A study that is underway to decide on the mobility plan for the Coimbatore local planning area has suggested that the district administration and the Coimbatore Corporation go in for bus rapid transit system on Mettupalayam Road and Avanashi Road. The ICRA Management Consulting Services Limited, which is undertaking mobility plan study, has suggested that the government agencies concerned take up the BRTS project on the 26 km stretch between Ukkadam and Kaniyur on the Avanashi Road in Phase I and on the 24 km stretch between Ukkadam and Bilichi on the Mettupalayam Road.
The agencies would do well to take up the project right now because when they complete the project in the next five to six years – by 2020, it would be an absolute necessity for Coimbatore. And, when they do it in phases, the Rs. 5,000 crore required would not appear to be a huge sum.
The consultant company said that in Phase III of the project, the agencies might have to go in for light rail transport or mono rail to complement the BRTS. In implementing the BRTS project, the agencies would have to work with the Transport Department as the latter would have to rejig the public transport system on 38 routes measuring 400 km so that the reworked transport system supported the BRTS.
The consultant said that the Corporation must at once take up junction improvement programmes across the city. But it must start the work by focussing on 30 junctions where the pedestrian-vehicle conflict was very high. And, of the 30 the condition at 15 junctions was worse.
It also asked the Corporation to improve the condition of existing roads by widening pedestrian pathways wherever possible and improving existing pedestrian pathways so as to encourage people to walk. Lauding the city for a good public transport system, it said that though public transport system accounted for 40 per cent of the vehicle usage, there was sub-optimal utilisation of the buses. If it could be reworked, the usage of public transport could be taken to as high as 60 per cent, which was an enviable figure. It had also suggested bicycle tracks and pedestrian improvement programmes.
Collector Archana Patnaik, Corporation Commissioner G. Latha, Mayor in-charge Leelavathi Unni, Deputy Commissioner S. Sivarasu, and representatives of the civic body, Tangedco, and Highways Department participated in the meeting. The consultant would convene one more meeting before submitting the final report.
