After a gap of twenty years, double decker buses have returned to the roads of the southern city of Hyderabad, and this time in an electric avatar, making the City of Pearls to be the first city in India to have double-decker buses in operation. Double deckers were earlier operated by the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) until services folded up in 2003. Double deckers were introduced under the Nizam State Railways – Road Transport Division (NSR-RTD) of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. With the subsequent bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, city services in Hyderabad came under the aegis of the Hyderabad Zonal Urban Road Transport Corporation (HZURTC) that comes under and operates using its parent body, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).
Open deck and regular double deckers of the HMDA and TSRTC (Image Tweeted by Arvind Kumar)
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) placed an order for six buses, of which three have been delivered with the rest to be delivered soon. The HMDA is looking to up its fleet to 20 such buses. The buses are Ashok Leyland Switch EiV 22 AC double deckers, although in the images released by the Special Chief Secretary for Urban Development Arvind Kumar, the Switch logo in the front of the bus was visibly covered up. Each bus costs ₹2.16 crore and comes with an annual maintenance contract (AMC) for 7 years. With a carrying capacity of 65 passengers plus the driver, each bus has a range of 150km and can be charged in 120 to 150 minutes.
The buses were flagged off by Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao along with Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, Chevella MP G Ranjith Reddy and Chandrayanagutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi.
An old Double Decker Bus in Hyderabad from the year 2000 running on Route 7Z from Zoo Park to Secunderabad via High Court. Photo shared by Shakerhussain on Twitter.
These buses will primarily run along the Hyderabad Street Circuit as part of the the Hyderabad Formula ePrix to be held on 11 February in and around the vicinity of the newly built Telangana Secretariat, Tank Bund, Necklace Street, Paradise and Nizam College. After that, they will be used for tourism along a heritage circuit in the city.
The Forumla ePrix and Hyderabad Street Circuit
The Hyderabad ePrix is part of the 2022-2023 Formula E Championship. The Formula E championship is a single-seat motorsport championship for electric cars and this will be the first edition to be held in India.
The Hyderabad Street Circuit (BBTD/Wikimedia Commons)
The Hyderabad Street Circuit is a race track laid along the roads of the city. Two designs were prepared, one by PPE Racing and the other by Driven International. The second one was chosen while the former was criticised for its rather phallic design with one racer allegedly saying it resembled a dildo.
Interestingly, in 2018, the Formula One Powerboat Championship (F1H2O) was held in the new capital of Hyderabad’s former state, Amaravati.
Telangana Mobility Valley
KT Rama Rao announced that Telangana would soon see investments of ₹3,000 crore in the mobility sector, in addition to the ₹8,000 crore already secured by the state in the segment. A new mobility cluster, named the Telangana Mobility Valley would be established for electric vehicles with a focus on manufacturing, engineering, research and development for vehicle manufacturing as well as cell chemistry, hydrogen fuel cells and component manufacturers. Currently, research and development in the EV sector is primarily based out of Bengaluru in neighbouring Karnataka while manufacturing is concentrated in the neighbouring Krishnagiri district and Chennai, both in Tamil Nadu.
Featured Image: Hyderabad’s new Switch EiV22 Double Deckers (Image tweeted by Arvind Kumar)
With the impending opening up of the Vandalur Kilambakkam Bus Terminus in southern Chennai, one fear among many of the city’s residents is not going away. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has proposed to shut down the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) (also known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Bus Terminus or MGR Koyambedu) permanently.
A little background
Broadway Bus Terminus. Photo Credit: Commercial Vehicles Magazine
Opened in 2002, CMBT is a 37-acre bus station that serves as Chennai’s primary terminus for mofussil and long distance buses operated by various government agencies. It is owned by the CMDA and operated jointly by the six divisions of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), namely TNSTC Villupuram, TNSTC Coimbatore, TNSTC Salem, TNSTC Kumbakonam, TNSTC Tirunelveli and TNSTC Madurai. The remaining two arms of the TNSTC, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) and the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) also play a role in the daily operations.
Prior to 2002, Chennai had no dedicated bus station for long-distance buses. Few SETC buses usually operated out of one half of the Broadway bus terminus. Other SETC and nearby states’ buses would operate out of a vacant plot of land opposite Chennai Fort railway station, which today houses the Government Dental College and Hospital while private buses would operate from the Gandhi-Irvin Bridge Road near Chennai Egmore railway station on the banks of the Cooum river.
In the late 1990s, the wholesale market located at Kothawal Chavadi was moved to a 295 acre plot in Koyambedu. After this, the entire operations of all government buses was shifted to the new bus terminus at CMBT. A separate 6.7 acre bus station was built across the road, adjacent to the whole market. Named the Chennai Contract Carriage Bus Terminus (CCCBT), it handles between 350 to 450 private buses and 5,000 passengers a day.
Till 2018, CMBT was the hub for all TNSTC and SETC buses, as well as buses operated by the RTCs of Puducherry (PRTC), Karnataka (KSRTC), Kerala (also KSRTC), Andhra Pradesh (APSRTC), and Telangana (TSRTC). In 2018, TNSTC buses bound for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, as well as APSRTC and TSRTC buses were shifted out to Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus (MMBT).
Madhavaram has its problems
Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus (MMBT). Photo Credits: BNR Infrastructure
MMBT is an 8 acre, two-level bus terminus located at Madhavaram, adjacent to CMDA’s truck terminal, at the intersection of Grand Northern Trunk Road (GNT Road) that forms National Highway 16 (formerly NH5) and Inner Ring Road (IRR/State Highway 2). While it does feature two platforms for MTC buses, it otherwise lacks good connectivity. There are a few buses that connect it to CMBT and a lot of buses that connect it to Broadway or Vallalar Nagar (V Nagar/Mint Street). Passengers arriving from CMBT have to cross the road at the roundabout which witnesses heavy truck traffic. While MMBT and CMBT are located barely 10km apart, it can take up to 30-40 minutes to reach there.
Around 315 buses use the terminus daily, catering to an average of 12,000 passengers, with a higher number over the weekends. While TNSTC and APSRTC operate numerous services to Andhra Pradesh, TSRTC operates one Volvo service to Hyderabad. APSRTC operates several buses to Vijayawada. There are no buses to Visakhapatnam or Yanam and SETC doesn’t operate a single bus into either Telugu-speaking state. In fact the destination with the highest number of SETC routes apart from Chennai is Bangalore.
