Sushain Gupta
Cities play a vital role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. The development of cities largely depends upon their physical, social, and institutional infrastructure. In this context, the importance of intra-urban transportation is paramount.
Indian cities cannot afford to cater only to private cars and two-wheelers and there has to be a general recognition that policy should be designed in such a way that it reduces the need to travel by personalized modes and boosts public transport system. This requires both an increase in quantity as well as quality of public transport and effective use of demand as well as supply-side management measures. At the same time, people should be encouraged to walk and cycle and government should support investments that make cycling and walking safer. From the traffic survey, it has been found that at different locations on the corridor, the traffic flows are beyond the capacity of the roads resulting in reduction of level of service on the road and traffic congestion. The situation warrants for enhancing the capacity of the road. Considering the existing traffic demand and future growth of traffic, there is need for widening and grade separated facility on the road corridor. Commercial activities across the road edge leads to the traffic congestion. Lack of parking space for commercial activities are leading to the chaotic situation. Today, the city of Jammu is witnessing a major problem in the transportation front, mainly due to the following factors:
* Prevailing imbalance in modal split.
* Inadequate transport infrastructure and its suboptimal use.
* Disconnection between land use and transport planning.
As a multi functional city having & serving different roles simultaneously, an urgent need was felt to address the issue of urban transport in Jammu, as it’s a very important component for shaping urban development and providing quality transport service to the local community of the city. The shift from private to public transportation can have numerous advantages as follows:
* Ensures Safety
* Saves Money
* Eases Traffic Congestion
* Improves Air Quality
* Reduces Energy Consumption
The Efficiency of Public Transportation System in Jammu presents a classic example of a disorderly transportation environment amidst wide coverage and holding capacities of network. The problems have found their roots in the increasing urban sprawl, urbanization & the resulting haphazard growth of the city; and thus present many constraints on the way of proposing the ideal transportation system for catering the continuous increasing demands for the public transport system for the city. The transport supply demand situation is a matter of serious concern. The problems are numerous, some of them as follows:
* Lack of integration between land use and transport.
* Concentration of activities in core areas of the city.
* Lack of effective utilization of existing road system.
* Lack of public transportation system.
* High growth rate of vehicle.
* Lack of traffic control and regulation.
* No organized parking space.
* Severe congestion and mixed traffic
Strategies to Achieve the Desired Public Transportation on the city level:
* Subsidized Public Transport: The fare levels in the public transport modes should be targeted to be affordable to a larger percentage of population specially, the lower income group.
* Strengthening and Optimization of Bus Services: In order to provide quick, convenient and economic service, measures like reserved bus lanes, priorities at intersection and good terminal facilities to improve turn round time should be undertaken.
* Organized Public Transportation System: A planned public transport system in terms of routing, scheduling and ticketing system would help in attracting more passengers.
* Accessibility to the System: The system can be made more accessible by expanding its influence area, reducing the walking time and proper information system.
* Disincentives for Private Mode Users: Taxation on motorist, high parking charges and other such ways should be introduced to discourage the use of private mode of transport.
* Specific Bus Services: Bus services targeting people from particular origin or destination can also help in increasing the share of public transport.
* Special Consideration: Consideration of various sections of society such as women, aged people, handicapped etc. while designing the public transportation infrastructure can also immensely help to increase its share.
* Interchange facilities: Provide major interchanges for bus services as in metro trains in Delhi, with proper parking space and informative services
Case study-area identified is Channi Himmat Colony
The major issue is the insufficient public transportation in the area. Minibuses or the matadors are the only means on which the people have to depend other than their private vehicles. But the route of these buses are such, that it becomes quite difficult for the residents to reach the area from where the matadors can be taken. They are dependent on their own vehicles even to take the public transport.
This colony is on the sloping grounds, so it becomes quite difficult for the users to walk around 2 km to reach to the bus stop which is located at Trikuta Nagar if someone wants to go to the nearby areas like Bahu plaza, Nanak nagar, Gandhi Nagar etc.
Also in order to get the connectivity with the old city areas, people have no option other than mini buses which are quite insufficient to meet the demands of the users and resulting in the uncertainty in time of travel and loss of mental peace due to the overcrowding of the areas. Thus people are forced to depend upon their private means which leads to the extreme traffic congestion on the roads, long commute times, choking air pollution, deadly traffic accidents, climatic change, degraded environment and the unhealthy quality of life.
“In the present scenario, the safest place to avoid the chaos on the streets is inside a car… !!”
Thus there is a need for the public transport industry to get organized and monitored properly so that many problems of the commuters can be solved. For this, we need to make it efficient by reducing its energy requirements, making it sustainable by integrating technology and intelligence into physical transportation infrastructure. We can improve capacity, enhance the traveler experience and make our transportation systems more efficient, safe and secure.
Also, we need to adopt the various concepts of sustainable development which encourages transit oriented development (TOD) , compact city for the pedestrians, multimodal transportation system etc.
RECOMMENDATIONS-
* Enhancing transport coordination-various modes of public transport, including intermediate public transport have to work in tandem. Coordinating authority may be appointed and may have representatives from various stakeholders such as private taxi operator, bus operators, railways or state government. The key objective is to attain the integration of different modes of transport to improve the efficiency of service delivery and comfort for commuters.
* Restraining the use of polluting vehicles and fuels.
* Encouraging green modes- Government can promote the development and commercialization of lighter , more efficient bicycles.
* Focusing on bus transport- Government have to provide concessional travel facilities to various groups such as freedom fighters, journalists, students besides paying a high level of different kinds of taxes.
* Allocate more money to improve or expand the old systems.
* Encourage citizens to use public transportation systems.
-subsidize mass transit fees for the employees.
-reward car pooling.
* Discourage citizens from using personal vehicles for travel.
-reduce no. of vehicles allowed in the urban areas.
-show appropriate parking space before buying of new vehicles.
* Change in the urban plans and city designs.
-build more walking and biking paths.
(The author is M.Arch (Urban Design)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
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