Will new agency finally unify Chennai’s transport services?
CHENNAI: Experts in transportation sector opine that the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), the brainchild of the DMK government and amended by the the AIADMK government, could play a key role in regulating Chennai’s public transportation networks. It, however, remains to be seen whether the CUMTA will hold its first meeting anytime soon.
The CUMTA Act was passed in 2010 during the term of the then DMK government for the coordination and streamlining of activities of agencies engaged in planning, operating, and managing transportation systems. It was, however, notified only in January 2019 and amended in September 2020 by appointing the chief minister as chairman of the body.
“The authority was formed with the minister of transportation as chairman and a chief planner of the CMDA as member-secretary. Even after the notification, the CUMTA couldn’t function effectively due to a lack of cooperation of individual departments. Each department wanted to uphold its own interest rather than the overall interest of the transportation systems of the city. The chairman of the CUMTA was not able to exercise his authority over all the departments,” says former Anna University professor of urban engineering K P Subramanian.
Though Chennai is endowed with many public transportation systems, they remain standalone services.
“The transportation scenario in Chennai will undergo a sea change if the new government revives the CUMTA. As of now, there are multiple government agencies like Greater Chennai Corporation, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, Highways, traffic police, Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation, Transport Commissioner, Railways, Chennai Metro Rail and others,” says the former professor.
“Once the CUMTA is activated, it will take charge of planning, design, execution, maintenance, and funding of all transportation projects, besides the operation and schedule of transport services including autos and taxis. It can ensure fiscal, physical, institutional and operational integration of transportation services, enabling travel in multiple public transport modes with a single ticket,” says Subramanian.
Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman, Manager – Ttransport Systems, ITDP India, said CUMTA under the chairmanship of the chief minister would play an important role in fulfilling the new mobility needs of people, keeping its priority towards public health and better air quality. He said the pandemic hampered the mobility of the city, where a lot of people are dependent on public transport for their livelihood.
Not only that, CUMTA will result in a unified travel card for multiple transit services, which will facilitate convenient transfer between available modes. Currently, the contours of the organisational structure of CUMTA is being worked out and various options, including a two-tier governing board, are being chalked out by the consultant, Deloitte, which was hired to come up with an organisation structure for CUMTA.
Unified Transport Agencies elsewhere
- STIF (Transport Syndicate of the Ile de France) is a unified transport authority accountable for transportation of the whole region of Paris on all modes of ground transport.
- Transport for London (TfL) is an integrated transport authority accountable for London’s transport systems. TfL is responsible for planning and operations of transport facilities in the city that carry more than 24 million commuters every day.
- TransLink Vancouver is the regional transportation authority of Metro Vancouver. It is responsible for regional transit, cycling, commuting options and installation of Intelligent Transportation System programmes.
- The Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) is the authority responsible for land transport development and regulation in Singapore.