Guwahati Transportation Thread

[sunny20rocky]

Post Bureau, Guwahati (Jan 11): Zipping across the city in a path that lays far above the busy narrow streets, may not be a dream anymore for residents of Guwahati, but a reality, if all goes according to plan.

After the Centre has given t he green signal for a monorail project in the state, Guwahatians can look forward to having metro rail in the city as well. According to senior officials of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), the Engineering Projects India Limited (EPI) has chalked out designs, where 35 km of the city will be provided with monorails.

People of Guwahati can keep their fingers crossed, after chief minister Tarun Gogoi held threadbare discussions on introduction of Metro/Light Rail Transport System for Guwahati with the officials of Guwahati Development Department (GDD) and Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) at his official residence, late evening on Thursday.

Senior officials of the chief minister’s office pointed out that the meeting focused mainly on the need to develop a proper mobility system to streamline the present chaotic traffic situation in the city for which the main strategy identified is to augment the introduction and need for urgent mass public transit mechanism.

“Studies reveal that the average journey speed of 18 km will be reduced to 7 km and the share of trips of public transport which is presently 18% will be reduced to 10% in the near future if no corrective measure is taken up urgently in the Guwahati city. In order to prevent this situation it is proposed to increase the public transport share of trips to 45% by introducing a proper public transit mechanism b y way of introducing Metro Rail/BRTS on certain corridors and restrict and reduce the share of trips of private cars and two-wheelers which is now almost 70%,” said a senior official of the GDD department.

The official also added that, it is expected that the Passenger Per Hour Per Direction (PPHPD) in the transit network, along some of the major corridors, would be more than 5,000. Bus augmentation will not be able to cater to the increased public transit load and some alternative arrangement by way of Metro Rail/BRTS has to be planned for the future. During the course of the meeting there were also discussions on public transport corridors on which a higher system BRT/LRT or Metro Rail can run.

“These corridors can be on existing transport network system either at grade or grade separated, depending upon the right-of-way (RoW) available and will extend up to the urban centres falling within the metropolitan region and within the 30-50 km radius of influence area of the city,” said the official.

After detailed deliberations during the course of the meeting, it was agreed by the chief minister that there is need of urgently taking up study of introducing Metro Rail on two corridors to arrest the chaotic traffic condition in the city vis-a-vis corridor 1: Airport to Narengi via Jalukbari, Bharalumukh, Fancy Bazar, Chandmari, Noonmati connecting eastern and western part of the city with a length of 32.4 km and Corridor 2: Paltan Bazar – Khanapara via, Ulubari, Bhagagarh, Ganeshguri and Dispur connecting central area with south eastern part of the city with a length of 11.8 km.

At the meeting, a feeder Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was also proposed from Jalukbari via Lakhra to Nepali Mandir which will be extended from Lakhra to Khanapara a nd Lakhra to Airport via P amohi along the new VIP R oad. T he meeting also decided to a pproach the Ministry of Urb an Development for necessary funds for taking up the feasibility study and preparation of DPR on introducing Metro Rail in Guwahati as Guwahati Metropolitan Region now fulfils the two basic criteria of population and traffic volume.

It may be mentioned here that the chief minister has already taken up the matter with the minister, urban development, govt of India, who assured him positive help and assistance. Thursday’s meeting was attended by JB Singh, principal secretary, GDD, Jishnu Baruah, principal secretary to the chief minister, AK Bhutani, vice chairman, GMDA, Archana Varma, commissioner and secretary to the chief minister, Manish Thakur, secretary, GDD,M Angamuthu, chief executive officer, GMDA and several senior Assam government officials.


http://sevensisterspost.com/metro-dr...-chaotic-city/

[Mahesh Nanjunda]

I have created the Guwahati Metro thread here:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1583629

Please post all updates there only.

[sunny20rocky]

Smarter Way to Travel

Jan. 29: The Union urban development ministry has asked Dispur to immediately implement intelligent transport systems (ITS) in all city buses.

Sudhir Krishna, secretary, ministry of urban development, has written to the chief secretary and principal secretary of Assam, saying that all buses, whether bought under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) or those operated by private owners, should implement the system.

“I would request you to direct the officials concerned to take immediate action for implementation of ITS specifications as per urban bus specifications in all the city buses, JNNURM as well as non-JNNURM, under the advice of this ministry,” the letter said.

The ITS is the deployment of advanced information and telecommunication technologies to enhance safety, efficiency, reliability, user and environmental friendliness of the transport system. It helps integrate management of various roadway functions and predicts traffic congestion and alternative routing through advanced traffic management systems; provides data to travellers in their vehicles or home on road or weather conditions with advanced traveller information systems.

The ITS specifications are part of the urban bus specifications that the ministry had framed in December 2008 “to replicate the metro experience on city buses and to upgrade the quality of public transport.”

The directive comes in the wake of the Delhi rape incident. The ministry said the case has drawn national focus on safe public transport in all the cities, especially for women and children.

The ministry has sent the letter to other states as well, saying that most cities in the country do not have reliable, comfortable, quick and affordable public transport. It expressed unhappiness over the failure of state governments to implement the ITS specifications in JNNURM buses despite repeated reminders.

The state government runs around 185 buses received under JNNURM. Besides, more than 1,000 private buses ply in the city.

The urban ministry also expressed concern over the lack of safety measures in taxis and autorickshaws.

The ministry has asked the states to follow the example of Ahmedabad, where an initiative in scientific management of autorickshaws, named G-Auto, has been launched by Nirmal Foundation.

“It is important to fix GPS/GRPS on all autorickshaws and manage them through a common control centre on similar pattern as radio taxi. The fare calculation can be based on GPS, thus obviating the complaints of over-charging. The periodic fare revision can also be effected from the control centre,” the ministry said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/113013...p#.UQj8G9tYWSo

[sunny20rocky]

GUWAHATI, Jan 29 – Assam Police has prepared an exhaustive traffic management plan for Guwahati which aims to mitigate traffic woes in the next ten years.

From giving area licence to busy areas like Fancy Bazaar by declaring them as Central Business Area(Entry Fee) to making them Walking Zones, the study done under the Inspector General of Police (CWR) Dr LR Bishnoi at the instance of Assam Police headquarters, aims at providing the long-sought answer to traffic woes.

The plan also seeks to provide an answer to the deplorable state of public transport system in Guwahati, especially those related to city buses.

At any given day, 900 buses ply in Guwahati, and the concentration is more on a few select routes, although 32 routes have been notified. The route distribution is not even and no buses ply on ten notified routes. Similarly, 1,000 trekkers ply in Guwahati in a haphazard manner.

The proposal will also see to it that the power for compounding offence under Motor Vehicle Act should be given to a head constable.

The city has around 500 km of roads in an area of about 484 sq km and the total number of registered vehicles in the city as on date is over 6 lakh, of which 3.4 lakh are small vehicles.

Significantly, around 178 vehicles were registered daily on an average in the year 2011-12, which is more than double that average daily registration of vehicles in the city in 2008-09.

Further, in 2012, as many as 1078 incidents of road mishaps occurred, mostly due to faulty driving, of which 230 were fatal. While 246 persons got killed in those accidents, another 1062 sustained injuries.

The sanctioned posts as on date for the traffic police personnel in Guwahati is 442 although actual strength stands at 300. The requirement is almost double the sanctioned strength.

The plan also proposes setting up of a Greater Guwahati Integrated Traffic Management Authority, which should preferably be a single window-department. Of the 175 junctions in the city, only 75 are manned.

The study also stressed the need for building rotaries in at least eight places and foot over bridges/underpasses in seventeen locations to ease the congestion. Moreover, seventeen places in the city urgently require bus bays and five multi-level parkings which could bring down the traffic congestion by 20 per cent.

The Assam Police has also proposed strengthening of the river transport system from Narengi to Azara. 54 locations which need immediate installation of streetlights have also been identified.

Further, construction of nine new rotaries and 17 foot overbridges or underground routes has also been planned to ease the congestion. The study is expected to take the shape of a proposal to be sent to the State Government within a month for approval.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/...jan3013/city05

[sunny20rocky]

1800 Cr sanctioned for Guwahati Metro for FY 2013 -2014 in today's state budget presented by CM tarun gogoi.

stay tuned for more updates on this.

i predicting this news and it happening according to the expectation of the people of assam and guwahati in particular.

yeh dil mange more

[sunny20rocky]

GUWAHATI: The government has zeroed in on the inadequate number of public transport vehicles as the prime factor behind the heavy traffic congestion in the city over the last few years. The scarcity has prompted people to use private vehicles, it said.

The share of public transport vehicles on the city roads is about 18 per cent and the figure mayslide further down to about 10 per cent if not corrected immediately, said M Angamuthu, CEO of Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA). The share of private cars and two-wheelers, which is now almost 70 per cent, needs to be reduced, he added.

Interestingly, it is the government policy to regulate growth of public transport that is the root of the problem. The transport authority has stopped issuing fresh permits to city buses and share taxis since 2004, while the number of private vehicles continued to grow in leaps and bounds. Similarly, the transport authority has also not issued fresh permits to auto-rickshaws since 2007.

"An assessment of how many public transport vehicles are needed in the city was supposed to be conducted, but it has not been done yet," said Kushal Hazarika, secretary of the Regional Transport Authority of Kamrup (Metro) district.

Hazarika said as per the records of the transport department, around 1,000 city buses and 900 share taxis are plying the roads in Guwahati. He said the number of auto-rickshaws in the municipality area of Guwahati is 4,625.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/19434979.cms

[sunny20rocky]

April 8: The transport department is planning to issue permits to run 100 new air-conditioned buses here to ensure that commuters on all the 32 designated routes within the city were catered to.

Transport officials have also taken note of the fact that while the frequency or availability of buses in certain routes is good, service along other routes is poor. As a result, commuters on these routes have to wait for a long time to catch a bus, and even when one does arrive, it is so overloaded with passengers that they have to jostle for space just to stand.

“There are 32 designated routes for buses across the city. However, the number of buses is not adequate. This causes difficulty for commuters travelling by routes where the frequency of buses is low. To address this problem and ensure that adequate number of buses are available on all designated routes, we are planning to give permits to 100 air-conditioned city buses. Though the matter is under discussion, the conditions on which these buses will be allowed to operate have not been finalised yet,” said Kushal Hazarika, the secretary of the regional transport authority of Kamrup (metro).

Interested owners can apply for permits from the transport authority, but the only condition is that the vehicles will have to be air-conditioned. At present, nearly 1,000 city buses ply on the streets here, though the number of operational shared taxis (trekkers) is around 900.

Profit is a major factor that influences the decision of city bus associations regarding service on certain routes.

“The city bus associations ply a public transport vehicle only after taking into consideration the intensity and need of public transportation on a particular route. They also run more vehicles on the routes where they get the maximum numbers of passengers. The crew of these buses also halt the vehicles for several minutes at the bus stops to attract passengers, which leads to traffic jams,” Hazarika said.

There are certain routes that still lack bus connectivity, forcing residents to largely dependent on the trekker service. The commuters in these few routes often have to change vehicles twice or thrice to reach their destination.

“If people want new routes, they will have to apply for it. The regional transport authority will then take a decision after considering whether all criteria have been satisfied before designating a new route,” Hazarika said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/113040...p#.UWOUmnfc7bg

[sunny20rocky]