1 Introduction
Amaravati, the proposed capital city of
Andhra Pradesh, barring a few villages being developed on virgin lands, gives a
good opportunity for developing well conceived urban transport system that
could overcome plethora of problems that beset cities in India and globally. Government
of Andhra Pradesh unveiled a Draft master plan prepared by Surbana International Consultants Pte Ltd and Jurong Consultants
Pte Ltd, on behalf of a Governmental agency of Singapore. The purpose of the
article is to critically review proposed urban transport plan to bring out their
strengths and weaknesses and suggest suitable modifications to develop a
workable, equitable and efficient transport plan.
1.1 Review of the proposed transport plans
As in any normal city the system proposes
hierarchy of roads consisting of national highways and expressways, arterial
roads, sub arterial roads and collector roads and recommends road widths of 60,
50, 40 and 25 metres respectively. In addition the report also refers to local
roads within neighbourhoods but the standards for these are left to the
development guidelines and individual developers.
The proposed roads, except expressways and
national highways, are planned to have cycle and pedestrian paths of around 1.8
meters (except 3 meters on one type of sub arterial road – which probably is a
typo as no apparent reason is provided for this deviation).
In addition the system promises a public
transport infrastructure and network and proposes a normal bus system to be run
by state road transport corporation, a bus rapid transport system (BRTS) on
arterial roads and a 147 kilometre rail based mass rapid transit system (MRTS) on
an elevated corridor. The plan is silent on corridors on which bus transits would
run but gives details of routes on which MRTS is to be run. It further refers
to high speed rail (HSR) to be developed by Indian Railways and how it can
connect Amaravati to Vijayawada and Chennai (Draft capital city master plan report - part 2, 2015).
1.2 Critique of the plan
A master plan should
be providing a strategy to develop intra-city and intercity transport based on
national urban transport policy (NUTP) which enunciates: i) encourage cycling
and walking (Non motorised transport – NMT) ii) discourage car travel
especially for daily commute and iii) encourage public transport. This should
have guided the infrastructure development. As the plan is based on the
experiences from Singapore and from consultancy organisations based in
Singapore it is expected to draw heavily from Singaporean experience in urban
transport is not reflected in the plan.
The plan gives a few infrastructure options
but does not prioritise them. The plan also does not relate to the Indian urban
transport context and how to influence it to the desired policy outcomes. While
discussing the options for public transport the discussion was neither
comprehensive nor based on data set as per the Indian context[1].
Master plan also does not dwell how different towns/cities would be connected
and how the intercity traffic should be dealt in the new city.
The plan comes across as a medley of
infrastructure options and not an integrated transport plan.
2 Policy propositions on NMT and Motorised Private travel
As enunciated in National Urban Transport Policy
(NUTP), capital region should have policy such that NMT and public travel is
encouraged and vehicle travel, mainly car travel, is discouraged. While issues
related to public transport are discussed later, we dwell here on private
travel and design of road infrastructure.
First and foremost reason for restricting
car travel and encouraging NMT would be the utilisation of road space. Lane
capacity, measured as persons/vehicles per hour per direction per lane, in a
typical 3.5 metre road is 19,000 persons, 14,000 cycles, and 2,000 cars for walking,
cycling and car respectively (Botma and Papendrecht, 1991). Using average occupancy of
cars in India as 1.2 persons capacity
for a car lane works out to 2400 (Badami, Tiwari and Mohan, 2004). Thus in
terms of space utilisation a pedestrian requires one eighth space and cyclist
one sixth space compared to a commuter by car.
In addition in Indian context the
socio-economic conditions are such that car use is limited compared to walking
and cycling and this is vindicated by a study commissioned by Ministry of Urban
Development. The study showed that in eight largest cities of India shares of
walking, cycling and cars in total trips was between 19-38, 4-12, and 9-15 per
cent respectively (Ministry of Urban Development, 2008). These shares are in a
scenario where walking and cycling on road, in the absence of dedicated
infrastructure, are considered unsafe and between them share the highest number
of fatalities in road accidents.
Keeping the foregoing road infrastructure
in the Capital region should be planned such that movement of pedestrians and
cyclists and their integration to public transport should be the central focus.
