An Assessment of the Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) Sector in India (original) (raw)

Framework for integrated planning of bus and paratransit services in Indian cities

2019

Public transport services in India and many other developing countries are provided by a combination of formal-Government led public transport systems and informal paratransit or Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) systems, which offer shuttle services along high demand corridors with passengers boarding and alighting at multiple points. Despite limited Government support, paratransit systems continue to thrive in many cities serving a crucial shared mobility need of users, without which cities would have more private vehicle usage. Due to their informal nature and the perceived competition to formal public transport systems, they have traditionally been either excluded from the public transport planning processes or designed as a feeder service to the formal transit system. The current thesis recognises paratransit’s role in serving end to end travel demand needs, particularly in developing economies with limited public transport supply and not just being a feeder to the formal pub...

Urban Transport in India: Issues, Challenges, and the Way Forward

Cities and towns play a vital role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. Although less than one-third of India's people live in cities and towns, these areas generate over two-third of the country's income and account for 90% of government revenues. In the coming years, as India becomes more and more urbanized, urban areas will play a critical role in sustaining high rates of economic growth. But, economic growth momentum can be sustained if and only if cities function efficiently-that their resources are used to maximize the cities' contribution to national income. City efficiency largely depends upon the effectiveness of its transport systems, that is, efficacy with which people and goods are moved throughout the city. Poor transport systems stifle economic growth and development, and the net effect may be a loss of competitiveness in both domestic as well as international markets. Although Indian cities have lower vehicle ownership rate, number of vehicles per capita, than their counterparts in developed countries, they suffer from worse congestion, delay, pollution, and accidents than cities in the industrialized world. This paper provides an overview of urban transport issues and challenges in India. Rather than covering every aspect of urban transportation, it primarily focuses on those areas that are important from policy point of view. The paper first reviews the trends of vehicular growth and availability of transport infrastructure in Indian cities. This is followed by a discussion on the nature and magnitude of urban transport problems such as congestion, pollution and road accidents. Building on this background, the paper proposes policy measures to improve urban transportation in India.

Informal public transport modes in India: A case study of five city regions

Traditionally, the provision of public transport is considered to be government's responsibility. Due to resource and capacity constraints in developing countries, however, government-provided public transport is often inadequate ; it is the privately operated public transport modes like shared auto-rickshaws, Vikrams, mini-buses, and Tata Magics, etc., that cater to the mobility needs of the population. This sector, however, is not sufficiently acknowledged for the important contribution that it makes toward mobility supply, in terms of both policymaking and city planning exercises. In addition, government authorities typically perceive these modes as unsafe, highly-polluting and a cause of traffic congestion as there is a complete absence of research and knowledge on these modes. To address this knowledge gap, an empirical study on informal public transport modes was undertaken in five cities/city regions of India. This paper presents the results of this research study, which provides a stronger understanding of the operational characteristics, roles, and contributions of these systems in meeting the mobility needs of the people. The paper also discusses commonly held perceptions of how these modes relate to safety and pollution. The paper highlights that these systems bridge a large transport supply gap and play an important role in Indian cities. The modes may follow some illegitimate practices, but they do it to become profitable, which in turn helps them provide the much-needed mobility services. The study also shows that these systems are not as unsafe and polluting as people often perceive them to be. However, there is significant room for improvements in terms of vehicle efficiency and compliance with regulatory provisions related to public transport.

Need for Integrated Multi-Modal Transportation in India

International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR), 2023

This development of transport infrastructure is an essential aspect of the growth of any city and specifically in the smart city project. As the Urban economy and growth rise, it also increases the requirement for mobility and accessibility. A well-planned transport infrastructure not only addresses mobility and accessibility concerns but also takes care of efficient land use planning within the city. Multi-modal transport integration is a rapidly evolving concept that focuses on improving commuting efficiency by integrating different modes of transport at one point. These stations are called Transit Hubs, facilitating commuters to change their transport mode without leaving the Transit Hub facility. With the increasing congestion on roads, it becomes important to merge various transit modes at a single point, to help minimize the transit time, provide seamless and barrier-free mobility for commuters, and reduce the traffic on roads. To solve this problem, many countries around the globe have started redeveloping their existing stations as intermodal stations. This paper aims to understand public transport and the problems related to it in India. Efforts are made to list the benefits and the need for multi-modal transit hubs for Indian Cities

A Review on Indias Urban Transportation

International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET), 2022

Traffic congestion, pollution, and road accidents are all challenges that have arisen as a result of India's growing population and vehicle ownership. The transportation industry is an important part of the nation's economy, but also contributes significantly to climate change. Many transportation plans ultimately lead to fixing the climate change problem in order to attain sustainable mobility since climate change is a global hazard. India, like other nations across the world, is investing greater effort into sustainable mobility through different governmental measures.This article examines the major transportation issues that India faces, as well as how the Indian government's transport industry policy initiatives for cities have developed since independence. Motorisation is inextricably linked to urbanisation. Both motorisation and urbanisation complement each other. The influence of NMT on urban transportation is likewise directly related to its growing pace. The difficulties and inadequacies in existing policies are explored, as well as potential policy frameworks. According to this survey, most government policy efforts have yet to achieve the desired degree of success. The absence of monitoring, complicated institutional capacity and urban governance, uneven land allocation, and ineffective overall growth and movement plans are all contributing factors.Due to the continuing COVID-19 situation, the urban transportation scene is expected to shift dramatically. Travellers' mobility preferences are likely to be affected by increasing risks that come with congested settings paired with social distancing techniques in public and shared transportation. With the increased usage of e-services, urban freight demands may also shift.

TOWARDS SUSTRAN: ROLE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN INDIA

This paper examines the role of the public transport system in the effort to achieve a mode of sustainable transport in India. This study analysed and clarified the definition of SUSTRAN. Required data for this study were collected from authentic secondary sources; statistics of government agencies and ministries, energy resources institutes and published journal articles. The study follows a descriptive research design and a quantitative research approach. Simple tables, charts, percentages, and proportions are used for data analysis. The result of the study reveals that public transport modes have a significant role in the development of sustainable transport in India from economic, social, environmental and community health perspectives. Traffic calming is observed as a strategic tool for attaining sustainability. The finding of this study is felt to be unique and may able to provide insight to the role of public transport towards sustainable transport from several perspectives and as a result, it is hoped that at least a little thought will be generated in the concerned agencies to improve public transport.