CHENNAI TRANSPORT VISION 2013: Priority Initiatives and Budget February 2013 CHENNAI TRANSPORT VISION | 1 Chennai’s Transport Priorities Chennai stands at a crossroad in its history and development. The city has the potential to become a global commercial and cultural center that affords its citizens immense benefits in the form of jobs, opportunities and improved quality of life. For this opportunity to become a reality, the city will have to develop adequate infrastructure and services to facilitate development and improve the quality of life of all its citizens, both rich and poor. Many quality of life indicators—education, nutrition, access to healthcare, standards of living—improve as cities grow and become wealthier. By contrast, physical mobility is one indicator that deteriorates with prosperity. As cities develop, the demand for mobility grows with people traveling more to pursue economic opportunities, learn, and have a good time. People buy personal vehicles (such as cars, motorcycles, and scooters) in their quest for more comfortable transport, but the increase in private vehicles, ends up causing congestion and pollution. This diminishes the collective quality of life. Widening roads or building flyovers to facilitate the movement of motor vehicles is seen as a solution, but the improvement is usually short­lived. Figure 1: Chennai Mode Shift 1992-2008, Trip Distribution by Mode 1970 to 2008 Figure 1 illustrates how insufficient public investment in bus­based public transport and prioritisation of personal vehicle­based infrastructure (combined with improved ability to purchase personal motorised vehicles) have shaped the way that Chennaites travel over the past two decades. We fret about exploding population and traffic growth but what we see today is just a glimpse of what is yet to come if we take no action to arrest the growth of personal motor vehicle growth. Chennai has few options: follow a “business as usual” scenario facilitating increasing travel by private vehicles, or to develop a scenario that prioritizes public transport, cycling, and walking. Figure 2 illustrates how both scenarios would impact the projected number of trips between 2013 and 2018. The two sets of CHENNAI TRANSPORT VISION | 2 three lines refer to the projected number of trips for private vehicles (red), public transport (light green), and walking and cycling (dark green). Figure 2: Alternative scenarios of transport in Chennai in 2018 On the left, the business­as­usual scenario shows a dramatic uptick in the number of private vehicle journeys, while public transport sees a moderate increase in trips and walking and cycling trips remain almost static. If the use of personal motor vehicles continues to increase at the present rate of 8 per cent per annum, then an additional 30 lakh trips will be made using these modes. By 2018, over 13,000 lane­km1 of new road space will be required to accommodate their movement. Vehicles must park at every destination. Thus, an additional 12.5 lakh car­equivalent spaces must be made available for parking. The additional road and parking space demanded would cost roughly Rs 36,000 crores to construct, not including the cost of land. It is sufficient to say that Chennai cannot afford to let this trend to continue. The battle to accommodate growing motor vehicle traffic is a losing one. In fact, no city in the world has solved its mobility crisis by simply building more roads. The only solution is to adopt a radically new approach. The second scenario, on the right of Figure 2, reflects an increased emphasis on sustainable transport. In this scenario, the city sees a significant rise in the number of trips by public transport, walking, and cycling. The number of personal motor vehicle trips remains relatively constant. This scenario reflects the goal set 1 A lane­km is defined as one kilometre of road length of a width of one lane. The assumption here is that each car (or two­wheeler converted into car­equivalent) requires 20 lane­metres of road space to move freely and 6.5 lane­m for parking. A typical parking space is 2.4­3.0 meters wide, 5.0­6.0 meters deep, totalling 13­19 sq. meters (Litman 2012). CHENNAI TRANSPORT VISION | 3 by the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CUMTA) of increasing the mode share of public transport to 60 per cent of all motorised trips by 2018. This goal was reiterated by participants at CUMTA’s recent planning workshop, Envisioning the Comprehensive Transport Plan for the Chennai Metropolitan Area, in January 2012. Accommodating the increased travel demand on sustainable transport modes would require a cost of under a tenth of the Rs 36,000 crores required for the business­as­usual scenario. In order to meet this goal, Chennai needs to take immediate steps to strengthen