This is detailed below. Motorised private travel should get less priority
compared to NMT. There could be exceptions to such as movement of ambulances or
movement of physically disabled etc.
Walkways and cycleways should be laid
throughout the city and they should be barrier free. All crossings should be at
grade for the pedestrians and cyclists changing the motorised vehicle paths if
necessary. The paths should be so laid that as far as possible a cyclist and a
pedestrian should be able to take the shortest path between any two points.
On all roads with width of 40 meters or
more provision should be made for 3.5 meter wide walkways and cycleways in both
directions. This will help in facilitating a bidirectional cycle and pedestrian
movement on both sides of the road. The current provision of 1.8 meters is
highly inadequate for bidirectional movement.
Certain expressways in the plan do not have
the cycle and pedestrian ways. This should be revised and exclusive cycle and
pedestrian pathways should be provided; either as a part of the main road or as
a part of the service lane. On the distributor and collector roads, whose
widths are 25 meters, pedestrian and cycle ways should be at least 2.5 meters
each.
Extra space required can be accommodated by
reducing the car lanes to 3 meter width from the current 3.5 meters except for
bus lanes. If the extra space is not possible within the existing road geometry
then the road can be widened to that extent or car lane widths reduced to 2.7
meters (9 feet) restricting the speeds. (Speck, 2014)
Detailed designs can be developed for these
roads as part of the detailed design.
Equally important is the need to regulate
car movement in the capital city region and experience from Singapore should be
valuable. The measures to regulate should include the following:
Identify corridors and areas where congestion
charges should be levied. In addition to area specific approach toll charge
should be levied as per the level of traffic; higher traffic should entail
higher toll charge. This would discourage peak hour traffic. Congestion pricing
should become part of the city transport planning and not become a later
thought out scheme.
Similarly car ownership should be
regulated. Vehicle regulation should be should be multilayered; distinguishing
between different kinds of ownership. For example Singapore fixes an annual quota
for vehicles which can be used without restrictions while it has another type
of vehicle permit which can be used during off peak hours. In case of former a
annual quota is fixed and people are decided through a competitive bidding.
Further details for implementing these can
be worked out after discussing with various agencies.
The issue of two wheelers is not discussed
separately as they share same infrastructure with cars but use them more efficiently.
Hence no specific restrictions are envisaged immediately.
3 Public Transport by Rail and Road – Inter city and intra-city
As cities grow in size, as is the case with
Amaravati, intra-city and intercity transport and their integration becomes
important. For intra-city transport the plan considered three options –
conventional bus, BRT and elevated rail system. For intercity transport the plan
refers to the high speed rail system proposed by Indian Railways in its vision
2020 document and specifies a corridor for high speed rail. The plan does not
refer to any other intercity transport system for the capital city. In this section the proposed plan is
critically scrutinised to show its inefficiency and also lack of understanding
of contemporary transport systems in India and the areas around the Capital region.
Alternate public transport plan is proposed which grows as the city grows, needs
far fewer resources and symbiotically builds on the existing transport
infrastructure.
3.1 Intra-city public transport systems: A critical appraisal and alternative options
The operational characteristics of an elevated
metro system, a BRT system, and a surface rail system are presented in the
Table below.
Table: Construction cost and capacity
created for different public transport systems
|
Public Transport system
|
Construction cost
(Rs Crores per Km)
(1)
|
Capacity created
(Persons per hour per direction)
(2)
|
Capacity created per Rs 1 crore of investment
(PPHPD per Crores per km)
(3)=(2)/(1)
|
|
Elevated rail
|
200
|
30,000
|
150
|
|
BRT
|
20
|
15,000
|
750
|
|
Surface rail
|
20
|
60,000
|
3000
|
|
Assumptions: All the figures are for peak performance of the
system.
Elevated rail; A 6 coach train running at a frequency of 3 minutes
BRT: A 3 unit articulated bus running at a frequency of 45 seconds
on a dedicated single line corridor.
Surface rail: A 16 coach train running at a frequency of 5
minutes.