MMBT can handle 42 buses on the ground level and another 50 from the upper level. However, only government buses currently operate from MMBT while private buses continue to operate from CCCBT. This puts the former, especially APSRTC buses at a major disadvantage. Interestingly, some of TNSTC’s buses bound to Tirupati start from CMBT, which also gives it an unfair advantage over its Andhra Pradesh counterpart.
Connectivity to Madhavaram will eventually improve drastically. The under-construction lines 3 and 5 of the Chennai Metro both start at Madhavaram Milk Colony, located to the northeast of MMBT with Line 5 have a station outside MMBT. It will further continue on IRR and meet the Green Line at Koyambedu (not CMBT) and then at Alandur before meeting the MRTS at St Thomas Mount/Parangimalai. While the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) expects all three lines of Phase 2 to be completed by 2025, our friend TheMetroRailGuyestimates it to be completed no sooner than 2028.
Now coming to Vandalur Kilambakkam
While CMBT is currently Asia’s largest bus terminus at 37 acres, it will be soon dwarfed by the Vandalur Kilambakkam bus terminus that is spread across a whopping 88.5 acres. A timely reminder here that Delhi’s Millenium Park is not a bus station but a depot and therefore not Asia’s largest bus station.
With a total built-up area of 6.4 lakh square feet, it will feature 215 bus bays of which 130 will be for government buses and 85 will serve private buses. It will also have parking space for 300 buses, 275 cars and over 3,500 two-wheelers. An MTC terminal is being built adjacent to it, spread over 7.4 acres, nearly the area of MMBT. Interestingly the entire bus terminus lies within a protected and prohibited zone of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) as it contains Megalith Burial Sites. The National Monument Authority (NMA) gave a green signal so long as no commercial development took place for 100m in the region except for greenery and the CMDA installed the required signage.
By road, the distance between CMBT and Kilambakkam is exactly 30km if one were to take IRR till Kathipara and then continue onto Grand Southern Trunk Road (GST Road). The distance is the same if one were to go to Maduravoyal and take the Chennai Bypass till Irumbuliyur and then proceed along GST Road. Outer Ring Road (ORR) terminates on GST Road just north of the bus station. The nearest railway stations are Vandalur and Urapakkam on the Southern Line of the suburban railway, both of which are at least 10 minutes away. As for Metro, the nearest station is Chennai International Airport, located 16km away. After a long tussle between the Highways Department and CMRL, an extension of the Blue Line from Airport to Kilambakkam is on the map. The former wanted to build an elevated corridor on the route and the metro’s height will be decided accordingly. However, this will take several years to reach fruition and till then there will be heavy traffic. CMRL has also initiated feasibility studies to extend Line 3 (Madhavaram Milk Colony to Siruseri) to Kilambakkam via Kelambakkam (Get ready for more confusion). However this is light years away since the depot is at Madhavaram and most of the line runs underground and without a depot connection, nothing can happen.
One theory that I have heard is that private players would lobby the government to let them continue operating at CCCBT. This would put all TNSTC services at an unfair disadvantage and would hurt the poorer sections of society the most. Further, GST Road is the most congested highway in Chennai since it acts as a gateway to the entire south from Coimbatore to Madurai to Trichy to Tirunelveli and Nagarcoil. The time saved by buses in exiting the city will be lost in reaching the terminus. Auto and cab fares will end up costing the same as an intercity luxury bus ticket while bus journeys with luggage in MTC buses would be unbearable.
The worst hit would be commuters towards the West: Those heading to Vellore, Bangalore, Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and even Salem, Erode and Coimbatore. Passengers living in North Chennai will also be affected badly. The bus journey from Bangalore which takes approximately six hours from Shantinagar to CMBT will go up by at least an hour and then there is the extra hour lost in getting to Chennai city itself.
Note: Bangalore-bound passengers won’t have to travel to Kilambakam at all. But it’s worse. Read the update section at the bottom of the post please.
The way ahead
The way ahead for CMBT isn’t all that difficult. It currently has connectivity to most parts of Chennai thru MTC buses, has a metro connection to both the major railheads (MGR Chennai Central and Chennai Egmore) and the airport.
Among the various proposals for the land, the most ridiculous one is to build a park. While I won’t deny that parks are important, the city is home to 632 parks as of 2019. The city’s per capita green cover stands at 8.5 square metres, just short of WHO recommendation of 9 square metres. In 2019, the began an ambitious plan to set up 67 new parks, mainly due to the destruction of close to one lakh trees in 2016 due to Cyclone Vardah.
CMBT can remain a bus terminus, albeit with some redevelopment. CMRL is in the process of redeveloping Broadway as a multi-storey bus terminal. MTC has been toying with this idea for the Thyagaraya Nagar (T Nagar) bus terminus for years now. CMBT could easily be redeveloped with a bus station at the ground level, parking and commercial operations above that. Bangalore has successfully done this. The Shantinagar bus depot was converted into a bus terminus with a Big Bazar and a parking lot atop the bus station back in the early 2000s. In fact, even the Kalasipalayam bus terminus, used mostly by private buses has been redeveloped in such a fashion. With bus and metro connectivity, the land will be premium, and give the CMDA a significant return on investment that can be used elsewhere.
There is no requirement for CMBT to shut down. Broadway didn’t shut down when CMBT opened up and in fact some SETC buses for Madurai still depart from Broadway. Many cities operate with multiple bus terminals. Mumbai has five outstation bus terminals while Pune has three. Bangalore has three and its central bus station, the Kempegowda Bus Station at Majestic was briefly downsized for metro construction. In the interim, certain buses were moved to Shantinagar and Mysore Road Satellite Bus Station at Bapujinagar. Today all three operate successfully.
But perhaps the most radical of all ideas came from a friend on Twitter, Krishnan. He tweeted that the site could be used for a future High Speed Rail terminal, and I could not agree any more. Given that the first HSR line to Chennai will connect it to Bangalore, it makes sense to keep the terminal somewhere near Poonamalle High Road/Grand Western Trunk Road (GWT Road). Given CMBT’s nature as the city’s pre-eminent transport hub, it makes perfect sense to make CMBT the HSR terminal as well. It will aid in quick commutes, fast transfers between different modes of transport, and will not hurt passengers’ wallets or watches.
Update
It’s 2024 and Kilambakkam (now nammed Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminal or KCBT) is operational. While I haven’t been there, things aren’t smooth. MTC buses bound for KCBT are taking a minimum of an hour to reach there from Velachery. One good thing is 21G (Broadway to Vandalur Zoo) has been extended to KCBT, especially the AC bus but there are no AC buses from CMBT.
