A month since it was constituted, the Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA) is in the process of prioritising initiatives that it has been mandated with, from readying a parking policy to rationalising bus routes depending on demand.
“We have been striving to make a noticeable change in Kochi’s transportation sector, despite pitfalls like inadequate number of personnel and fund crunch,” said a key official of the authority, which is mainly banking on budgetary allocation and income from fees for different services that it will facilitate.
The KMTA is keen to rope in landowners who are willing to permit pay-and-park facilities with automated fare collection on their premises. Either a small portion of the fare thus collected will go to the authority, or a registration fee can be levied. The body is also keen to upgrade pollution testing centres, to improve air quality. It has further mooted a card using which people can travel in multiple modes of transport, official sources said.
It is imperative that the agency readies a comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) binding the sector, for which the Central government has prepared a tool kit for reference. This will be a guide for streamlining and integrating the various commuting modes. It is noteworthy that O.P. Agarwal, who played a key role in preparing the tool kit and framing the National Urban Transport Policy, is a member of the KMTA, said former Mayor K.J. Sohan, who is a corporate governance representative in the body.
The CMP will help identify the travel pattern in the city, following which route rationalisation can be done of the approximately 2,000 buses that operate in the district. For this, the CMP, by relying on digital mode of payment and tracking that is being introduced in buses, will help garner data like the origin and destination of buses and also boarding and alighting points of commuters. The CMP must then be notified and opinion of local bodies sought, he said.
“Attention must be given to the fact that bus services are either inadequate or non-existent in 60% of Kochi, including in several residential areas. They include many parts of West Kochi, which is home to three lakh people, the West Kochi-city route through the Kundannoor bridge and the four-lane Stadium Link Road. This despite Kochi having double the national average of urban roads. Mini buses, which come in different seating capacities, can be introduced on roads having inadequate width. Similarly, the CMP will help take decisions on aspects like offering bus fare concession during off-peak hours [staggering of fares]. It will also help introduce hop-on hop-off buses that the developed world introduced decades ago,” Mr. Sohan said.
Route rationalisation, as envisaged by the KMTA, will be easier if private buses that have arrayed under seven companies come under a common umbrella, said former Senior Deputy Transport Commissioner B.J. Antony. “This will help ready a system to share revenue, depending on parameters like the distance each bus covers in a day and fuel efficiency which varies between buses,” he added.
An official associated with the KMTA too called for a new CMP or a thorough revision of the CMP that was readied at the behest of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) in 2015. “The metro had not begun operating back then, neither the Water Metro, which is slated to commence operation only in 2021. The pandemic and the fall in the number of private and KSRTC buses in the city too must be taken note of in the plan. The KMTA can perhaps take a cue from the parking policy mentioned in it. Feeder services from arterial routes too must be given their rightful due, failing which people will continue to rely on private vehicles. A comprehensive study is needed on the long-pending demand to permit entry of buses from Vypeen into the city,” he said.
