Public transport
…the indian way

Indian cities are traditionally known to be great users of public transportation. In fact, pedestrian ways and bicycles were the most common features of a typical Indian town. This is in sharp contrast to the car fetish of the West. But all that has changed—thanks to our current obsession with autos private-owned ones, of course. Pedestrians and cyclists have practically lost their share of the road. If you live in Delhi you already know that trying to find a footpath to walk on, in any part of the city, is like playing a game of treasure hunt! And next time you curse a cyclist who suddenly appears in front of your car, remember he would not have had to risk his life everyday just by riding to work if we had provided him a separate lane to drive on!

Big metros have a combination of differ-ent forms of transport systems – buses, sub-ways, suburban rails. Smaller cities have no public transport

But now lets get back to buses. First lets get the facts straight. A public transport bus occupies two times the road space of a car but can carry 20-40 times the number of passengers. So it pollutes less per passenger carried.

But today, public transport system is one of the most neglected sectors in our country.

Sample this. Only 12 cities—out of the 35 with million plus population—in India have formed city bus undertakings to provide dedicated bus services to the people. The big metros have a. The big metros have a combination of different forms of transport systems buses, subways, suburban rails. But most of the municipal authorities of the smaller cities have no public transport policy at all! People have to make do with vehicles that come in all shapes and sizes. From taxis and mini buses to three-wheelers and cycle rickshaws.

Buses—going bust ?
What is the most unpleasant chore in an average city dweller’s daily schedule? Surely, her trip back and forth from home to workplace, riding in an over-crowded bus. Yes, it’s a nighmarish experience. The buses are crammed far beyond capacity. They mostly negotiate extremely congested, narrow streets, with no separate rights-of-way, and drive their way through a mixed array of animal-drawn carts, minivans, cars, taxis, two and three-wheelers. Oooffff!

Why is the situation so desperately bad? Because the government has paid too little attention to these vehicles that ferry the mammoth entity called the Indian Public…

The impact of this short-sightedness is quite frightening. Every city has recorded a steady decline in the fleet of buses that are available for public use. Lets take Ahmedabad as an example. In 1990, it had almost 800 buses, or roughly 23 buses per 100,000 people. But by 2003, the city had barely 400 operational buses. The ratio now is less than 9 buses per 100,000 people.

A pretty dismal score, don’t you agree? The scenario is as bad in all other cities. Even in the metros. With the exception of Delhi, city transit companies in the other four metros have less than 3,000 buses catering to the swelling millions.

Add to this the agonisingly slow speed of these buses. You see, buses are the worse hit when roads get more and more congested and the traffic mixed—like I mentioned earlier—a confusing medley of cars, two wheelers and even bullock carts. They require longer time to complete one journey. And the frequency and efficiency of the service suffer.

The problems are now beginning to show. While travel demand in cities has grown phenomenally, number of passengers availing city bus services is on the decline. In Pune, for instance, bus occupancy has dropped from 64 per cent to 45 per cent in 2001. Which means nearly half of Pune Corporation buses are running empty!

Crossing over —a deadly trend
Now this is really dangerous. Why? Because people saying ‘no’ to public transport services can only mean that they are being forced to opt for private vehicles. Therefore, more cars or two wheelers on the roads—more congestion—more pollution.

Rail and bus take care of 88 percent of Mumbai’s travel demands.

This flow has to be stopped. And reversed. That is, the public must be encouraged to use public transport…and those who are moving away from it must be lured back into the fold. In other words, a whole new transport strategy has to be hammered out.

But before we discuss that, lets take a look at two of India’s most crowded metros to figure out the strong and the weak spots in our present system.

Mumbai: winner or loser?
The Mumbai Suburban Rail system carries an amazing 6.4 million passengers per day. There are three suburban tracts—Central, Western and Harbour—that link the central business districts of Bombay Island with the suburban areas in the north of the city.

But this system is a winner mainly because it blends in smoothly with the other forms of transport in the city. Bus services within Mumbai is provided by a public company, BEST, and carries over 4.5 million passengers per day. 60 percent of them use both the rail and the bus. A passenger can hop from one to the other, without having to travel long distances or waiting interminably for the next bus or train to appear. The two services take care of 88 per cent of the city’s travel demands.

So is everything hunky dory in amchi Mumbai? Nah…In fact, rail congestion there has reached crisis levels. And the rail authorities are not in a position to make the huge investments required to upgrade the infrastructure. This inspite of the fact, that the trains carry three times more passengers than their actual capacity. You see, suburban rail fares in Mumbai are among the lowest in the world!!

Delhi: DTC blues
In 1992, Delhi became the first Indian city to allow private operators in public transport. So now, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) — the state-owned operator—runs 3,200 buses from its own fleet, and contracts around 2, 600 buses from private contractors.

Yet, the public transport system in the capital remains one of the most haphazardly-managed ones among the metros.

DTCs woes are many. It has a gigantic band of employees, whose salaries eat up….hold your breath…91 per cent of its earnings! Does DTC require all of them? Experts say four persons per bus is enough, but the staff ratio in DTC is eleven persons per bus!!

Also, being a government-run agency it has to be politically correct and keep its fares as low as possible. So while, the private operators rake in as much as Rs 2,700 per bus, per day, DTC makes a paltry Rs 1320!No wonder, DTC is on a slippery slope, forever...

Next Page

1 2 3