Private buses have refused to ply from KCBT and CMDA and the transport department has threatened to file criminal cases against them. Some buses were even forced to run empty from CMBT to KCBT. You can read more here. Southern Railways meanwhile has begun work on a new station which will take time to complete. On this note, do read: Urban Connectivity Chaos: People Managing Metro, Railway, Bus Stations Are Working In Silos by Srikanth Ramakrishnan on Swarajya.
For Bangalore and other West-bound passengers. It seems the powers that are have decided to make things worse for us. We will have to depart from another bus terminus, this time at Kuthambakkam near Thirumazhisai. This 25-acre bus terminus is touted to be completely air-conditioned and will feature a food court. The downside? It’s worse located than KCBT. It is approximately 9km from the Poonamalle junction and 2.5km from the highway. Getting there will obviously be a mess. It will feature 136 bus bays and CMDA is in the process of identifying access roads to be built. The Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) has asked for an extension of the metro to start work. This line, connecting Poonamalle too Light House is under construction and connects with the existing network at Vadapalani.
Let us pray that the administration does not miss this opportunity.
Featured Image: Chennai Mofussil Bus Station (Seshadri Sukumar/PIB Chennai)
After a lengthy gap, I’ve managed to come across another delightful drone image, this time it is one something that I have been looking for over the last year and a half. Throughout the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, we have seen aerial drone shots of different bus stations, depots and even a metro depot.
This is an aerial view of Asia’s largest bus terminus. Now before you get confused, this is not the erstwhile Millenium Park depot from Delhi. This is the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) officially known as the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M. G. R Bus Terminus located at Koyambedu in Chennai. Spread over 37 acres, it serves as a common bus terminus for all outstation buses operated by the six Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporations (TNSTC) and the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) while also serving buses to other states including the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Till 2018, it also served Andhra Pradesh and Telangana-buses and buses of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Coporation (APSRTC) and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), which have since been shifted to the Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus (MMBT) in the northern suburbs of the city. It is also a major terminal for buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), that is located at the front.
Take a look at this beautiful snap clicked by Beema with a DJI Mavic Air 2.
Apart from this, CMBT also houses a Metro station (officially the Puratchi Thalaivi Dr. J. Jayalalithaa CMBT Metro Station). The bus station was built in the early 2000s to decongest the earlier terminal located at Broadway near the Madras High Court. Behind the terminus is the Koyambedu Wholesale Market, the Chennai Contract Carriage Bus Terminus that caters to private outstation buses and the depot for the Green Line of the Chennai Metro.
That’s all from me this time folks. Do follow Beema on Instagram: @my_shutter_life.
Now you know what Asia’s largest bus terminus looks like from the air.
Propaganda is a very misused, overused and abused word today. Politicians use it all the time to attack each other. In such cases, we should take a closer look at the word Propaganda itself.
Merriam-Webster defines Propaganda as ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.
Of course, we can take the liberty of interpreting Propaganda as a more open nature of promoting oneself or ones interests to an audience.
The most well known example of Propaganda is the 1940 film The Eternal Jew, directed by Fritz Hippler and produced by the Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels under the Deutsche Film Gesellschaft banner. The film was nowhere near subtle, and portrayed Jews as Uncivilised, Parasitic and worse. However, times have changed and propaganda in its current form is very subtle, often using bias to have its way.
In the recent times, propaganda has managed to make its way into the Transport sector too. When we say Propaganda in the Transport sector, we do not refer to naming stations, airports, roads and bridges after people. Mumbai has one major railway station and its airport named after Chhatrapati Shivaji. Bangalore has its central bus station and airport named after Kempegowda. This is a global phenomenon. New York’s major airport is named after former President John F Kennedy while it’s secondary airport is named after the 99th Mayor Fiorello La Gaurdia.
The propaganda we look at is subtle, and in some cases, not so subtle.
A Nationalistic Bus?
A BMTC Atal Sarige on route AS-6. Image copyright Binai K Sankar.
At first glance, the Atal Sarige operated by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation [BMTC] looks like its livery is is draping the bus with the National Flag. But. It’s wrong. If you take a second look, you’d notice that the colour scheme is White, Green and Saffron/Orange. The party colours of the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]. Further, the name itself is a giveaway. Named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP, the bus was meant to serve the poorest of the poor.
Note: If you’re Mumbai, the highest fare is on a bus with its route number starting with AS, and if you’re in Bangalore, it’d be the opposite.
And now, for a little Aesthetics.
A TSRTC Metro Luxury Volvo at Lingampally. Image copyright LoveOfZ, CC-BY-SA 4.0 International, Wikimedia Commons.
Pink is known to be a very soothing colour. It is often used to calm inmates in prison.
However, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation [TSRTC] bus above did not turn pink to soothe its commuters. Telangana State was formed in 2014, and the party that won a majority in its Assembly Elections was the Telangana Rashtra Samithi [TRS], whose party colour is Pink. Thus, everyone who sees the bus will remember the colour pink and every time there is a campaign by the TRS, people will be calm, because, Hey, Pink is a soothing colour.
Switching Colours
And now, for the most interesting, and perhaps most noteworthy form of Bus-based propaganda.
Welcome to Tamil Nadu, where all the various divisions of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation [TNSTC], the Metropolitan Transport Corporation [MTC] of Chennai and the State Express Transport Corporation [SETC] are like Chamelons. Remember the phrase “गिरगिट की तरह रंग बदलना” (Girgit Ke Tarah Rang Badalna)? That’s what TNSTC/SETC/MTC buses do. Change colours; Every time the government changes. It’s like an unwritten part of the party manifesto.
Here’s a picture of an MTC bus taken in April 2011 below. It’s blue in colour. Blue is also a soothing colour, although I fail to understand why anyone would want to say ‘Feeling Blue’ to refer to Sadness.
A blue coloured MTC Semi Low Floor bus on route number 21G. Image copyright Vinoth Thambidurai/CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported/Wikimedia Commons.
This picture was taken in April 2011, a month before the All India Anna Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam [AIADMK] government won the elections. Colour combinations were aplenty across Tamil Nadu. Some buses bore different shades of blue and yellow, some were white with Red, Yellow and Orange stripes across them, there were many.
Now, they are all uniform. While, I did mention Fragmentation in an earlier post, it would be great if each city had its own identity in terms of colours. Here, Tamil Nadu is one single entity in terms of coloured buses.