public transport systems. In addition, the region needs to enhance access to public transport by foot and cycle, and manage the demand for road space by personal motor vehicles through parking management and market­based pricing. The transport budget for the coming year reflects the real priorities for Chennai, as developed by stakeholders at the aforementioned CUMTA planning workshop in January 2013. In FY 2013­2014, CUMTA seeks to take up work in the following Project Areas to achieve the desired shift toward greater use of sustainable transport modes: 1. Bus rapid transit (BRT) system: Phase 1 implementation BRT is a robust and flexible system that would transform Chennai’s public transport system by providing a faster, more reliable service to a larger number of people in conjunction with the various existing rail networks. To study, design, construct and monitor the first BRT corridor, approximately Rs. 466 crore is necessary. 2. Bus fleet and facilities expansion and improvements Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses are the backbone of Chennai’s transport system. However, MTC’s limited fleet of 3,400 buses is extremely overburdened. A key goal of Chennai’s recent transport planning efforts is that public transport should handle at least 60 per cent of the region’s motorised trips by 2018. To meet this goal, the bus fleet must be expanded by at least 1,500 buses. It is estimated that Rs. 1,124 crore are necessary to purchase vehicles, construct depots and standardize the city’s 4,700 bus stops. Approximately Rs. 46 crore per annum will be required to support bus depot and bus stop maintenance. 3. Public transport customer information service Implementing a multimodal information portal for Chennai’s public transport services is a critical component of Chennai’s transport strategy. The customer information system should include a website as well as a call centre to serve customers without web access. We estimate that Rs. 5 crore is required to develop and staff a regional customer information system. Per year, about Rs. 1 crore is necessary to operate and maintain the center. 4. Multi­modal transport improvements For Chennai’s public transport system to function as a coherent network, passengers need to be CHENNAI TRANSPORT VISION | 4 able to transfer easily from one mode to another. To make the recommended improvements to transport stations and their surrounding areas, approximately Rs. 37 crore is required. Per annum, Rs. 4 crore is required for maintenance and operation of the improved stations. 5. Parking Management System: Phase 1 Implementation To achieve Chennai’s stated goals of making public transport carry at least 60 per cent of the motorized trips, parking management is essential. Regularizing parking will also allow Chennai to utilize of existing resources more effectively. Establishing an Parking Management Cell, completing a DPR for parking management, and implementing a parking control center to regularize parking will require approximately Rs. 5 crore. It is estimated that the expansion of paid parking zones (with the existing fee level of Rs 5 per hour) will generate Rs 57 crore per year. 6. World class footpaths on all Bus Route Roads The Corporation of Chennai is responsible for 304 Bus Route Roads (BRR) with a total length of 222 km. It is recommended that the footpaths on the entire network of BRR be designed and constructed so that they are compliant with the Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards. Approximately Rs. 367 crore are necessary for design and implementation of the BRR footpaths. 7. Pedestrian­only zones in five locations Besides constructing footpaths along streets with heavy traffic volumes, it is important to identify locations where pedestrian density is the highest and ensure that these environments do more than facilitate movement. To design and implement the recommended pedestrian zones, we estimate that Rs. 17 crore are required. 8. Human powered transport improvements To improve Chennai’s capacity to serve cyclists, cycle rickshaws, and other human powered transport (HPT) users, the three specific projects are recommended. To design and implement these projects, approximately Rs. 47 crore is necessary. Additionally, an annual operations / maintenance cost of Rs. 5 crore is required. In the next sections we will provide details for addressing these eight project areas in the 2013­2014 FY. CHENNAI TRANSPORT VISION | 5 Project Area 1. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) BRT is a robust and flexible system that would transform Chennai’s public transport system by providing a faster, more reliable service to a larger number of people in conjunction with the various existing rail networks. On April 10, 2012 a BRT feasibility report, BRT in Chennai: