Challenges of a Bus-Rapid-Transit System in Indian Cities: The Rainbow case study

9th July 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Over the past decade, cities across India have dared to dream of reimagining bus transit, most famously known as the Bus-Rapid-Transit, or the BRT. The concept of having buses ply in the centre of the road, on dedicated bus-only lanes, has gradually mulled into our urban transport systems with a tenacious aim of mobilizing people rather than cars.

India’s first high-quality bus-rapid-transit system was inaugurated in 2009 in Ahmedabad — the Janmarg bus-rapid-transit. Janmarg set a national benchmark and inspired systems across India, including the Rainbow bus-rapid-transit in the twin cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad that was launched in 2015.

The Rainbow bus-rapid-transit offers convenient commute, as efficient as a metro or a train without the cost of acquiring land, laying tracks, building large scale stations, and the pedestrian foot-over-bridge to get to them. The ITDP India Programme assisted Pune Municipal Corporation, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, and Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited create physical designs and operational plans for the system.

Today, the Rainbow operates along a 43 km network of bus-only lanes, with 58 stations along four corridors. However, this was Pune’s second attempt at perfecting a system that would help address the pressing issue of transport needs for the influx of population. Back in 2006, Pune piloted a 13 km bus-rapid-transit corridor but failed to meet BRT Standards.

A good bus-rapid-transit system requires dedicated bus-only-lanes, high quality bus fleet at regular frequency, a matching height of the station and bus fleet for easy step-less passenger boarding, off-board fare collection, and adequate passenger information for seamless travel. Unfortunately, the pilot bus-rapid-transit was short of meeting these basic standards.

The initial set back was not detrimental to the city regaining momentum to construct a successful bus-rapid-transit. Learning from this experience, and from the systems later commissioned in India and around the world, leaders were determined to get Rainbow right.

The Rainbow bus-rapid-transit was faced with a challenge of retrofitting a high-quality system on an existing bus network. The ITDP India programme assisted with route rationalization to deliver frequent service and ensure efficiency of the system’s fleet.

Soon after it’s launch, Rainbow was awarded the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Mobility’ at the Volvo Sustainable Mobility Awards 2015. The award was attributed to it’s efficiency of mobilizing thousands of commuters, and travel time savings. Dedicated bus lanes ensured that commuters reach their destinations 10 to 15 minutes earlier than usual.

Rainbow bus-rapid-transit started off well but has failed to achieve its full potential. Ridership has only increased by 12-17 percent over the three years while the number of personal motor vehicles on the road has been growing unabated due to infrequency of buses. Considered a first for any urban area in India, Pune’s total number of vehicles has surpassed the human population!

Lack of cleanliness of stations areas attributed to the public’s demeaning perception of the system. Walking and cycling access to bus-rapid-transit stations is the dire need of the hour but yet to be developed along most corridors.

In an era where financial resources are sparse but population growth is inevitable, large-scale public transport systems are difficult to conceive. An expansion of the the Rainbow system is being planned for an additional 45 km network. This is because the twin cities strongly believe that the Rainbow can provide a solid backbone to the urban transit system.

A major limitation to the bus-rapid-transit system is also the stigma that comes with being a ‘bus’. This can be addressed through better system design, well-maintained stations, and most importantly bus-only lanes to make the users feel like it worth leaving the car back at home.

Finally, for the success of any bus-rapid-transit system it is essential to periodically assess the infrastructure and operations of each corridor, and set benchmarks to ensures its longevity. Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad can aim for a ‘Rainbow’ future, learn from its shortfalls, and get back on the wheel to move its citizens.

New High Quality BRT Corridors Planned for Pimpri Chinchwad, India

22nd January 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

by Sam Mohamad-Khany

Pimpri Chinchwad is a city of 1.7 million in the state of Maharashtra, India. On January 5, ITDP conducted a full-day workshop on the BRT Standard, which was attended by over 25 officials from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), public transport operator Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML), and consultants Creations Pvt Ltd, S. N. Bhobe, and C. V. Kand, who are preparing detailed designs for new bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors.

Pimpri Chinchwad’s BRT network includes four corridors and spans a total length of 40 km. The goal of the workshop was to inform the BRT planning process by identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement in the current plans for new corridors. Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi of PCMC opened the session, followed by presentations by ITDP staff on the BRT Standard and salient system features of the Janmarg BRT system in Ahmedabad. Mr Ramkrishna from UMTC, who has been appointed as a project management consultant for the region’s BRT, presented the details of the plan and design. As a warm-up, attendees formed groups and rated the Ahmedabad system using the BRT Standard. In the afternoon, the groups rated the planned BRT lines in their own region. Groups then presented their scores to each other and engaged in lively debate about various opportunities and possible pitfalls of BRT planning and implementation. “We are now aware that what major steps to be taken to upgrade and enhance BRT service in this region,” said Rajan Patil, Joint City Engineer for PCMC.

Workshop participants identified several areas of improvement for the Pimpri Chinchwad BRT corridors, including intersection design, branding and communications, and the provision of adequate pedestrian facilities to enable passengers to reach the future BRT stations. “The workshop conducted by ITDP gave us insight about BRTS element to be incorporated in the design and planning of BRTS for PCMC,” said B. K. Gaikwad, Traffic Engineer, PCMC. “It provided ideas to our engineers, consultants, planners, and operators through discussions in interactive sessions on each of the aspects of the BRTS. Also the importance of pedestrian safety while accessing BRTS has been deliberated during this workshop. Overall, it was very helpful to PCMC.” ITDP will compile recommendations from the groups and follow up with PCMC to facilitate implementation.

The BRT Standard is available for download at www.brtstandard.org.

ITDP and Pune Municipal Corporation jointly organize Street Design Workshop

19th September 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

Pune, traditionally known as the “city of cyclists,” and having built over 100 kilometers of cycle tracks, presently suffers from poor state of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. A recent CAI-Asia report in 2011 states, “residential, educational areas and public transport terminals lack proper footpaths and other facilities that leaves pedestrians competing with vehicles for space, making it a one sided contest in Pune.”

To address these concerns, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) jointly organized a two-day Street Design Workshop on September 6 and 7, 2012.

The workshop consisted of a discussion of road safety principles for all users and a hands-on-exercise for 49 members of the technical staff from PMC. The workshop was led by street design expert Michael King, Principal at Nelson Nygaard, who outlined a three-pronged strategy for designing pedestrian-friendly streets: first, observation of physical conditions and street user behavior; second, iterative testing of design solutions; and third, setting a direction for policies that are supportive of non-motorized transport.

Throughout the workshop, King emphasized the importance of streets in urban fabric saying, “The most progressive cities of the world are the most walkables ones. The city should make streets for people and not highways for traffic.”

A walking audit of the network of streets connecting Pune Railway Station, Sadhu Vaswani chowk, Sassoon Hospital, and Council hall in Pune was conducted by the participants which comprised of executive engineers, deputy engineers, and junior engineers among others to assess the on-ground state of current pedestrian infrastructure, observe road user movement and capture the safety issues concerning people walking on the street. Participants were divided into five teams and sent to the selected site to observe pedestrian infrastructure, cycling facilities, public transport uses, land use changes and motor vehicle movement among others. The site was selected because of the heavy pedestrian movement in large numbers between the bus terminal, railway station and neighboring commercial and institutional land uses all throughout the day.

Sabnis Madam, executive engineer with PMC giving a presentation on walking audit

Participants reacted to the conditions of the site saying, “There is a good chunk of cyclists on the road, and sadly for them there is no provision in the existing design. Also, there are too many obstructions on the walkway forcing pedestrians to walk on middle of road risking their lives”.

Later on, the teams were assigned the task of redesigning Alankar Talkies Chowk (located adjoining to the Pune Railway Station) based on the theme of pedestrians, cyclists, motor vehicle users, public transport users and public place. Each team visited the site at morning & evening peak hour to conduct traffic counts, observe the user behavior and traffic movement patterns. After the exercise, the team gave a group presentation on their “observation of the site” and “solution for the site” based on the designated theme.

Nitin Warrier, Senior Associate, ITDP India said, “The idea was to enhance participants understanding of road user behavior and to encourage participatory and inclusive planning of streets based on its usages by different road users. The learning from the workshop will help PMC in designing better streets for pedestrians, cyclists and enhancing the walking connectivity to nearest public transport facilities”

A similar one-day long workshop was conducted with 46 of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s engineering staff on street design taking Chafekar Chowk, located in the heart of Pimpri -Chinchwad as the site for intersection design exercise.

ITDP India team comprising of Anuj Malhotra, Nitin Warrier, Pranjali Deshpande, Kumar Manish and Pratik Dave facilitated the team discussions and site visits in both the workshops.