All long distance buses, including all SETC buses are now Green in Colour. They’re light green in colour with dark green stripes, or dark green in colour with light green stripes, depending on how you may want to look at them. Local buses, including all MTC buses all sport the same Brown-Beige combination which makes it look like the bus wasn’t washed at all. Perhaps a plan to not wash the buses regularly.
Below, is one such repainted bus, taken in 2013, belonging to TNSTC Coimbatore.
A TNSTC CBE bus at Vadavalli in Coimbatore. Image copyright Faheem9333/CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported/Wikimedia Commons.
See, what did I tell you? Where did this come from? Some people tell me that the colour has to do with what happened before this repainting. Barely three-four months before the buses got this brown colour, they had a different colour.
An MTC bus in the intermediate colour scheme. Image: The Hindu
Notice the colours? Notice the photo of Jayalalithaa on the windscreen? I know it’s a bit difficult to see it, but can you see it. In the picture, Jaya is seen wearing a saree that is the same colour as the Maroon on the bus. Her complexion matches the beige on the bus. Tada! When the paint jobs were done, all buses sported a huge photo of the Chief Minister on the front windshield on the left hand side.
And now, finally …
Green Leafy Vegetables Buses
They say, greens are good for health. They say Green is a sign of Eco-Friendliness. But, the leaves here don’t exactly say that do they?
An MTC Small Bus [Mini Bus]. Image: The Hindu While MTC curiously chose to name these buses as ‘Small Bus’, not ‘Mini Bus’, they also decided to put a few leaves on it. No points for guessing why. The AIADMK’s Party symbol is: Yes, that’s right, Two Leaves! But, wait! You can see four leaves on that bus! Simple: 2+2=4. The more the merrier. Two more leaves is just going to reinforce things into the commuters head.
Now, notice something common among all these Transcos mentioned? They’re all State-level bodies, not Municipal ones. You’ll never see BEST, AMTS, or PMPML like this. Why? Decentralisation of transport management ensures that while Municipal Bodies have the wherewithal to run the Transco, they won’t have the time or resources to go behind such trivial stuff. They’ll have more important stuff such as banners, roads, naming of Chowks to work in their favour.
On an unrelated note: Searching for Purple Faeries on Google leads you to the Tag Purple Faeries. I call this, Purple Propaganda..
While BEST has reduced its fares, leading us to believe that the new fare structure incorporates this 6% increase, others have hiked fares. TSRTC Hyderabad and BMTC have increased the cost of a Daily Pass from ₹150 and ₹140 to ₹160 and ₹150 respectively, BEST has reduced it from ₹200 to ₹150. MSRTC charges a rupee extra for its Shivneri/Ashwamedh services, though this has been there from somewhere in April, thus making it probably unrelated.
While I am for government measures to increase the tax base, this is most certainly not the right way. Let the government start taxing rich farmers instead. The reasons I’m opposed to this tax are:
BEST – We all know the story behind BEST and its Purple Faeries. Barring a few buses from the Oshiwara Depot, these buses are pathetically underpowered, have terribly low-powered airconditioning. They struggle to climb simple slopes. Their Volvo fleet is in good shape however. However, in light of the recent fare reduction, I guess we can give BEST a breather in this section.
BMTC – The first to implement the new Tax, the BMTC had a very interesting thing to do. They used to issue the regular ticket with the ETMS, but charge the Tax with the old Punched tickets. Thus, I used to get a ₹20 printed ticket and a ₹1 punched ticket. BMTC finally managed to incorporate this tax on the ETMs, but now I have pay ₹22 because the Tax amount is rounded off to the next rupee irrespective of how much it is. However, this move is unwarranted because BMTC buses are bad. The older FA series of Volvo buses are rickety, pollute a lot and water leaks in thru the emergency exits. The Corona fleet have buses where the airconditioning just does not work. The newer 57F series Volvos rarely come to the Public because they spend most of their time on Corporate trips for the ORRCA or Manyata Embassy Tech Park.
MTC – Possibly among the worst Volvo fleet, MTC has 100 odd buses which are in horrendous conditions. Buses creak, and reapairs carried out are not what one you’d expect in a Volvo. Damages sections of the exterior and interior are usually patched up with Substandard Aluminium that is used in the regular buses instead of Volvo’s standard Steel or Glass. If this is the condition of the exterior, you can imagine how the Engine or AC might be. However, knowing TN, they might have not implemented this tax as it goes against the populist nature of the state.
DTC – The worst AC bus fleet that I have seen, DTCs Ashok Leyland buses and Tata Marcopolo buses at times do what no other Transco’s buses do. The BEST Cerita AC struggles while climbing a slope. The BMTC Corona AC struggles when the bus is in heavy traffic. The DTC AshLey and Marco AC struggles when the bus is on regular traffic, and even on minor downward slopes! With the maximum fare on an AC bus set to ₹25, this tax is most certainly a welcome move. Delhi is used to subsidies and cheap stuff and it is high time that AC bus fares were increased in the capital.
TSRTC – TSRTC has also increased its fares, but I am confused on which side to take. TSRTC has among the best Volvo fleets in the country, atleast in Hyderabad. The buses are maintained well, operate on good routes and frequencies, and are in general above expectations. However, the fares are already on the higher side, and thus the extra bit is a little unwarranted.
On the whole, I think this Additional Tax needs to be rolled back. It’s a bad idea to tax the Middle Class more. The upper class doesn’t take the bus, the lower class doesn’t take an AC bus. As always, increasing the Tax Base comes and burns the Middle Class pocket.
Decentralisation: Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of redistributing or dispersing functions, powers, people or things away from a central location or authority.
English: Graphical comparison of centralized (A) and decentralized (B) system. Image copyright Kes47, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Now, transport, especially public transport is a very crucial matter in the lives of most people. People need to travel from home to work, or home to school/college, or to meet someone, or whatever. Transit thus becomes a core component of daily life, and in most cases in Urban India, it single-handedly manages to become the most time consuming part of the day.
It is important to look at how transit is handled by the government and how Who Controls What makes a big difference.
Transport in India is usually under the purview of all three levels of government: Centre, State, and City. In many cases, the first may not apply, and in most cases, the third does not apply. Among these, it is almost impossible for the State Government to not be part of local transport since all State Transport Undertakings [STUs] are under the respective State governments.
Let us take a few examples here:
Mumbai, is possibly the only city in India right now where all three levels of government handle transit. The Suburban Rail, operated by Western and Central Railway comes under the Government of India. Metro Rail, Monorail, and MSRTC [ST] come under the Government of Maharashtra, while BEST comes under the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai [MCGM. Other transcos, such as TMT, NMMT, VVMT, MBMT, KDMT, all come under their respective Municipal Corporations.
