Bengaluru woke up late in realising the importance of reliable public transport. Today, the city is struggling to provide an effective public transport infrastructure, while minimising private vehicle use, for a burgeoning mobile population.The Metro is functional, but was late in coming (2011). And the much-awaited Suburban Rail is still far from becoming operational. Besides, last-mile connectivity issues have not yet been resolved. Metro commuters easily fall back on private vehicles in a city already bursting at its seams, with about 90 lakh registered vehicles. Experts are now trying to figure out how to prevent two-tier and three-tier cities in Karnataka from following Bengaluru’s example. Plan and implement early, so that it is easier managed later, they suggest.
As per a March 2020 report by the Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC), public mobility in Bengaluru is 48 per cent and private mobility is 52 per cent, as against Mumbai’s public mobility of 80 per cent. This is clearly not sustainable from the perspective of a growing city. Public transportation is not just an idea of ensuring that an individual gets from Point A to Point B and back. It is a concept offering people convenient mobility access to work spaces, medical care, recreational opportunities and offers the flexibility of movement to reach intra-city destinations with the least discomfort.
Experts say a holistic approach is necessary to present a public transport infrastructure that is seamless and which can offer ease of movement across the urban centre without having to rely on private vehicles. Two major advantages of having an effective multi-modal public transport system are reducing air pollution with significantly lesser use of private vehicles, and reduction in road congestion with higher reliance on transport systems like Metro rail and buses running on clean, environment-friendly fuel.
Officials and experts say Bengaluru’s failure is because of a lack of coordination between agencies, too many ideas on the table, lack of clarity in implementation, wrong choices in execution of projects, and lack of foresight when the city was growing. This should not be replicated in tier-2 cities,
they feel.According to a customer survey conducted by CHALO and PGA Labs, bus passengers return to private vehicles or other modes like sharing autos due to crowding during peak hours, poorly maintained buses and increasing dissatisfaction. The same commuters were found to be eager to return to public transport if reliability was guaranteed.
INHERENT PROBLEMS
Recently, the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) announced introducing a “6-6-6 model”, wherein within six minutes, one can get public transport like a bus or a taxi, or be able to reach the nearest public transport, or pedal to the nearest public transport. Although the idea was from experts and is part of the Urban Mobility Bill, its execution is a problem as Bengaluru roads are still not spruced up to meet the challenge. “To address last-mile connectivity, more buses, smaller ones and better electric vehicles need to be introduced. Many suggestions are made to the government, but final implementation and approvals are very few and delayed, which is causing the problem,” says a transport official.
Social activist and president of the Dakshina Kannada District Bus Operators Association, Dilraj Alva, says, “If we look at the data, buses dominate daily travel, with almost 50 per cent of the market share. But, if you take passengers’ opinions, most will have multiple complaints about the condition of buses, staff, and frequent cancellations. In simple words, a passenger’s experience in most cities is unpleasant. People move to private vehicles to regulate their travel time and experience.”
He says in metro cities, parking a private vehicle is a challenge and, if there is an option of convenient public transport, people would choose it. “One of the key reasons, we believe, more and more people are moving away from public transport is because the infrastructure — bus routes, frequency, timings, etc., do not correspond to the changing city layouts. Tech-led solutions in public transport systems that can link the multiple modes of transport or help passengers plan their journey can significantly improve customer experience,”
he says.
PLAN EARLY
Vinay Javali, a businessman and transport expert from Hubballi, says long-term vision will definitely help promote public transport and it requires extra capital investment too. The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) is a good project for a growing two-tier cities like Hubballi-Dharwad, and the authorities should clear bottlenecks to reduce traffic congestion at junctions. Besides, Metro rail should be planned early on in tier-II cities and should connect suburban areas, nearby villages where labourers stay, with industrial areas. It will reduce travel time and provide cheaper transport, he says.
Urban transport expert Sanjeev V Dymannavar says that as cities expand, it is important to ensure early and continuous improvements, and regular investment in public transport systems will bring down congestion on roads. To achieve that, incentives for the public to use public transport must be ensured while ushering disincentives for using private vehicles, like higher parking fees. Interest-free loans can be offered to public transport corporations, he says, adding that running expenditure can be reduced by reducing taxes on fuels, property tax, and increasing non-fare revenues from the public transport corporations.
Secondly, poor integration of multi-modal public transport is a reason for failure in providing effective public transport. “More affordable public transport and costly private transport will encourage people to willingly embrace public transport. The best example is the BRTS system in Hubballi-Dharwad, which has provided a very good public transport in the twin cities,” he says.
(With inputs from Bosky Khanna & S Lalitha in Bengaluru; Divya Cutinho in Mangaluru; Arunkumar Huralimath in Hubballi; Udaya Kumar B R in Hassan; Ramkrishna Badseshi in Kalaburagi; Prakash Samaga in Udupi; and G Subhash Chandra in Davangere/Chitradurga)