The Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA) has readied an action plan for the coming year, as part of which the urban mobility area will be extended beyond the Kochi Corporation limits, to a larger expanse comprising nine municipalities and 30 grama panchayats.
The coming year will also see a scheme for entry of buses from Goshree islands into the city, rationalisation of bus routes under the Mobilise Your City programme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MoHUA), development of green mobility corridors on Kodungalloor-Eramalloor (52 km), Poothotta-Angamaly via Seaport-Airport Road (48 km), Thoppumpady-M.G. Road-Thammanam-Kakkanad (25 km), Aluva-Angamaly (15 km) and Goshree-Munambam stretches, with extension to Paravur (30 km), KMTA sources said.
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The other shortlisted projects include adaptive signalling system at four junctions in Aluva and their integration with the control room (IC-4) of Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML), Keep Left campaign for two-wheelers and autos (on four-lane roads) to enhance safety and adherence to lane discipline, and development of ‘smart parking app’ as part of the Kochi Open Mobility Network (KOMN).
A pilot initiative titled God’s Own Travel Card (an integrated travel and debit card), transit map, interactive static bus route map, and timetable too are on the cards. Steps will also be taken to install direction and signage boards wherever needed, the sources said.
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Adequate number of professionals will be posted in the staff-starved KMTA, while planning tools will be readied for building technical capacity and self-reliance. It will enable the agency to fulfil the objectives of the Kerala Metropolitan Transport Authority Act, which includes preparation of a low-carbon comprehensive mobility plan (LCMP) using in-house capabilities, thus also building ‘institutional memory’.
The KMTA will also establish an efficient communication channel between citizens and service providers for transparency. The action plan speaks of the formation of committees for operators, urban freight transit, city transport, traffic integration, integrated land use, and town planning.
Simultaneously, ‘digitising of mobility’ will be upscaled beyond KOMN. For this, the agency will prepare India’s first ‘digitised LCMP’, a simple, scalable and updatable data-stack with no heavy literature or technical juggleries. It will be available for public consumption, besides facilitating data-driven decision making for transport operators and service providers, while identifying business opportunities in the transport sector.
Invitation from Dubai Expo
The Dubai Expo has, in the meantime, expressed interest in KMTA representatives making a presentation on sustainable transport based on KOMN, it is learnt.