From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Nov 15 15:48:48 2015 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2015 12:18:48 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Where are the buses? Message-ID: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/bmtc-downsizes-fleet-while-commuters-are-demanding-more/article7878387.ece Where are the buses? AVINASH BHAT [image: Photo: K. Murali Kumar] The Hindu Photo: K. Murali Kumar BMTC downsizes fleet while commuters are demanding more At a time when demand for buses has been growing, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) seems to be downsizing. The corporation has reduced as many as 272 schedules between March 2014 and June this year. As the cash starved corporation implements more passenger friendly measures, like surveys and requests for new routes, it is also on a mission to reduce spending on new buses as this is viewed as an unnecessary expense. What this means for commuters is that there will be fewer buses on the roads with fleet augmentation reaching a low of 197 buses in 2014-15 after 838 buses were added in 2013-14. ?Bengalureans are already suffering due to overcrowded and untimely buses. Either there are not enough buses or the fleet is being mismanaged. BMTC has to explain. If there are enough buses, why are they overcrowded? And why are there not enough buses at night,? questioned Vinay Srinivasa of Bangalore Bus Prayanikara Vedike. Officials say BMTC has an excess of buses. According to them, there are enough Volvo buses to last another two years without having to add more vehicles. ?We have excess buses and, hence, have not purchased any in the past year. The corporation has a massive loan to repay because of buses purchased in the past,? said Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy. ?We have plans of deploying a few JNNURM buses this year, but there have been some technical issues with regard to the bus weight, which are being looked into.? He also said that the budget for the coming year has a provision for purchase of buses, but the State will now have to shell out up to 50 per cent of the cost with the rest coming from the Centre. Up to now, the State?s share was 20 per cent. Total buses6451Total buses scrapped (April 2014-June 2015)520Total vehicles added in 2014-15197Total vehicles added in 2015-160Effective kilometres travelled per day in 2014-1512.90 lakhEffective kilometres travelled per day in 2015-1612.30 lakhCancellation percentage in 2014-158.4Cancellation percentage in 2015-1610.5 per cent (till June) From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Nov 15 23:11:34 2015 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2015 19:41:34 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Why Shimla Municipal Corporation was denied permission to ply electric buses? Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar Message-ID: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/why-smc-was-denied-permission-to-ply-electric-buses-panwar-115111401343_1.html *Why Shimla Municipal Corporation was denied permission to ply electric buses? Panwar* Press Trust of India | Shimla November 14, 2015 Last Updated at 22:02 IST Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar today accused Himachal Pradesh Chief minister Virbhadra Singh of meting out step-motherly treatment to citizens of the town by denying permission to the local body to run battery operated buses when the same was granted for Manali region. "The SMC had in its own wisdom, decided to run battery operated vehicles (BOVs)on four important routes of the town but your government disagreed and did not give permission for the same. "This is completely unwarranted and loudly speaks about the step motherly treatment to the citizens of Shimla town," Panwar, a senior state CPI(M) leader, wrote to HP CM in a letter. He said the argument then given by the Chief minister that plying of these BOVs in Shimla was not feasible as these were not covered under the Motor Vehicle Act, "but now this argument does not hold good." When the authorities in Agra could run BOVs in and around Taj Mahal, why the SMC could not run the same on sealed and restricted roads in Shimla, he asked. "The Mayor and deputy Mayor of Shimla feel that it is our bounden duty to bring these genuine issues of the people before you and also to rectify your governments misdemeanours which ought to be corrected," the letter added. From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Nov 15 23:25:14 2015 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2015 19:55:14 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Buses, first choice of many in Mumbai, Delhi Message-ID: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Buses-first-choice-of-many-in-Mumbai-Delhi/articleshow/49763511.cms ? Buses, first choice of many in Mumbai, DelhiV Ayyappan ,TNN | Nov 13, 2015, 06.52 AM IST READ MORE Trains |Buses [image: Buses, first choice of many in Mumbai, Delhi] (AFP photo) Mumbai and Delhi have the largest number of people among cities in the country who use buses and