Chennai and Hyderabad, both come under the category of zero local government in public transport. The Chennai Suburban Rail and Hyderabad Multi Modal Transit System [MMTS], both come under Southern and South Central Railway, therefore under the Government of India. Metro Rail, as always comes under the State Government, while MTC/TNSTC/TSRTC also come under the Governments of Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
Pune is an interesting case. Barring a few ST routes connecting Swargate or Pimpri-Chinchwad to nearby towns in the district, all routes are handled by the PMPML, while the Suburban Rail is handled by Central Railway, thus reducing the role of the State Government to almost nothing.
Surat and Coimbatore are polar opposites. In the former, the Surat City Bus and Surat Citilink BRTS are handled by the Surat Municipal Corporation while in the latter, TNSTC – Coimbatore operates buses as a State-level body.
Delhi, again is different. DTC and DIMTS are operated by the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, while the Delhi Metro comes under both Centre and State.
Other cities, such as Bangalore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, et al come under similar arrangements of Centre-State-City.
Now, before going further, I’d suggest a quick pre-read: The Escape Velocity of JnNURM Buses, which talks about legal definitions of Transport Bodies, Special Purpose Vehicles and Para-Statal Organisations.
Now, what is the problem if a Central or State-level body operates a transco?
Barring Delhi, which is a city-state and the National Capital, the major problem when one of the two upper levels operate transport is bureaucracy and red-tapism.
Take the case of Mumbai. Any improvements in the Suburban Rail has to go all the way to Delhi where it has to be approved. The previous Railway Ministers, from Bihar and Bengal, never bothered. Under Suresh Prabhu, things are certainly changing with Railway Divisions being granted more autonomy.
Similarly, is the case of a Coimbatore. While routes, planning, repairs, etc. are carried out by the Coimbatore division, fare revisions and new buses both come under the Transport Ministry, but is mostly under Chief Minister’s office! This means, whether you are in Coimbatore [under TNSTC Coimbatore] or Madurai [under TNSTC Madurai], fares and new buses are dependent on the Chief Minister’s mood.
The question is clear: Why should someone sitting in New Delhi be in charge of a person going from CBD Belapur to Andheri? Or for that matter, why should a person sitting Bangalore be in a decision making capacity for someone who wants to take a bus from Hubli Airport to Hubli Railway Station?
The issue is not so bad in cities where the state government has a dedicated transport body, such as Jaipur City Transport Services Limited [JCTSL], BMTC and MTC, however, all three are Capital cities. In the case of Mysore, where the MCTD operates, it is similar to BTMC’s set up, however, still controlled by Bangalore. However, it is worthwhile to note that KaSRTC gives more autonomy to its divisions than TNSTC.
Indian Railways has set up Special-Purpose Vehicles [SPVs] for certain projects with state governments, key being the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation [MRVC] which is a 51-49 JV between the Ministry of Railways and the Government of Maharashtra. MRVC does not operate any services, but is responsible for development and upgradation of the Mumbai Suburban Railway Network.
It is interesting to note, that the three Union Territories: NCT Delhi, Puducherry and Chandigarh have a similar, yet different model. DTC, PRTC, and the CTU, all come under the Union Territory Administration, but the DTC and PRTC are corporations that come under the elected Territorial Government, while the CTU is an undertaking which comes under the Central Government.
So, what should be the ideal situation:
For cities with multiple Municipal bodies in the vicinity, and depending on their sizes, let the Municipal Bodies handle operations. Mumbai has got it right, with its 7 Transport Undertakings, each handling their vast territories, and also running a few services into their neighbouring territories. For railway, an SPV should be set-up between the Government of India, Government of Maharashtra and all the Municipal Corporations covered. If needed, neighbouring Pune’s model can be adopted, where the PMPML was formed by merger of the erstwhile PMT and PCMT to serve a larger metropolitan area.
For areas separated by state borders such as the Tricity Area consisting of Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula, or the core NCR of Delhi-Gurgaon-Faridabad-Ghaziabad-Noida, a slightly different model needs to be explored. Since Municipally operated services may not be able to cross into another state, each entity must ideally have a State-Operated Transport body solely to serve the region, with a organisational board consisting of board members from the city itself.
For cities like Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, a separate Corporation under either State or Municipal control with board members from the city must be set up. The Transco should have a jurisdiction of upto 100km from the City Centre.
The Central Government should move out of Local Transit entirely and let local bodies handle it. Similarly, the state should also try and localise transit.
The same principles can be applied to other matters, such as:
The usual conditions, such as 15 paise nutrition surcharge, concessional fares for children below 12, flat fare of ₹2 for visually-impaired passengers, additional charge of ₹1/₹5 for non-AC/AC buses beyond MCGM limits and luggage rates are applicable.
Passes and Happy Hours
For passes, monthly and quarterly rates have been reduced. For Daily Passes, the rates for the non-AC passes are the same. The AC Magic Day Pass now costs ₹150, as was the case before the April 2015 fare revision.
A separate fare structure exists for Children, which costs roughly half the regular adult fare.
The concept of Happy Hours has been introduced, between 1100hrs and 1700hrs [11am to 5pm]. During Happy Hours, all passes are sold at the rate of Child Passes.
A friend reported that post the fare revision, a ₹105 trip from the JVLR/Jay Coach Junction to Airoli in an AS524 now costs ₹65.
This would mean that a trip from Thane Station [East] to Borivali Station [East] on AS700 would cost around ₹75-80 instead of ₹120, bringing it on par with TMT AC65 and NMMT AC131.
Similarly, Agarkar Chowk to Mulund Check Naka Bus Station on As422 should cost ₹60 instead of ₹100.
All this brings BEST on par with NMMT and TMT in terms of fares. Interestingly, while NMMT/TMT have hiked their fares in view of the recent introduction of a 6% Luxury Tax by the Government of India, similar to BMTC and TSRTC, BEST has reduced the fares. One would have to assume that the new reduced fares are inclusive of this surcharge.
Now, with the new fare structure in place, BEST needs to work on a few things, mostly dealing with its AC fleet. They are:
Fix the Cerita fleet. Get them in working order as long as they are around. Some of them have been converted into non-AC buses to replace the Starbus fleet that has been taken off the roads.
Get those 46 Volvos from Asian Concierge. Crucial for BEST to remain in the competition.
