A blueprint jointly prepared by the department of civil engineering at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) and the Department of Town and Country Planning has suggested a new bus route design for the city.
The study had found that bus routes in the city lacked proper design, causing inconvenience to commuters owing to unscientific location of bus stops and failure to serve key destinations. Besides, people’s apprehensions over crime at bus stations and on buses and poor infrastructure were identified.
The study suggested a proper system based on travel time and cost incurred by commuters. Accordingly, three bus terminals were proposed at Medical College North, Cheruvannur West, and Elathur.
Going by the geometry of the city, there is no need for a terminal at the centre as the length of a route from the terminal to all zones (75 wards of the Kozhikode Corporation) is between 2 km and 10 km.
At present, private buses ply on major routes within the city and to nearby locations.
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) operates regular services to several destinations in the State and outside from the city.
Kozhikode has three bus stations. All private buses to suburban and nearby towns are operated from the Palayam bus station.
Private buses to neighbouring districts start from the Mofussil bus station on Indira Gandhi Road (Mavoor Road).
Among the objectives of the study were identifying factors influencing bus route design and developing a methodology and software for bus route design.