Source: Compiled from Ravibabu and Phanisree (2014)
|
|||
As seen from the above investment in
surface rail system can create infrastructure capacity 20 times that of an
elevated rail system and the BRT creates capacity 5 times of the elevated rail
system. Thus for the same investment the 147 kilometre metro rail system
planned for Amaravati city can be replaced with surface rail system of 1470
kilometers which would have a capacity of 2940 kilometer metro system.
As city of Amaravati is planned to be built
from scratch on nearly virgin land it would be advisable not to build any
elevated systems but to plan for surface rail and BRT
corridors. Elevated corridors should only be considered where space is a major
constraint and thus become unavoidable in already built areas. Hence, in
Amaravati it is essential to plan for a surface rail system from the beginning
and build elevated systems as critical links when they become inescapable. Building
surface rail system also enables integration with the neighbouring rail systems.
Next section brings out how integration with adjacent rail systems can be done to
produce a robust intra-city and inter-city transport system.
3.2 Inter-city transport system; Need and strategy for rail connectivity
As per the master plan Amaravati city will
be connected to other cities either by road or an high speed rail. As the
pre-feasibility study of the high speed rail on the Chennai Vijayawada is still
not commissioned, whether and when the high speed rail would be operational is
highly speculative – and looking at the overall scenario of construction of
high speed rail in India the system will not be built in the immediate future (next
10-20 years). Thus Amaravati would be the only city in India with a two million
plus population without connectivity to the conventional rail system. This
should be corrected if the city is to be planned as a green city.
In addition to the connection to the rail
systems close by it would advisable to connect the existing towns to the new
capital city to provide an avenue for affordable mass transport.
The table below gives towns and their distance
from Thullur village – an important and central village in capital region.
|
Sl. No
|
Place
|
Distance
In kms
|
Remarks
|
|
1
|
Guntur
|
30
|
Provides connectivity to Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Chennai and
Repalle rail routes
|
|
2
|
Vijayawada
|
26
|
Provides connectivity to Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, and Gudivada
rail routes.
|
|
3
|
Amaravati (existing town) finally extending to Nadikudi
|
16 + 75
|
New line to existing Amaravati town to be further extended to
Nadikudi (provides alternate route for Hyderabad)
|
|
|
Total
|
72 + 75
|
|
Different rail routes in and around Thullur
village along with the distances from the village to suggested junction points are
given below:
·
Guntur – Nadikudi line – 24 -
27 km joining near Sattenapalle
·
Guntur - Dhone line by
extending Sattenapalle spur by another 20 kms joining at Narsaraopet
·
Vijayawada - Hyderabad line –18
to 20 kms joining near Kondapalli
·
Vijayawada - Visakhapatnam line
by extending Kondapalli spur by another 15 -17 kms joining at Ganavaram
·
Vijayawada - Guntur – 17 to 21
kms joining near Mangalagiri
·
Vijayawada - Chennai line –
6-15 kms – by extending Mangalagiri spur joining at pedavadlapudi or any other convenient
station
Thus by providing a total rail length of
around 250 to 275 kms the towns and rail lines in close vicinity would be
connected to Amaravati capital city. As these connections are in addition to
the proposed road and high speed connectivity they would provide a wide variety
of transport options to come to Amaravati city.
3.3 Integrating inter-city and intra city rail transport infrastructure
The rail line plan, superimposed on the road
structure plan proposed in draft
master plan (CRDA, Figure 4.18 in page 37)
is given in Figure 1. Approximate distance of the rail lines works out to:
·
Inner ring: 60 kms
·
Outer ring: 120 kms
·
North South corridor – 50 kms
·
East west corridors -2
corridors: Total length 80 kms
·
Spurs to adjacent cities/towns
and railway routes: Approximately 190 kms
·
Total length: Approximate
length – 500 kms
 |
| Amavarathi area map: With proposed rail connections |
Investment for constructing 500 kms of the
surface rail works out 50 km of elevated metro cost – as the costs are one
tenth; are 35 % of the total metro system planned (0.35 * 147 = 51.5).
The above are a rough estimate and the
actual track length can be assessed based on detailed surveys but the deviation
would not be more than 10%. Assuming the higher figure of 550 kms and also
assuming that part of the system would be elevated - especially at the junction
locations and at water bodies; costs
would still not be more than 50 % of the amount spent on the elevated system. The
remaining 50% investment can be used for improving the connectivity to the
capital region and in other parts of the state.
