas shall have access to adequate Fire and Emergency Services which would prove effective for fire prevention, fire fighting and safe evacuation measures to life and property.

• Synchronizing Operational Timing – In order to provide the commuter with ‘a single travel experience’, the timing of each mode would be synchronized at the point of interchange. This would also facilitate effective passenger dispersal at the transportation nodes.

• Higher Frequency Schedule at Peak Hours - The frequency of the public transit modes would be higher during the peak hours.

• Allocating movement corridors for each mode according to the traffic volume on the different routes – Routes would be categorized according to their congestion level depending on the Volume Capacity Ratio (V/C) of each route. The modes of public transport operating on each route would be according to the volume of traffic on each route and the need for congestion mitigation. This would also ensure that each mode is optimally utilized and its operations are financially sustainable.

MASS TRANSIT BY METRO, SUBURBAN RAIL, CIRCULAR RAIL, LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT (LRT)/TRAMS, BUS SERVICE, INTRA PARA TRANSIT MODES (IPT) AND FERRIES

• Extension of proposed East West metro corridor from Howrah to Dankuni via Santragachi and Salt Lake to Barasat via Airport using two alignments one through the VIP Road and one through Rajarhaat

• Extension of North South metro corridor from Tollygunj to Thakurpukur • Study should be carried out to link the airport with the East -West corridor. • All new metro stations should be designed to handle 8 to 10 coaches of metro train. • Establishing missing links of suburban rail and route rationalization • Circular Rail - establishing the missing links

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• Tram– new north-south elevated corridor, LRT system within Rajarhaat • Trams – upgrading the existing level of service, • School Special Trams: These would be operated to provide safe and environment

friendly mode of travel and reduce the traffic congestion during the peak hours. • Bus Service – Route rationalization, improving the level of service, change in technology

– hybrid engine buses and use of environmental friendly fuel • IPT – Phase out existing auto rickshaws with electric powered cabs, designate operating

zones for IPTs • Ferries – Increase in the number of jetties and up gradation of temporary jetties to

permanent, increase in speed and frequency of service for trans-river connectivity and for connectivity along the river bank, rejuvenate the canal system and extend the ferry services within the canal.

• Unified Ticketing System – There would be a provision of purchasing a single ticket (credit based) for using all modes of public transport. Unified Ticketing System would be successful in the KMA because the transport network is so complex that no one element on its own can facilitate complete journeys and each journey requires one or more changes. There would be a discount component involved in using the unified ticket over single-mode tickets.

• Disabled friendly design- All Mass Transit infrastructure would be disable-friendly. The design should be for universal access providing high level of customer service especially to the elderly, mobility impaired and disabled. The following reference standards, regulations and codes would be utilized; o Indian Disablity Act 1995 o National Building Code o Guidelines and space standards for barrier free built environment for disabled and

elderly persons – 1998, C.P.W.D., Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, India o American for Disabilities Act (ADA) o ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities(ADAAG), 1998 o International Building Code

ROAD NETWORK The Plan envisages facilitating faster and convenient movement of people and goods and not vehicles. The recommendations of this Plan aim at promoting mass transit modes of movement which would move the larger mass of commuters and simultaneously limit the increase of traffic volume on the roads. Trade and commerce based activities are the lifeline of Kolkata’s economy and these depend heavily on the freight movement. The Plan facilitates freight movement by providing alternate routes of movement for freight movement and segregating domestic and freight traffic to the extent possible. Freight movement would also be supported by various traffic management strategies for achieving more efficiency. The recommendations are as follows:

o Construction of missing links of the outer ring road (bypass). o Strengthening the east-west corridor (new arterial roads) o Facilitating traffic movement through construction of new flyovers, entry/exit ramps to

access the existing flyovers. o Loading and unloading from and to the market areas should be enforced during the night

only. o Road widening and strengthening o Traffic engineering measures at appropriate places

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TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE – BUS (INTER AND INTRA) AND FREIGHT TERMINALS

Freight terminals would be located on the outskirts of the city near the highways and rail heads with mass transit connectivity.

Inter City Bus Terminals would be located in the outskirts of the KMA, preferably away from the core city area and near the mass transit connectivity.

Appropriate locations for bus terminals would be identified within the study area to overcome the on-street parking menace.

All bus terminals would have access to the mass transit, be facilitated with infrastructure like information bureau, eateries, toilets, etc.

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Annexure 1

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