Reintroduce routes such as AS422, AS4, AS1 on Sundays.
Reintroduce discontinued routes such as AS505 to take on NMMT’s AC105.
BEST is certainly moving in the right direction. With a few more steps, it can soon recover its losses and be a role model for other Transcos.
What do you do when you have to lodge a complaint on the bus services or you have to make requests for new bus routes ? What is the platform for communication between the service provider and the customer.
In this piece, I would like to talk to you about the successful hyper local approach of TSRTC (Telangana State Road Transport Corporation) in connecting with people who use their services.
APSRTC and TSRTC Logo
Problematic History ?
TSRTC and APSRTC have always had a helpline number for people to contact and lodge their grievances. After the Online reservation portal for undivided corporation went live, The new toll free number started taking complaints only about the services which were listed for reservation. Meanwhile there were complaints from users about the depot managers and other officials being inaccessible. Heeding to the complaints, The corporation decided to make contact details (phone and email) of all of it’s major officials public. They are available on both TSRTC and APSRTC ‘s portals under the contact us drop down. This opened up opportunities for the tech savvy to write E-Mails to the officials with complaints but the real connect with passengers was still missing.
The Solution !
It was decided in October last year that officials will take calls one day every month at least in Hyderabad city and make effort to network between themselves to solve the issues raised by passengers. The first “Dial Your Officer” programme was conducted on the last Monday of October and has been continuing with out a break every month on the last Monday since then. All Telugu news papers in Hyderabad are informed about the upcoming edition of the call-in and all of them publish a small news item. The small yet significant snippets of news have the contact numbers of Depot, Regional and Divisional Managers along with the executive director. It is interesting to see how the news papers publish this news in the constituency papers of the district tabloid. The officials take calls from 5-6 pm in the evening. Not to say they do not take calls other wise, But this specific time is reserved for the passengers to lodge complaints and give suggestions. (All telugu news paper have a tabloid dedicated for local reporting of a particular city/district. This tabloid also contains a few pages for each assembly constituency with hyper local reporting and these are changed as per the areas to which the news paper is circulated to.) The Results
6 weeks in to the launch of this programme, we analyzed the decisions made since the start and found that this is a really novel way of engaging with people and getting to know what they actually need.
New Routes:
10 new routes were started which will connect the city in a completely different way as opposed to now and expand the network. 601 ECIL-Ibrahimpatnam
ECIL is a residential-industrial suburb in the North East of Hyderabad and Ibrahimpatnam is a Nagarpanchayat bordering the outer ring road in South East known for its excessive number of engineering colleges. For both of these suburbs, LB Nagar,Uppal and Habsiguda are the nearest urban centers. There was no direct bus connecting both ends through these urban centers. Hence, the corporation after requests from people in both of these suburbs decided to start this new route connecting them with their nearest urban centers. This route has proven to be a success with more than 75% occupancy which exceeds the target occupancy at 72%.Similar to this, many requests were made by people from new and emerging residential colonies all over the suburbs. This spun the corporation in to activity and made them really think about the impending crisis post metro. The corporation started re-aligning its operations concentrating on the suburbs and connecting the core city in a much denser way. Nine other routes include direct services from Mehedipatnam and VBIT park to Medchal, Extension of services to new colonies on Bangalore highway beyond Aramgarh and more connections to the northern suburb, Suchitra to the city via Bowenpally.
Re-Starting Old Routes:
NGOs colony, which together with places beyond Dilsukhnagar on Vijayawada highway contributes to more than 40% of the total premium bus pass purchases in Hyderabad got treated with three of its older and much appreciated services getting reinstated. 300V,186 and 2/100V were restored over a period of six months.
Women’s special services:
There were a lot of complaints from the women staff of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh state Secretariats who have stayed loyal to the ladies special buses operated during rush hours about the reduced fleet strength. The number of ladies special buses have since been increased from 68 to 100 much to the joy of women employees but we still think there is more work to be done on this front.
Maintenance of buses:
Every one Including us have complained about the cleanliness and maintenance of buses, to which the corporation’s immediate response was to complete hiring new maintenance staff to clean the buses. The cleanliness of buses has definitely improved. But, we think there is still more work to be done on a long term basis to get the maintenance on track.I will digress here a bit to inform you how understaffed RTC’s mechanical staff are. There have been no new recruitments in what is called “shramik” cadre since four years and all the new placements are done through a flawed system of “outsourcing”. This apathy towards maintenance staff should end if you aspire to operate buses in good shape.
There were also a lot of complaints about the rude behavior of crew. This we think is majorly because of the working conditions.There were also complaints about how the crew itself is not informed about the various subsidized schemes the corporation offers. Hence, Training programmes to sensitize the crew have been organized at the corporation’s own staff training institute in Hakimpet.
Bus Bunching: Bus Bunching has been a perennial problem in all major Indian cities operating large networks in mixed traffic. People complained about this and RTC got its act together to rationalize a few routes to avoid bus bunching to an extent it can control. We should all understand that it cannot accurately predict the traffic conditions but working towards increasing internal efficiency will help both the passengers and the corporation. For example, prior to route rationalization some 12 depots were operating on route no 218, which is the north west south east corridor of the city. This resulted in weird timings as opposed to a clean cyclic time table. Efforts were made to restrict these services to only eight depots and there is a clear improvement on ground with a clean cyclic time table. Route rationalization has been an ongoing effort since then all over the city and we hope to see more reliable services very soon.
All of the above mentioned issues were voiced by regular commuters easily only because of the easy access provided by TSRTC. Now, If you all have any issues regarding the operations, Never hesitate to voice them. TSRTC is always welcoming in taking your complaints. For example,Local travel groups have always been active in meeting the depot managers to get their issues sorted.Start engaging with your corporation now ! Go ahead and talk to them. Make this “Dial Your Officer” programme a start point.
“Dial Your Officer”
Last Monday of every month, 5pm-6pm.
Find the contacts : here
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission [JnNURM] is probably one of the most well known Government schemes that happened from 2005 to 2014. Anyone living in a big city would know what JnNURM is purely because of the ugly JnNURM logo being plastered everywhere, from buses to flyovers and ultimately to ultrasonic flow-meters used to measure water flow in underground supply systems.
Logo of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission [JnNURM]. Image in Public Domain.Now flyovers, bridges, skywalks, underpasses, et al, are out of the purview of this article. The discussion is about buses. In 2013, it was announced that the Central government was willing to fund the allotment of an additional 10,000 buses and development of ancillary infrastructure such as Depots, Workshops and Control Rooms.