trains to commute to work, data from the 2011 Census shows. The reason is simple: both cities have a good network of buses and trains. Of the working population in Mumbai, around 41.15% of the people use buses and trains to commute to their workplaces, while in Delhi it's 24.74%. In comparison, in Chennai, 19.37% of the workers took buses, while only 3% depended on trains to reach their work place. The share of public transport in a city should ideally be 60%. This is why the Union ministry of urban transport has been pushing for mass rapid transit systems like metro rail and monorail in fast-growing urban cen tres. In Mumbai, trains claim a share of 24.75% of all working people, while the share of buses is 16.4%.In Delhi, however, more people use buses because the suburban network is not convenient for residents and many of them have migrated to metro rail. A senior railway official, who was involved in urban NOT AN EASY TRIP transit system planning, said the share of public transport had increased tremendously after metro rail extended its network across the national capital region. Indian cities have to do a lot to make their public transport sys tems usable and reliable, especially by introducing intermodal connectivity so that people can switch from one mode of transport to another with ease during their trip from doorstep to workplace. Binoy Mascarenhas of Embarq Mumbai, said, "Mumbai has a good track record of people using public transport. Majority of the trips for work are on public transport. Trains are the most popular while buses come second in preference.Metro rail will also have a good impact in boosting public trans port over the next 20 years when its entire network is ready." The reason for change in volume of patronage varies from city to city-from geography to poor capacity and poor connectivity . The choice of transport system depends on the nature of the city . Mumbai's linear geography makes trains the choice while that may not be the case with cities like Bengaluru and Delhi. From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Nov 15 23:27:57 2015 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2015 19:57:57 +0530 Subject: [sustran] India walks to work: Census Message-ID: http://www.thehindu.com/data/india-walks-to-work-census/article7874521.ece India walks to work: Census - RUKMINI S The Hindu TOPICS economy, business and finance transport Over a fifth of non-agricultural workers in India commute to work on foot, followed by commutes by cycle, moped or motorcycle and bus, new data from the Census shows. Fewer than three per cent take cars or vans, and over half travel less than five kilometres. On Thursday, the office of the Registrar General of India released data on commutes for the 200 million working Indians who are neither employed in agriculture nor in household industries. The data shows that nevertheless, nearly a third of these workers do not commute, meaning that they live in or adjacent to their workplaces. Commuting for work is even less common among women workers - 45 per cent of women do not commute for work - and higher in rural than in urban areas. Among those 140 million workers who do commute for work, the distances tend to be quite small. A quarter of commuters travel less than 1 km to work, and another third travel between two and five km. Just 30 million people travel more than 10 km to work, and just 17 million of them have a commute over 20 km. Women commute shorter distances on average than men; the largest category of women commuters travels less than 1 km, while for men, the largest category travels two to five km. ?In India, traditionally cities developed in ways that required small commutes. Transport is essentially a derived demand,? Amit Bhatt, strategy head - urban transport at EMBARQ India explained. However new towns and extensions are being built in the North American model, requiring long commutes which the poor struggle to afford, he said. "People, especially the poor, choose to live close to work because long-distance commuting is expensive and impacts their ability to earn. That is why attempts to shift the poor to the peripheries through slum rehabilitation schemes are so misguided," Shreya Gadepalli, India Regional Director at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, said. A 2005 World Bank study of commuting in Mumbai found that the poor travelled shorter distances than the non-poor. Planning in most cities does not take into account the realities of Indian commuting, the experts said. Among those who do have to travel for work, one-third commute on foot, the Census data shows. Another 10 per cent use bicycles and 16 per cent travel by bus, while 18 per cent use scooters or motorcycles. More people take autorickshaws or taxis to work than private cars. ?Most planning reports don?t even account for pedestrian movement,? Mr. Bhatt said. For commutes up to 10 km, walking is the most common means of transport, but as commutes grow in distance, people move from travelling on foot to taking buses and two-wheelers. This pattern is however significantly