The Indian Express             24.09.2013

BMC works on a hi-tech traffic plan

For the first time in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has undertaken an initiative to comprehensively plan the traffic mobility of the city.

This plan will be largely based on the Comprehensive Transportation Study (CTS) conducted by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region development Authority (MMRDA) in 2008, with assistance from the World Bank under MUTP (Mumbai Urban Transport Project).

"We are thinking big with this plan though it is still in its preliminary stages. We want to bring about a drastic change in the traffic situation in the city today. We are even creating a software for transportation management and planning. I had previously worked on MMRDA's CTS plan, which was created for the entire MMR region to be adopted by local bodies. So this will largely be based on that, though it will go further to cater to the situation specific to the city," said additional municipal commissioner S V R Srinivas, who was previously MMRDA additional metropolitan commissioner. At BMC, Srinivas is currently in-charge of the roads, traffic and bridges department.

"The finances for the plan will fit in our current traffic budget for the year (roughly Rs 15 crore), which already included the introduction of a five-year traffic & simulation studies for scientifically ascertaining parking requirements, road widths, road lines and bridges," he added.

The mobility plan will identify travel patterns of residents, and businesses, and evolve strategies to facilitate flowing traffic. The corporation will devise a traffic system software to grade various roads of the city based on their usage and their proximity to major routes. Currently, the civic body only uses the video feed from cameras installed at major traffic junctions across Mumbai to judge the density of vehicles at any given time.

"In our traffic census for the city, we are going to map the traffic density on all roads, including minor ones. There are many arterial roads that are as vital as the Western Express Highway and the Eastern Express Highway, such as the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road and S V Road. We will see if roads in such areas have to be modified or developed to aid traffic flow. We will also work on the missing links in the road network based on the Development Plan and plan future projects accordingly," Srinivas said.

As part of the mobility plan, the corporation has also roped in state government think-tank, Mumbai Transformation Support Unit (MTSU), for carrying out its traffic survey.

An institute or firm will also be appointed to carry out inter-modal studies in peak hour and non-peak hour traffic. The studies will include an analysis of the three modes of transport - public, private and intermediate public transport (IPT) vehicles such as rickshaws and taxis.

"The plan will also consider the problems of pedestrians and how their interests can be served in the system. Earlier, one-way and two-way roads were decided manually without a scientific basis. Now, such decisions will be taken systematically through research," Srinivas said.

The Hindu               19.09.2013

State gets 2,104 buses under JNNURM

In a major step to improve urban transport in the State, the Centre has sanctioned 2,104 buses to the State under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

A decision was taken at the first meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC), constituted for the purpose by the Ministry of Urban Development in New Delhi, said a PIB press release.

The earlier round of sanctioning of buses took place way back in 2009.

At the meeting on Tuesday, the number of buses proposed to be sanctioned for Karnataka and Bhatinda (Punjab) stood at 2,104 and 20 respectively.

Union Ministry Urban Development Department Secretary Sudhir Krishna had announced in August that 10,000 buses would be sanctioned to States under JNNURM.

New features

He said the current round of allocating buses had new features like sanctioning of bus depots, workshops, control centres, ITS system, etc. to make the project sustainable.

He appreciated the efforts made by Karnataka in introducing efficiency in the road transport sector, especially with respect to buses, and also asked the other States to emulate the high standards set by Karnataka.

The city of Mysore has introduced state-of-the-art buses with ITS system, including features such as LED display for stops, CCTV cameras, GPRS, etc. Karnataka plans to introduce highly fuel efficient buses OF BS-IV specifications which are environmental friendly. Hybrid buses are also proposed to be introduced in Bangalore and Mysore.

Out of the total of 10,000 buses, around 2,000 buses have been set aside for the Northeast and hilly areas. Tamil Nadu has requested for about 3,000 city buses, while Andhra Pradesh has placed a request for 1,200 city buses. Several more proposals from different States have also started reaching the Ministry now, the note said.