Among the various points mentioned in the above document; Point 3 talks about Definitions. It defines State as a State or Union Territory, a city as a City, Agglomeration, or Metropolitan area defined by the State, and Special Purpose Vehicle [SPV] as meant to run bus services within a city. It also states that existing corporations such as BEST, DTC, BMTC et al, also come under the definition of an SPV. A crucial thing to note here is Point 3.4 which talks about Para-Statals like KSRTC and APSRTC, which can operate buses under JnNURM, but would require an SPV at city level, OR could set up an SPV for a cluster of cities under Point 3.5.
Now, not all transcos followed the JnNURM guidelines. State level transcos as well as their city level counterparts did what was ideally not permitted.
Now let us list out all the violations that were possible; and then examine them case-by-case. This article only deals with the operating body, and jurisdictions. Another article will come soon on violations of bus specifications.
Not setting up an SPV to handle JnNURM buses.
Using JnNURM buses outside the city or area where they were to be used.
Using JnNURM buses for purposes other than Public-Transport.
Now that the violations have been listed, let us examine, on a case by case basis, what each transco did.
Metropolitan Transport Corporation/Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation
An MTC Volvo on Route 588B from Broadway to Mamallapuram. Image copyright Vinoth Thambidurai, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
One of the earliest pioneers in the JnNURM violations, the MTC recieved a set of Volvo B7RLEs which it operated inside city limits, on routes such as CMBT-Red Hills or CMBT-Chengalpattu. It also ran on routes such as 588B from Broadway to Mamallapuram, which is acceptable as it is a city route. The issue cropped up when MTC transferred some of its Volvo buses to TNSTC Villupuram, and began using them on various intercity routes such as Chennai-Puducherry, Chennai-Hosur, and Chennai-Trichy. Perhaps its MTC which is innocent and TNSTC which is the culprit.
TNSTC Coimbatore and TNSTC Madurai received non-AC Semi-Low-floor [SLF] buses for intra-city use. These buses were not used on routes outside of their respective cities but there was no SPV created for them. Of course, one may argue that TNSTC Coimbatore’s JnNURM buses were used exclusively in Coimbatore and not in Erode or Ooty and thus TNSTC CBE is not the para-statal here but merely a city-specific transport corporation.
Puducherry Road Transport Corporation
On the lines of the TNSTC-MTC mischief-making duo, the PRTC got itself a set of SLFs under JnNURM. PRTC hardly used any of them in its capital city. Instead, it chose to ply them between Pondicherry and Karaikal. One may argue that there is nothing wrong in this as they are two parts of Pondi only. They then ran them on East Coast Road [ECR] along with the TNSTC VPM Volvos. This, made them serial offenders, just like the others.
Kerala State Road Transport Corporation
A Volvo B7RLE bus owned by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation at Angamally Bus Station, heading for Aroor. Image copyright RanjithSiji, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Another arty and masterful violator, KeSRTC received Volvo B7RLEs for use in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. What did they do with these? Run them on intercity routes, of course. No SPV was created. The Central Government stepped in and objected to this violation, going so far as taking KeSRTC to court.
However, being crafty, the KeSRTC found a work-around for this. The court order affected only buses belonging to the Kochi division, prompting KeSRTC to transfer most of these buses to the Thrivananthapuram division. The reason? These buses were super-profitable and KeSRTC otherwise had only one Volvo service between Trivandrum and Bangalore, which was running at a loss due to KaSRTCs super-efficiency.
A low-floor Tata Marcopolo Bus belonging to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation -Mysore City Transport Department. Image copyright Srikanth Ramakrishnan, CC-BY-SA 3.0, Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Among the most ethical State Transport Undertakings in India, KaSRTC has actually followed most of the rules in the book. However, it did miss out on a few:
In 2012, the Government of Karnataka, NWKRTC, Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation [HDMC], Hubli-Dharwad Urban Development Authority set up a company, the Hubli-Dharwad BRTS Company as an SPV that would oversee the construction, upgradation of the old Hubli-Dharwad Highway thru the twin cities, commissioning of the BRTS and its operations.
KaSRTC has lived up by trying to follow norms as much as possible. One just hopes that Mysore and Mangalore get their own transport corporations soon.
Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation/Telangana State Road Transport Corporation
A Volvo B7RLE operating under the brand name of Metro Luxury by the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation in Visakhapatnam. Image copyright LOVEofZ, CC-BY-SA 4.0 International, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Along with this, several of the Volvo “Metro Luxury” buses have found their way to intercity routes, both in AP and Telangana.
Note: Thanks to GSR Chaitanya for pointing out that APSRTC/TSRTC did indeed have an SPV. An article on this was posted a year earlier on Love of Z, a blog dedicated to APSRTC/TSRTC buses. You can read the article here.
Buses in Hyderabad, on paper operate under the aegis of the Hyderabad Zonal Urban Road Transport Corporation.
Haryana Roadways
A Haryana Roadways JnNURM Ashok Leyland Bus. Image copyright Srikanth Ramakrishnan, CC-BY-SA 4.0, International, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Another serial offender, Haryana Roadways has both non-AC buses like the above, as well as Volvo B7RLEs, both of which, were allotted to the Faridabad division. Once again, there is no SPV here, and these buses always operate on the Gurgaon-Faridabad-Ballabgarh route. Buses that operate within Gurgaon, however, are non JnNURM buses.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation
A Bharat Stage IV Volvo operated by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. Image copyright Hayathkhan.h, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
The BMTC, one of the largest beneficiaries under JnNURM, is a mere crook among the no-goodniks of the Transport world. It’s only violation of the JnNURM guidelines? Renting out buses. A large chunk of BMTCs revenue comes from leasing out its Volvo fleet to the IT sector for dedicated pickup and drop trips. The BMTC quickly rectified this however by purchasing brand new Volvo buses and deputing the JnNURM ones for Public Transport. A good move to conform to norms, but the downside? The IT sector gets the really good buses, the rest of us, nothing.
Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport
A JnNURM double-door second generation Cerita owned by BEST, leased out to Air India for ferrying passengers between the aircraft and the terminal. Image copyright Prateek Karandikar, CC-BY-SA 4.0 International, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Another small-time crook in the world of the Mafioso, BESTs only mistake in violating JnNURM guidelines was leasing out its Second-Generation Cerita [yep, them Purple Faeries] to Air India to ferry passengers between the aircraft and the terminal. The cash-strapped body, with annual losses of ~₹700crore needed to monetise its fleet, and did so by leasing them out. However, word has it that the after the Air India agreement ended, BEST has been leasing out its older, First-Generation, Single-Door Cerita buses which were not acquired under JnNURM. In order to further monetise them, BEST put out full body adverts on them, thus turning them into giant, moving billboards.
