Bangalore: A survey on mobility in five Indian metros, including New Delhi and Bangalore, has shown that Bangalore urgently needs to improve its public transport system in order to clear the traffic mess.
The survey was conducted by the Indian Institute of Science in coordination with prestigious institutes across the country, including the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore.
The survey explains why there is such a poor response to public transport in Bangalore and advocates improving public transport and road infrastructure.
Ashish Verma from the Civil Engineering Department of IISc, who led the survey team, said that the density of road network in Bangalore is much less than Delhi, both in terms of road network in metres per population and road network in kilometres per square kilometre area.
“At the same time the growth rate of cars per thousand population is much higher in Bangalore as compared to Delhi.
This explains to a large extent of the notorious road congestion of Bangalore, particularly during peak periods.
On the other hand, if we compare the public transport supply and usage in Bangalore and Delhi, we find that while the vehicle-kilometre of public transport (bus and metro), which designates the supply of public transport, is higher in Bangalore compared to Delhi, the actual usage in terms of passenger-kilometres is much less in Bangalore as compared to Delhi,” Verma said.
The survey also showed that Bangaloreans pay the most for public transport. The cost per 10 km for an ordinary bus in Bangalore is about Rs 14 whereas in Delhi it is Rs 10.
“Although the area of both the cities is comparable, the passenger km per person per day by public transport for Delhi is more than twice that of Bangalore, suggesting heavy usage of the metro service in Delhi. This presents an interesting fact that though Bangalore is supplying more transit kilometres, because of less reserved and prioritised transit, its usage is much below Delhi,” Verma said.
Ashwin Mahesh, member, ABIDe, said that if the city administration does not make walkable paths to the bus stops and does not increase the number of buses so that commuters are assured of a seat, the public transport system will not pick up in Bangalore.
“A majority of commuters prefer a car to the BMTC bus because of the pathetic condition of footpaths. When the approach path is unfit for walking, both BMTC and Metro will never be able to persuade car owners to shift to bus. The BMTC needs to increase the number of buses on dedicated stretches,” Mahesh said.
Emphasis on transit systems
Citing rising oil import costs, the survey lays emphasis on suburban rail network and Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).
India imports majority of its oil and the fuel consumption to production ratio has seen a decline over the last few years.
Also, the cost of 1 litre petrol in the country with respect to income is amongst the highest in the world.
It is 37% of the average daily income, whereas in countries such as US, Germany and Japan, it is less than 2%, the survey added.
“This clearly shows that a road based development of infrastructure in Bangalore, including flyovers and road widening will lead to disastrous and highly un-sustainable situation.
At the same time, to improve the transit usage, it is very clear that we need to have much higher levels of reserved or prioritised transit such as metro, BRTS, suburban rail in Bangalore,”said a member of the survey team.
The survey also points out that currently the length of reserved transit routes (metre) per 1000 population is only 0.82 metre in Bangalore.
“In the non-motorised modes, it is important to note that the share of bicycle trips in Bangalore is the lowest (about 5%) among all the 5 sample cities, whereas it is about 12% in Delhi. This is despite of the fact that Bangalore weather is the most conducive (among sample cities) for cycling and Bangalore has the highest green cover among the sample cities,” the member added.
