Urban News

The Hindu 01.04.2010

‘Mysore has emerged as model for transport'

Staff Correspondent

— Photo: M.A. SRIRAM

For Better facility:Minister for Transport R. Ashok launching the truck terminal work in Mysore on Wednesday.

MYSORE: Minister for Transport R. Ashok on Wednesday said that all pilot projects of the Transport Department, especially of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), would be implemented in Mysore.

Addressing presspersons here after inspecting the mofussil bus-stand renovated at a cost of Rs. 23.53 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), he said the Government of Rajasthan had sought KSRTC's assistance for developing transport infrastructure on the lines of facilities in Mysore.

The Minister said that Mysore had emerged as a “model” for transport not only for the State, but also for the country as the Centre had complimented the KSRTC's efforts for developing infrastructure under JNNURM in the city.

“The Centre had written to the States identified under JNNURM to emulate the transport model developed in Mysore,” the Minister said. There had been no complaint with regard to the implementation of KSRTC's projects in Mysore under JNNURM.

He said Mysore was in the forefront of becoming one of the success stories in transport and the department was keen on taking up new projects after experimenting them in this city.Mr. Ashok said that his department had bagged five national and international awards for bringing innovation in passenger facilities such as ticketing system and developing infrastructure such as passenger information system.

Earlier, the Minister performed “bhoomi puja” for construction of a truck terminal taken up by D. Devaraja Urs Truck Terminal Limited Company on the outer ring road off Mysore-Nanjangud Road near Bandipalya here. The truck terminal is coming up on a 16.20 acre-plot at a cost of Rs. 23 crore. The Minister launched the first phase of the work to be taken up at a cost of Rs. 12.79 crore.

Mr. Ashok said the terminal would have rest rooms for drivers and their assistants, restaurants, fuel station, service station, toilet complex, clinic, police outpost, weighbridge and other facilities. The first phase of the project would be completed in 18 months.

He said truck terminals were also coming up at Dasanapura village in Nelamangala taluk on Bangalore-Pune Highway, Belur industrial area near Dharwad and Amrvathi village in Hospet taluk of Bellary district. The process of identifying land for construction of truck terminals in Bijapur, Belgaum, Raichur, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Davangere and other major cities had commenced, he added.

‘No BMTC fare hike'

He said there was no proposal to increase the fares of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). “There is no question of fare hike at this moment.”

Asked about the reports of fare hike after BBMP elections, the Minister said: “I have not received any proposal from the BMTC recommending for fare hike.”

The Hindu 20.02.2010

Urban transport: city may emerge as model

Shankar Bennur

MYSORE: Mysore may soon emerge as a model for other Indian cities and perhaps for some European cities too in development of sustainable urban transport modes.

For, the World Bank has chosen Mysore along with four other cities for its ambitious project on sustainable urban transport.

The World Bank and the Government of India signed an agreement in the first week of the month to promote sustainable urban transport in five cities under the Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP).

Other cities

The other cities chosen for implementing the project are Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in Maharashtra, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

Managing Director of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Gaurav Gupta told The-Hindu that the Rs. 21-crore project to be implemented here would be partly funded by the World Bank.

Funds

While the World Bank would provide Rs. 9 crore, the Union Ministry of Urban Development would provide Rs. 12 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the project.

Incidentally, Mysore is the second city in the State after Bangalore to be identified for implementing projects under the JNNURM.

“Different kinds of sustainable urban transport models will be tried in cities identified for the project. The project in Mysore will focus on intelligent transport system using technologies such as global positioning system (GPS) and geographical information system (GIS),” Mr. Gupta said. It would be a “demonstration project” for capacity building in urban transport. The entire fleet of city service buses in Mysore would be fitted with GPS devices. Passenger information system using GPS and GIS was also proposed, under which information on the arrival time of buses at a particular bus-stand would be displayed on electronic display systems put up at the stop, he said.

The agency for installing GPS and GIS devices and other equipment would be identified in the next four months. By March 2011, most of the city service buses would be fitted with GPS devices. The impact of the project on the public transport system will be studied and documented.

The idea was to learn from the project and develop sustainable models for urban transport, he said.

“The model to be demonstrated in Mysore has not been experimented anywhere in the country. The Mysore model may be replicated in other Indian cities and even in some European cities with or without modification,” Mr. Gupta said.

Public transport infrastructure in Mysore is undergoing a massive change after the city was included under the JNNURM.

High-tech buses

Mr. Gupta said nearly 150 high-tech buses were plying in the city and new bus-stands were being developed under the JNNURM. The modernised city bus-stand was inaugurated last year.

Once the SUTP was implemented, intra-city services would undergo a sea change as scheduling and tracking of buses on all routes would be done from a central location, he added.