Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 7 - 4, 21 - 36, October - December 2010 A Methodology for Selection of Bus Rapid Transit Corridors: A Case Study of Kolkata Tuhin Subhra Maparu and Debapratim Pandit Abstract The paper aims at formulation of a methodology for selection of corridors for introduction of BRTS in urban areas in India and Kolkata in particular in the context of present challenges like increasing traffic congestion and car ownership, lack of road and transport infrastructure and gradual deterioration of LOS of bus transit system. The present methodology combines both, existing travel demand estimate and feasibility analysis in terms of traffic and road infrastructure characteristics for selection and phasing of BRT corridors. Incorporation of feasibility constraints both for selection and phasing of BRT corridors would enable planners and decision makers to make more informed decisions about implementing BRTS in Indian cities. 1. INTRODUCTION Level of Service or LOS for existing bus transit operations in terms of safety, comfort and urban network performance like proper routing and scheduling has steadily deteriorated over time in Kolkata. Increase in household income has also resulted in passengers shifting to personalized modes, taxis and intermediate public transport such as three wheelers, thus, adding to traffic congestion which have further reduced the LOS for bus transit system (MUD, 2008). In addition, the problem of lack of adequate road space and transportation infrastructure has further increased the challenges for bus transit system reform and redesign towards improving its LOS. Bus Rapid Transit System or BRTS is considered by the policy makers as a way to improve bus transit services. ‘BRTS is an integrated system of facilities, services, and amenities that collectively improve the speed, reliability, and identity of bus transit (TCRP, 2003). BRT is commonly understood as a system emphasizing priority for buses and rapid movement of buses by securing segregated bus ways, although there is no precise definition of what constitutes a BRT system (Wright, 2005). The selection of elements for BRT depends on the city’s characteristics such as road infrastructure and traffic characteristics of the city. In recent years, BRTS is being increasingly adopted in many Asian cities. In 2004, the Trans Jakarta bus way was started along a 12.9 km corridor through Tuhin Subhra Maparu, is a Project Associate at the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning, IIT Kharagpur have completed B.Arch. (with Honours) from Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur and M.C.P. from IIT. Email: [email protected] Dr. Debapratim Pandit, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning, IIT Kharagpur has obtained his PhD in Urban Engineering from University of Tokyo in 2007. Email: [email protected] Tuhin Subhra Maparu and Debapratim Pandit 21 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 7 - 4, 21 - 36, October - December 2010 the city center. BRT corridors were installed in Seoul as a part of reform of its public transportation and first stage commercial operation of BRT was also started in Beijing (Matsumoto, 2006). In India, the first phase of BRT system has been implemented in Delhi (TRIPP and RITES, 2005). However, this has resulted in a few cases of accidents and traffic chaos on that particular BRT stretch and extension of the same has been halted till some of the design issues are sorted out. The first stage for introduction of BRTS in any city involves identification of potential corridors where the improvements of bus transit facilities can be undertaken. Selection of Bus Rapid Transit corridors involves two aspects: • Identification of possible BRT corridors; and • Ranking or prioritizing of BRT corridors for phasing. A survey of recent literature suggests that, BRT corridor selection is done based on the available right of way of major roads and present level of bus service operated on such corridors as in the case of Delhi (TRIPP, 2005) or using concentration of existing bus service, ridership and road characteristics inventory as in case of Miami (CUTR, 2004). In general, existing and future land use, population density and employment need to be estimated to predict ridership of BRT. At the same time it should also be checked whether it is possible to implement BRT considering the existing road infrastructure and traffic characteristics. The present research considers the case of a transportation network of an existing city and aims at formulation of a methodology for selection of corridors for introduction of BRTS. The city of Kolkata, with its unique challenges like high population density, inadequate road space and transportation infrastructure, highly overlapping bus routes and very low LOS of bus transit system, is taken as the case study area. However, selection of BRTS characteristics and detailed design is not within the scope of the present paper. 2. STUDY AREA AND DATA COLLECTION Kolkata Municipal Corporation or KMC is located in the eastern part of India with an area of 185 sq km and a population of 4,580,544 (Census, 2001), which is estimated to increase to 5,080,519 (World Gazetteer, 2009) in 2009. The city had population density of 24,718 persons per sq km in 2001. Administrative division in KMC includes 141 wards and 15 boroughs and the basic road network structure in Kolkata comprises of east-west and north- south corridors as shown in Fig. 1. Average car ownership in Kolkata is 61 per 1,000 population, average trip length is 10 km, and per capita trip rate is 1.56 for all vehicles and 1.05 for Tuhin Subhra Maparu and Debapratim Pandit 22 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 7 - 4, 21 - 36, October - December 2010 Fig. 1 Zone Division and Major Corridors in KMC motorized vehicles (MUD, 2008). Mode share of public transport in Kolkata is 54 percent (MUD, 2008). The Central Business District is located at the heart of the city, on the eastern bank of river Hooghly and the major residential zones are located on the southern, northern and eastern parts of the city. Most of the bus routes in Kolkata are oriented towards the CBD. Bus transit system in Kolkata is operated by public and private operators, which include 71 Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC), 30 Calcutta Tram Company (CTC), 144 private and 98 mini bus routes in the city (Kolkata Gazette, 2003). In addition, there are a few West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC) and South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) bus routes. The major issues related to bus transit system in Kolkata are uncoordinated and overlapping bus routes, unreliable bus transit system, low LOS, increased air and noise pollution, increasing number of accidents due to rash driving and overtaking, low average speed, intermixing of other vehicles with the buses, narrow right of way leading to traffic congestion and poor transportation infrastructure. Detail data on road characteristics, bus routes, bus transit ridership, etc; were collected and organized in Geographic Information System format using MapInfo 6 software as shown in Fig. 2. Secondary data on bus routes was collected from Motor Vehicles Department, Kolkata and data on road characteristics was collected Tuhin Subhra Maparu and Debapratim Pandit 23 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 7 - 4, 21 - 36, October - December 2010 Fig. 2 GIS Database for Bus Routes in Kolkata Fig. 3 Work Flow for Corridors Selection for BRTS Tuhin Subhra Maparu and Debapratim Pandit 24 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 7 - 4, 21 - 36, October - December 2010 from Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority or KMDA. Data for passenger loading of buses, frequency of buses, speed and delay for buses, etc; was collected through primary surveys. 3. METHODOLOGY Selection and prioritization of BRTS corridors in Kolkata has been done step wise as detailed out in Fig. 3. The best way to estimate passenger travel demand by buses and their direction of travel is to ask every bus passenger his or her origin and destination at the bus stops or through household surveys after deciding the sample size, to construct the origin-destination (OD) matrix for bus passengers. However, this is very difficult for a city like Kolkata, which has a huge population and a high percentage of bus users. The method adopted here is to first prepare an OD matrix for the existing bus routes to determine the major demand directions and the routes or links through which these demands are met. Then, considering concentration of bus routes along these routes, ridership is determined for selection of initial probable BRT corridors. Finally, feasibility for BRT implementation on those corridors have been tested considering ROW (right of way), volume by capacity (V/C) ratio, etc. The detail steps for identification of BRT corridors are described below: Step I: First, the city was divided into different traffic analysis zones based on administrative boundaries, land use, population distribution and existing road and bus route networks. Step II: Next, Origin Destination matrix was prepared for bus routes which indicate number of bus routes connecting ith and jth zone i.e. direction of travel demand. Step III: Third, directions where the number of bus routes connecting these zones were high or alternatively directions having higher travel demand were identified. New development proposals and future land use was also considered to identify future travel demand directions. Step