As seen above as the capacity created on a
surface rail is 2 times of an elevated system; a 500 kilometre surface rail network
will have capacity equal to that of a 1000 km metro rail; i.e. nearly 7 times
of the proposed elevated track of 147 kms (147*7 = 1029 nearly equal to 1000)
deploying half of the resources.
Hence the proposal is to plan a surface
rail with good connectivity in the complete city. Alongside the surface rail
system if a well laid out cycle, pedestrian and BRT network is developed the
city should aim for very high levels of public transport use. Mumbai has around
80 % of public transport share and the same can be planned for Amaravati.
Additional spin off benefits are affordability
and economic viability compared to the elevated metro owing to the lesser
investment required and higher capacity created.
Surface rails can be developed
strategically. Initially as the city would be smaller two lines would be
developed to serve both the intercity and intra-city traffic. Initially, urban
trains would be run to 5 minute frequency in the peak hours and 10 minute
frequency in off peak hours. As the demand for urban traffic grows number of
lines would be increased to four; where two lines would be used for urban and
long distance traffic and two lines would be used exclusively for urban
traffic. This transition can happen when the city size grows beyond 2 million –
estimated to happen after the 20th year. However, a 40 metre land –
required for four lines; would be reserved along the corridor.
3.4 Land requirements for rail
Development of Amaravati capital region is
divided into three phases spread over an area of 391 sq kms. Out of this area
the master plan does not assign any land area for rail development though
elevated metro rail and high speed rail are planned. While the elevated metro
could be planned to run along road medians; high speed rails running on the
road medians is beyond author’s ken. Thus provision of land for high speed rail
is essential but is still not provided in the plan.
While railways are not provided land in the
development plan roads are provided
3892.4 hectares (9.94 % of the total land).
Interestingly and paradoxically, elitist sport like golf is assigned 383
hectares (0.98 %) of land in the master plan.
As we have established earlier that
provision of surface rail is important for the Capital region. Out of the 500
kms proposed around 310 kms would be within urban areas and 190 kms - spurs
connecting adjacent towns and rail lines; would lie outside Amaravati region. Land
required for the 310 kms of urban traffic is assessed based on the following
assumptions:
·
Along the 310 km rail
alignment: 40 metre wide corridor to build 4 rail lines– two lines for
intra-city traffic and 2 lines for intercity and intra-city traffic.
·
Stations for urban traffic at 310
stations (@ 1 station per km): 400 metres in length and 40 metres in width
·
Major terminals (for inter-city
traffic and yards) 8: 2 kms in length and 100 metres in width. (around 50 %
part of the land – related to yards; can
also be planned outside the Capital region)
Land required is estimated to be 1896
hectares accounting for 4.8 % of the total land. On first impression it may
appear as a large requirement as the original plan did not have provision for
the land. However, the following two arguments – first based on transit
oriented development and increased floor area ratio (FAR), and the second based
on equivalent road space required to create same capacity; will be used to
establish that the land proposed to be provided is much less compared to the
benefits that accrue to the city.
Provision of rail corridor will create an
important transit corridor enabling Transit Oriented Development (TOD). A key
feature of TOD is permission of higher density of construction in the TOD
corridor. For example, in Delhi in the Metro corridors the FAR was increased
from 2.5 to 4 in the influence zone – defined as 500 meters wide on either side
of the corridor (Press information Bureau, 2015). What it implies is that the
builder is allowed to add 1.5 sq mts of built up area (increase from 2,5 sq mts
to 4 sq mts) for every 1 sq meter of land. If we apply the same logic the total
area in the influence zone of Amaravati rail transit corridor would be 310 sq
kilometres (310 km multiplied by 1 km width) or 31,000 hectares. Even if we
assume an increase of FAR by 1 unit (1 sq mt of additional built up area for
every 1 sq mt) and assume that 25% of the land is available for development on
the corridor the additional built up area would increase by 7750 hectares (25%
of 31,000). Thus a very conservative
estimate shows that sparing 1 sq mt of land for rail development would increase
built up area by 4 times.
Second way to look at the issue is the efficiency
of space usage in terms of capacity created. A surface rail line will have
capacity of 60,000 per direction if it is a double line and as the proposal is
to provide 4 lines (quadruple lines) the total capacity would be 1,20,000 (1.2
lakhs) persons per direction per hour. As against this, the capacity of 40 meter
wide road under different traffic conditions, given in Table below, varies from
36,300 to 9,600. The Table shows that to
create same capacity land required for roads varies from 330% to 1250% of the
land required for rail.
|
Mode mi
|
Capacity
|
With BRT and
NMT track
|
Without BRT
but with NMT track
|
Only car
lanes
|
|||
|
Number of
lanes
|
Total
capacity
|
Number of
lanes
|
|
Number of
lanes
|
|
||
|
BRT
|
15000
|
1
|
15000
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Car
|
2400
|
2
|
4800
|
3
|
7200
|
4
|
9600
|
|
Cycle
|
14000
|
0.5
|
7000
|
0.5
|
7000
|
0
|
0
|
|
Pedestrian
|
19000
|
0.5
|
9500
|
0.5
|
9500
|
0
|
0
|
|
Total road capacity
|
36300
|
23700
|
9600
|
||||
|
Rail
|
60000
|
2
|
120000
|
2
|
120000
|
2
|
120000
|
|
Land utilisation ratio(1)
|
3.3
|
5.1
|
12.5
|
||||
|
(1): Land required for road for every 1 unit of
land provided for rail to create network of same capacity.
Source: Author’s calculations based on data given
in the article
|
|||||||
Thus reserving land for rail corridors
would be an efficient use of space and the plans should be modified to include
the land required for rail.
4 Terminals, Parking and Transport Hubs
Terminals are an essential part of public
transport infrastructure and they are required for commercial services such as passenger
and cargo handling and non-commercial services such parking of vehicles to be
available for service and the MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) activities
for vehicles. Parking for private transport including cycling is another
critical component of transport infrastructure.
The draft plan refers to transport hubs as terminals
for interchange of passengers, areas to meet the shopping needs of commuters
and also meet the parking requirements. The plan, however, does not cover the
various principles to govern transport terminals and parking. Policies to
promote the basic principles of people’s first and consistent with the national
urban transport policy are enunciated below.
4.1 Extant practice and the implications
Traditionally terminals are planned in a
disintegrated manner and as per the needs of each mode of transport. Within the
mode, most of the large terminals, usually located in the heart of cities, are
self-contained – they have facilities for commercial and non-commercial activities.
Terminals of different modes are dispersed not only inconveniencing commuters
but also discouraging use of public transport. Further, in many of the terminals
located in the heart of the city MRO activities are also located and is a wasteful
use of precious land resources as the activities can be located in the suburban
locations but still meet the operational needs.
Hence the following would be followed while
designing terminals:
·
Commercial activities (booking
of passengers and goods) of all modes are located as closely as possible
·
Inter-city terminals are
closely located and inter-linked and intra-city terminals are linked as much as
possible
·
All the inter-city terminals
should be designed as large commercial complexes with sufficient shopping and
parking space
·
Intra-city terminals are two
types: and inteminals
·
Provide parking for all types
vehicles in the terminal or close to the terminal
·
Provide spaces for MRO
activities on the suburbs keeping minimal emergency facilities in the heart of
the city
Parking is a critical issue which can be
leveraged to achieve the desired objectives of increased use of public
transport and non motorised transport, and reduced motor vehicle usage. With
reference to car and motorised two wheelers some of the policies to be followed
are:
·
Linking mandatory availability
of parking slot for vehicle registration: All motorised vehicles owners - both
cars and motorised two wheelers; should show a parking slot for granting
license for the vehicle. Though it looks revolutionary it is possible to implement
in Amravati city by leveraging technology. It is essential that computer
systems of road transport authorities and city planning authorities are
interlinked. Such a system is in force in Aizwal – capital of Mizoram.
·
Ban on street parking
·
Provide maximum parking at the
proposed transport hubs.
·
Increasing parking rates to
reflect realistic land rates and vary the fee as per demand. People using
public transport may be given concessions in the parking fee - graded as per
the extent of public transport use.
·
Concessions to physically
challenged, elderly and those with restricted mobility in parking access and
provision of battery operated public vehicles to meet their needs.
