Panning for Mass Transit Systems:

A Few Points to Ponder

by

Prof. Dr. V. Thamizh Arasan

Transportation Engineering Division
Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chenna-600038, India
E-Mail: arasan@iitm.ac.in
THE URBAN CRISIS
Increasing transportation needs of the society have
resulted in generating more traffic on the transport-
network systems, especially in urban areas.

Cities throughout the world today face a crisis to

produce a high quality living and working
environment whilst ensuring that goods and
passengers move about freely.
The threat to urban quality of life comes from the
intensification of air and noise pollution leading to
intoxication with pollutants such as CO, NOX, etc.
due to the ever increasing number of vehicles.
Global Urbanization Trend
Population in Billion Urban
Population
Region Urban Rural (%)
2005 2030 2005 2030 2005 2030

World 3.170 4.945 3.280 3.185 49.2 60.8

More Developed 0.910 1.015 0.300 0.228 74.9 81.7

regions
Less Developed 2.270 3.930 2.980 2.958 43.2 57.1
Regions
Source: United Nations Organisation Population statistics (2005)
Source: Registrar General India (2002)
 Trends in Census Population in India 1901-2001
Percentage
Average
Density of of Urban
Population Annual
Year Population Population to
( In Lakhs) Exponential
per Sq. Km Total
Growth Rate
Population
1 2 3 4 5
1901 2384.0 77 10.85
1911 2520.9 82 0.56 10.29
1921 2513.2 81 -0.03 11.18
1931 2789.8 90 1.04 11.99
1941 3186.6 103 1.33 13.86
1951 3610.9 117 1.25 17.29
1961 4392.3 142 1.96 17.97
1971 5481.6 177 2.22 19.91
1981 6833.3 216 2.20 23.33
1991 8464.2 267 2.14 25.70
2001 10286.1 325 1.95 27.82
SOURCE: Registrar General of India (2002)
 Others
Agriculture 14%
5%

Domestic Industry
10% 47%

Transport
24%

Share of Energy Use by Different Sectors in India

 Cars 1184
(567 kcal/pass.km)

Seaways 758
(364 kcal/pass.km)

Buses 323
(155 kcal/pass.km)
(As of railways = 100)
Railways 100
(48 kcal/pass.km)
0 500 1000 1500

Comparison of Energy Consumption in

Passenger Transport
 Environmental Impact of Selected Vehicle Types

Vehicle Type Avg. Pass. Pollution Congestion

Per Vehicle Load Effect
(g/Pass. km) (PCU/Pass.)
MTW 1.5 9.50 0.33
(2 stroke)
MTW 1.5 6.34 0.33
(4 stroke)
Petrol Car 3 1.24 0.25
Bus 60 0.67 0.075
Note: 1 car = 1 PCU, 1 Bus = 2.5 PCU & 1 Motorized Two-wheeler = 0.5 PCU
Source: Draft National urban Transport Policy, Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India, 2003.
Urban Road Space A Scarce Resource
70 People are carried by

Either 35 Cars OR Only 1 Bus

People-oriented approach (proposed)

High Volume
High Priority


NMT

Low Volume
Low priority

Car/vehicle-oriented approach (current)

Low Volume
High Priority

High Volume
Low priority

NMT

Proportion of Trips Made by Different Modes in Selected Indian Cities

Source: World Bank , 2002.

Population and Daily-Trip Statistics of Chennai City

Description 1991 2004 2011 2016 2021 2026

Population in 5.81 7.56 88.7 9.96 11.19 12.58
million
Daily per capita 1.29 1.32 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.65
Trips
Total Daily person
trips in million 7.49 9.98 13.31 15.94 17.92 20.76

Private 57.0 64.6 50 45 40 35

Modal
Split% Public 43.0 35.4 50 55 60 65
GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPMENT
Energy conservation, environmental
protection and sustainability are the
three important guiding factors in any
developmental activity.

The same holds good for development

of transport infrastructure also.
 Development of Transportation Infrastructure
What is the methodology of approach to ensure
energy conservation, environmental protection
and sustainability in the development of transport
infrastructure?

The three factors can be automatically taken care

of if we assign priority to the different transport
modes in the following order while developing the
infrastructure: (i) Pedestrian, (ii) Bicycles and
other non-motorised vehicles, (iii) Public-transport
vehicles and (iv) Others like cars, motorised two-
wheelers, etc.
 Traffic share of private- and para-transit modes
Traffic share of public transport mode
100
75.7 72.2
80
67.9 63
Share (%)

57.5 51.4 55.3

60 48.6
42.5 44.7
37
40 32.1
24.3 27.8
20

0
2000-01 2005-06 2010-11 2015-16 2020-21 2025-26 2030-31
Year

Source: Singh, EJTIR, 6, no. 3 (2006), pp. 247-274

Projected Modal Split Changes During the Next Three Decades

Mass Transit Planning Issues
Specific to Indian Conditions
 THE RECENT TREND
Apart from the quantitative aspects, such as,
capacity, frequency of service, etc. of
transportation, there had been more
emphasis, in the recent past, on the qualitative
aspects such as safety, reliability, comfort,
convenience, environmental impact, economic
efficiency and social equity.
All these have necessitated changes in
transportation planning polices and program
implementation strategies warranting new
approaches and techniques to be adopted at
all levels of planning.
Source:
Census
of India
2001
Source: Economic Survey, Government of India (2001)
 Life Expectancy in India

69 68.59

68

67
66
64.71
65 64.35
63.99
63.62
64 63.23
62.86
63 62.5

62

61
60

59
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Year

Source: CIA World Fact book (2007)

(2002)
 India-GDP-Real Growth Rate (%)

9
8.4 8.5
8.3
8

7
5.5 6 6.2
6

5
4.3
4
3
1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Year

Source: CIA World Fact book (2007)

Source: Economic Survey, Government of India (2001-2002)
Traffic Flow in Study stretch
Representative Traffic Composition

Bus Truck
Cycle 5% 1% LCV
6%
3% Car
18%

M.T.W
55% M.Th.W
12%
Schematic Layout of the Road Stretch
with Exclusive Bus Lane (11m wide)

Foot Path Bicycle Lane Space for other Bus Lane Median
Raised Curb vehicles
(2.0 m width) (1.5 m width)

6.0 m

Bus Lane 3.5 m

Bus Lane
Animation of Simulated Traffic Flow with Bus lane
Variation of Stream Speed with and Without
Bus Lane
70

60
Stream Speed (Km/h)

50

40
R2 = 0.9975
30

20

10 2
R = 0.9938
0
0.53
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
V/C Ratio
Stream Speed* Without Buslane Stream Speed* with Buslane

*Stream of all motorised vehicles except buses

 The Justification

The percentage of road space allotted, for the

road considered, to bus travelers (constituting
67% of the total travelers) and the travelers using
other modes of transport (constituting only 33% of
total travelers) are 34% and 66% respectively for
traffic flow at L.O.S C.
THANK YOU