The proposed Metropolitan Transport Authority for urban mobility regions envisages integrating various modes of transport operating in the municipal limits of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
The draft of the Kerala Metropolitan Transport Authority Bill 2017, approved by the Cabinet on Monday, says separate authorities headed by a chairman and 10 members will be formed for the three major cities in the State. The chairman of the authority will be an official not below the rank of a Secretary to the government.
Authority’s duties
The authority will have to prepare a Comprehensive Mobility Plan, plan for urban transport and allied services, develop and control facilities for seamless traffic, bring about unified command and control systems, rules and guidelines.
Other functions include introduction of a smart card-based ticket system, detecting traffic violations in the urban mobility region through the Intelligent Transport System, and skill enhancement of personnel for traffic and transport management. A web application for disseminating information and a helpline will also be launched for each region.
The authority will integrate all public transportation modes, be it buses, ferries, autorickshaws and taxi cabs, under a centralised management system.
The municipal limits of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode will become urban mobility regions when the Kerala Metropolitan Authority Act comes into effect. However, military areas, military cantonment and economic zones cannot be included in the urban mobility region without the permission of the Centre.
The Secretaries of Transport, Finance, Public Works, State Transport Commissioner, Managing Director of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), the District Collector, the District Police Chief, the Corporation Secretary and the Managing Director of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) of urban mobility region will be the ex officio members of the authority.
Four experts from the fields of Transport Engineering, Transport Planning, Urban Transport Operations, Corporate Governance, Finance or Law, who will be nominated by the government, will be the members.
Urban Transport Fund
The authority will have to set up an Urban Transport Fund which will get funds and grants from the State and Centre, loans, penalty of traffic violations detected by the Intelligent Transport System, user fees, and project specific viability fund.
Setting up the authority is a pre-requisite for getting clearance and assistance from the Centre for the MRTS projects.
