[sustran] Re: Let city bus ride on will & subsidy

[Madhav Badami, Prof.]

Dear Paul (and Vinay),

Greetings!

The mode shares for buses and public transit generally become progressively lower as city size reduces, and indeed, personal motor vehicle shares are considerably higher than the national average in all but the largest Indian cities, as shown in the attached table I have extracted from a report prepared by Wilbur Smith for the Ministry of Urban Development back in 2008 (of course, I do not vouch for the data!) ...

Your question is bang on ... how indeed can affordable bus/mini-bus services be made a viable option in the small and medium size cities. Amazingly, as Shreya points out, rather than trying to answer that question, the authorities would much rather look at needlessly hyper-expensive technological solutions.

As for the desire for flyovers, monorail and metro systems: while there are situations in India in which such systems may be justified, that desire, regardless of context (city size, population, ability to pay, etc.), has little or no rational basis, as far as I am able to tell, and can, it seems to me, be explained only in psycho-analytic terms.

Cheers,

Madhav

************************************************************************

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” -- Upton Sinclair

Madhav G. Badami
School of Urban Planning and McGill School of Environment
McGill University

Macdonald-Harrington Building
815 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC, H3A 2K6, Canada

Phone: 514-398-3183 (Work)
Fax: 514-398-8376; 514-398-1643
URLs: www.mcgill.ca/urbanplanning
www.mcgill.ca/mse
e-mail: madhav.badami at mcgill.ca
________________________________________
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca at list.jca.apc.org [sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca at list.jca.apc.org] on behalf of Paul Barter [paulbarter at reinventingtransport.org]
Sent: 09 September 2014 19:28
To: sustran-discuss
Subject: [sustran] Re: Let city bus ride on will & subsidy

This snippet below from ITDP's Shreya Gadepalli (as cited in the article)
highlights the amazing mode split in smallish Indian cities (Ranchi has
almost 1 million people).

As she says, good bus (or minibus) service obviously has huge potential.

"Citing ITDP’s feasibility study, the regional director highlighted that
private cars comprise only 3 per cent of total travel pattern in Ranchi
every day. Auto-rickshaws stand at 40 per cent, two-wheelers at 20 per
cent, cycles at 11 per cent, rickshaws at 3 per cent and buses at one per
cent. The rest 22 per cent travel on foot."

Wow! Cars only 3% and even motorcycles only 20%! Autorickshaws an
astounding 40%! Yet the authorities want flyovers and monorail.

How can we make well-organized bus/minibus service a more compelling and
implementable idea?

--
Paul Barter
www.reinventingparking.org
www.reinventingtransport.org
http://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/faculty/barter-paul/

On 10 September 2014 02:46, Vinay Baindur <yanivbin at gmail.com> wrote:

> http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140903/jsp/jharkand/story_18794399.jsp
>
>
>
>
>
> *Let city bus ride on will & subsidy*
>
>  - Development expert offers feasible routes to public transport revival in
> three urban centres
> A.S.R.P. MUKESH
>
>
>
> A smart city is made of smart people and a smarter administration.
>
>
>
> Ranchi’s new-found aspiration to hop on to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
> 100-smart-cities bandwagon may seem nothing more than a daydream after its
> four-year-old city bus service was grounded on Monday. That the beleaguered
> fleet went off road owing to fuel crunch is a classic example of how
> unmindful urban planning can mock a citizen’s fundamental right to an
> efficient public transport system.
>
> According to the regional director of the Institute for Transportation and
> Development Policy (ITDP), Shreya Gadepalli, the biggest deterrent for
> public transport efficiency in Jharkhand, particularly its capital city, is
> lack of political support.
>
> *“You hear ministers announcing flyovers and monorails in Ranchi. Have you
> ever heard anything about a proper bus service or a holistic public
> transport? Never,” she said. “Flyovers and monorails — ambitious projects
> that feed on subsidies — benefit only a certain section of people, not the
> masses who seek affordable transport. The government can rather consider
> giving subsidies for the city bus service,” she added.*
>
> ITDP, which works on efficient and environment-friendly transport system
> worldwide, did a pre-feasibility report for Ranchi two years ago on the
> behalf of the government. The report, submitted to the state urban
> development department, is gathering dust.
>
> “We have had so many consultations with various stakeholders here. Everyone
> acknowledged problems flagged in our report and also our suggestions, but
> till date things haven’t moved. It is nothing but lack of genuine intent at
> the highest level,” Gadepalli said.
>
> *On Monday, city buses were grounded in both Ranchi and its ‘mission
> cousin’ Dhanbad. The 60-odd fleet joined another 50 city buses in
> Jamshedpur, where a petty dispute is holding public transport to ransom for
> weeks now.*
>
> A senior Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) official, requesting anonymity,
> spilled home truths on why the civic guardian was shying away from city bus
> take-over from the Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC).
>
> “The fleet of buses is in pathetic condition. Till the vehicles are
> repaired, we aren’t going to run them as our own. The three-month extension
> to JTDC is the time offered for the job. As far as an SPV (special purpose
> vehicle) is concerned, the government has to take a call,” he said.
>
> The JTDC, on the other hand, is happy playing ‘victim’ of a forced
> responsibility, which the state handed over to it through a cabinet
> decision in 2010 until permanent arrangements. The blunder was made four
> years ago, setting the stage for an unfortunate city bus show.
>
> Can Ranchi’s public transport be improved?
>
> Citing ITDP’s feasibility study, the regional director highlighted that
> private cars comprise only 3 per cent of total travel pattern in Ranchi
> every day. Auto-rickshaws stand at 40 per cent, two-wheelers at 20 per
> cent, cycles at 11 per cent, rickshaws at 3 per cent and buses at one per
> cent. The rest 22 per cent travel on foot.
>
> “If you see the pattern, we have never really encouraged buses here while
> autos remain the transport lifeline. That is where the administration has
> failed. If you dig up records on government spending, you’ll see that not
> even one per cent has been spent on buses. In contrast, the government
> wants to invest several crores on flyovers and monorail,” she said, adding,
> “We suggest a little over 1,000 mini-buses for Ranchi, which automatically
> will easy rush.”
>
> But where is the space? Won’t roads choke?
>
> “Ranchi has over 10,000 autos, the major cause of traffic snarls. We
> recommend 10 per cent buses, which will offer multiple benefits, by cutting
> down on the three-wheeler. As far as livelihood of those associated with
> autos is concerned, make them stakeholders in the bus service in the form
> of managers, drivers and conductors. For this, a sort of joint venture or
> an SPV will be needed. It is very doable when every major city across the
> globe is focussing on public transport,” Gadepalli said.
>
> In a final takeaway, the senior ITDP official opposed privatisation of
> buses.
>
> “Outsourcing in toto will backfire on public transport. Reason: the
> government would then end up becoming only a licensing authority while the
> private player will focus solely on profit. It will decide timing and
> routes of buses based on profit. In this race for more money, buses may
> become a serial killer like in Delhi. So, in a nutshell, it is very
> necessary for the government to acknowledge public transport as public
> service,” she signed off.
> --------------------------------------------------------
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