·
Smooth access to parking areas
for trolleys and other manual goods carriers to parking slots.
Similarly, cycling policies should help in
increased use of non-motorised transport and public transport. Some of the proposed
policies are:
·
Provide cycle parking slots as
close to the place where parking is needed; at work spots, at transport
terminals, and in residential areas.
·
All transport terminals
including small bus stops should have cycle parking facilities
·
Parking should have nominal fee
(nearly free) but regulated to ensure that the resources are not exploited by
the unscrupulous.
·
Fully loaded cycle parking facilities
should be provided in all transport hubs and also at other places so that the facilities
are not more than two kilometres apart. Some of the facilities to be provided
at these points are; shower and change rooms, lockers, cycle sharing and hire,
and cycle repair. Even cycle sales points can be provided optionally.
·
Rain shelters for cyclists should
be planned as a part of the parking facilities. Rules should be so designed to
prevent misuse.
·
All work locations should have
cycle parking with shower and locker facilities. For larger employers they
should be provided by the organisation and smaller can subscribe to common user
facilities planned by third party or government.
5 Conclusions
From the foregoing it is seen that the plan
has some positive features as it provides for hierarchy of roads, provides for
pedestrian and cycle pathways sorely missing in many other cities, and BRT
corridors.
An important weakness is the choice of
costlier elevated rail corridor for mass rapid transit system without assessing
a low cost surface rail system. Further weaknesses are not giving overall
perspective for implementing the pedestrian and cycle ways proposed in the plan
and this weakness gets accentuated if one reviews implementation of urban
transport plans in various cities in the across the country. Plan for intercity
transport is an Achilles heel with complete reliance on the proposed vision
plan for high speed rail system and the conventional bus system ignoring
connectivity to the Indian Railway network.
The article gives outline of the policy
measures required for addressing these concerns and the implications for transport
planning for the city. It suggests that cycling and pedestrian paths should
have the highest priority in planning the road network. The pathways should
each be 3.5 metre corridors on either of the road for all streets wider than 40
feet and 2.5 metres for all other corridors. The NMT corridors should have
provide shortest connectivity and with at grade crossing to extent possible.
The article also gives how the proposed 147
km rail corridor can be replaced with 500 km rail network costing 50 % of
construction cost proposed for elevated metro. Out of this 310 km would be
serving the urban transport needs of the city and 190 km would be rail lines to
adjacent cities and or rail systems. 500 km rail network would create a
capacity of 7 times proposed metro rail at half the construction cost. The
proposal requires around 1896 hectares of land which at first glance would
appear to be very high. However, the land is only one fourth of additional
built space added as consequence of transit oriented development. Alternately
the land requirement is one third to one twelfth of the road space if the roads
are to be built for the same capacity.
The plan gives outlines of integrated
transport terminals which should include services for all modes, parking and
shopping in one location.
6 References
Badami M G., Teewari G, and Dinesh M (2004)
“Access and mobility for the urban poor in india: bridging the gap between
policy and needs” Paper Presentation at the Forum on Urban Infrastructure and
Public Service Delivery for the Urban Poor Organized by the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC and National Institute of
Urban Affairs, New Delhi June 24-25, 2004, New Delhi, India, https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/badami.doc,
accessed on 15/11/15
Botma, H. and H. Papendrecht (1991).
"Traffic operation of bicycle traffic." Transportation Research Record
1320: 65-72.
MoUD, (2008) Study on Traffic and
transportation Policies and Strategies in urban Areas in India study by Wilbur
Smith Associates, 2008. Ministry of urban Development, New Delhi
Ravibabu M and V Phani Sree (2014) Public
Transport for Indian Urban Agglomerations: A Strong Case for Surface Rail, Economic
& Political Weekly EPW june 7, 2014 vol xlix no 23, Pg 105-116
Speck J (2014) http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/10/why-12-foot-traffic-lanes-are-disastrous-for-safety-and-must-be-replaced-now/381117,
accessed on 15/11/15
[1] Data presented is inconsistent with Indian experience. Surface rail, a
prominent mass rapid transit system is not considered. The costs presented in
Dollar terms do not reflect the actual cost in Indian Rupees.
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