Now that we’re done with the villainous lot, let’s head to the heroes of the hour!
Jaipur City Transport Services Limited
This SPV was set up by the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation in 2008 to handle city buses in Jaipur. It operates JnNURM buses, other buses as well as the Jaipur BRTS.
Atal Indore City Transport Services Ltd
A bus operated by Atal Indore City Transport Services Ltd in Indore. Image copyright Prateek Karandikar, CC-BY-SA 4.0 International, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Set up to run bus services in Madhya Pradesh’s largest city, Indore, the AiCTSL, operates city buses, as well as the BRTS. It also operates a Radio Cab service in the city.
JnNURM has been scrapped in favour of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation [AMRUT]. While nothing concrete has been set for buses, one hopes that AMRUT paves the way for more intelligent transit in the country.
Amaravati, the upcoming capital of Andhra Pradesh, is touted to be a major game changer in Indian cities. While it will be the fourth major planned State Capital, after Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh and Gandhinagar, it will be the first major Smart City in India as a State Capital.
Now, all this sure sounds rosy on paper, but fancy stuff isn’t what we’re looking for right now. What we need is functionality. Here are some key pointers that I have decided to put across for Amaravati’s transport, which will help livability in the city massively.
Theoretical Stuff
Start a new unified transit body
Create a new entity from scratch for Amaravati’s transport. That’s right. A new entity, solely for transport within the Capital Region. It can be either a Municipal-run body like BEST, or a State-run body like MTC. However, this body should be a Unified body on the lines of Transport for London [TfL] or New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority [MTA]. Let this authority or agency handle buses, trains, and also be a nodal point for autorickshaws/taxis. The Transco can also be jointly managed by all three levels of government. Road related works can remain under existing agencies like the Public Works Department or Andhra Pradesh Road Development Corporation
Keep out of existing Establishments
Amaravati must not rely on APSRTC or Indian Railways for its Transport. Buses in Hyderabad were earlier run by the APSRTC, and now by the TSRTC. Rail transit for the new city must be independent of Indian Railways, to prevent congestion and avoid red-tapism on the network like on the Mumbai Suburban Railway. MSRTC operates inter-city buses in Mumbai. BEST operates intra-city services. The other transcos [NMMT, TMT, MBMT, et al] handle services between the different jurisdictions within the MMR. Amaravti might be made up of multiple Municipal bodies for Vijayawada, Guntur and the upcoming city, but transport within these regions must be kept for a single entity that exclusively serves it.
Practical Stuff
Underground Metro Corridors
Since the entire city is being built from scratch, the entire Metro corridor needs to be built underground. This will help keep the city aesthetically appealing. If elevated corridors are built, they should use the 25m segment like what Mumbai Metro 1 and incorporate the cantilever station design of the Hyderabad Metro.
Bus Rapid Transit Systems
Marechal Floriano BRT station, Linha Verde (Green Line), Curitiba RIT, Brazil. Image copyright Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Amaravti has the potential to make Bus Rapid Transit Systems [BRTS] work more efficiently than other cities including Ahmedabad and Surat. It can implement them on a large scale as a feeder system to the aforementioned Metro systems. Again, since the city is being built from scratch, bus lanes can be made signal free, making them truly rapid. Trolleybuses, or even trams can be run to make it more eco-friendly.
Amaravati must ensure that roads are built with proper cycle lanes that are separated from pedestrian lanes and motorised traffic. Encourage the usage of cycles, and incentivise riding them. Public cycles should be introduced. Use a smart card for parking spaces and renting cycles.
Accessibility
Bicycle lane and a pedestrians’ path in Tsurumi, Yokohama, Japan. Image copyright Meme-Meme, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
All roads must feature properly laid and leveled pedestrian walkways as well as ramps for the differently-abled. With the Prime Minister stressing on the word Divyang for differently-abled people, it is imperative that this is taken up seriously. Traffic signals must be fitted with audio devices to let visually-impaired people know that they can cross the road. Bus stops should feature Braille signage and pavements should feature a tactile path similar to the one in Metro stations.
Smart Design and Technology
Solar Panels at HUDA City Centre Parking Lot. Image copyright Srikanth Ramakrishan, CC-BY-SA 4.0 International, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
All roads must be designed with ducts for cables, pipelines, and other channels to prevent them from being dug up very often. This is similar to what is done in Mumbai and Bangalore [the latter thru TenderSURE]. Roads should be laid using plastic waste to recycle the waste as well as make the road long lasting. Electric cables should be underground to prevent accidents. Traffic signals, bus stops, footbridges, parking lots, benches, should be fitted with CCTV cameras for safety and security, as well as fitted with solar panels to generate power as well as provide shade.
Common Payment instrument
A super crucial point, a Common Payment Instrument must be instituted across the city. A single smart card should be used for Metro, Buses, BRTS, Cycles, etc. This model is followed abroad in many places. Like several cities abroad, NFC-enabled smartphones can be used as a payment mechanism. As stated earlier for buses, an App could be developed for buses, trains, availability of cycles and payments. Keep it simple silly!
TAXIS and autos
Autos, while seen as a burden on the roads by many, are very crucial. Electric Rickshaws can be mandated to keep the air clean. Similarly, permits should be issued for regular taxis, similar to the Cool Cabs and regular Kaali-Peelis of Mumbai. However, these auto and taxi drivers must be given a loan to purchase a GPS-enabled Fare Meter that can support RFID/NFC payments so that people can use the aforementioned smart cards and phone payment methods. The Transport Department, City Administration and Traffic Police must strictly enforce this however.
Water Transport
Sitting on the banks of the Krishna river, Amaravati can make use of this natural resource. A network of channels can also be built across the city, with boats, similar to Allepy.
Overall, the future of Amaravati seems to be quite bright, with Chandrababu Naidu as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. I just hope some of these suggestions are taken seriously.
Do share this post. Tweet it out and use the hashtags #SunriseAndhra and #SmartCity so that it can reach the government.
![An MTC Small Bus [Mini Bus].](http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/02108/Mini_Bus_TH_2108183f.jpg)
![Logo of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission [JnNURM].](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JnNURM_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