different for women; two-wheelers and cars are rare for women, who commute mainly on foot up to 10 km, followed by buses. Even in India?s megacities, walking is the most common mode of commuting. In Mumbai, an equal proportion (31 per cent) take the train, while in all other cities buses come next. Chennai and Bengaluru have a high proportion of two-wheeler users. Given the length of the average commute, transport priorities are skewed, say experts. ?"The metro is no doubt an important mode, but buses are even more important. They provide cheap and flexible services that require shorter walk connections. They are more efficient for short and medium distance trips that constitute the majority of urban trips, even in large cities,? Ms. Gadepalli said. ?Metros make sense only on very high demand corridors and to serve long distance trips?a small proportion of all trips even in megacities. They are expensive to build and operate. They lose their utility when it comes to Tier II cities which typically have shorter trips. Even in a city like Delhi, which requires a 600-800 km rapid transit network, metro doesn't make sense on more than a fifth of the network. The rest should be developed as a high-quality Bus Rapid Transit. And then, don't forget the city bus," she added. Keywords: Census , commuting , transportation From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Nov 22 00:22:15 2015 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2015 20:52:15 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Reduce minimum bus fare from Rs 8 to to Rs 6 to woo commuters, suggests BEST committee members Message-ID: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Reduce-minimum-bus-fare-from-Rs-8-to-to-Rs-6-to-woo-commuters-suggests-BEST-committee-members/articleshow/49864382.cms Reduce minimum bus fare from Rs 8 to to Rs 6 to woo commuters, suggests BEST committee members Somit Sen | Nov 21, 2015, 01.00 AM IST MUMBAI: Demanding restructuring of bus fares at Friday's BEST budget meeting, committee members said that the minimum fare should not be more than Rs 6. At present, the minimum BEST bus fare is Rs 8. "There should be a low entry-level fare as more than 50% commuters travel short distances. This will also prevent commuters from migrating to share autos and taxis," said MNS member Kedar Hombalkar. He also made a presentation, showing how the Bangalore municipal transport had kept its minimum fare at Rs 5 to woo more passengers and increased the daily passenger strength from 26 lakh to over 50 lakh. BEST's commuter strength has dropped from 45 lakh passengers a day to less than 30 lakh in the last few years. Committee member Ravi Raja said there was a drop of four lakh commuters between 2013-14 and 2014-15, which resulted in a drop of revenue by Rs 116 crore. Committee member Shivji Singh claimed that if the minimum fare is reduced, BEST can lure at least 10 lakh passengers back. A senior BEST official said the undertaking, without reducing fares, plans to woo passengers by improving services, introducing new buses and boosting revenue by marketing its AC buses to corporates. Raja demanded that the BEST take a call on scrapping the 250-plus AC buses. "Unless you take a decision on the AC buses, you should not purchase 50 midi AC buses," he said. The 2016-17 BEST budget has earmarked Rs 27 crore on repair and maintenance of AC and CNG buses. A From navdeep.asija at gmail.com Mon Nov 23 01:49:04 2015 From: navdeep.asija at gmail.com (Asija, Navdeep) Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2015 22:19:04 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Pedestrian Safety : The Shimla Road Users and Pedestrians (Public Safety and Convenience) Act, 2007 Message-ID: Dear All, Sharing with you the copy of Act "The Shimla Road Users and Pedestrians (Public Safety and Convenience) Act, 2007" under which this is protected. Many of us might not be aware that about 14km of Road is protected and reserved for the pedestrian as the priority and it is world's longest road undertaken for pedestrianisation, that too in India. In Punjab, Honourable Punjab and Haryana High Court directed both Punjab and Haryana state and UT Chandigarh to create minimum one such motor vehicle free zone in every city under article 21- a right to healthy life and liberty which further links to the right to clear environment. This is going to be another biggest exercise undertaken when implemented properly on the ground. In fact, Punjab and Haryana High Court is the first High Court in the country to have the special bench on "Sustainable Transportation". So far it is concerning with the issues like promotion of non-motor transportation system, public transportation, a creation of car-free areas in each city, compulsory to have mobility plan for each city for future development and road safety at large. Hope it will be useful to many for drafting such similar policies and act for their own state/city. It is a state subject. Regards, Navdeep Asija -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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