Twenty years after Madras renamed itself as Chennai, the city, particularly its road infrastructure, hasn’t changed much. Yes, we are now home to the biggest IT companies and BPOs; young boys and girls work in late shifts in BPOs; the city has spread horizontally bringing more places under its net and a once parched village now called OMR is a rising giant. Madras has also grown vertically, with high-rise apartments and community living dotting the landscape. We have a lot more transport options. Apart from the ubiquitous public transport, with call taxis, private cars and motorbikes, inundate the city.
When Delhi Metro overtook Chennai
During 1991 CMDA, along with Times Research Foundation, worked on the Madras 2011 projections. Specialists were engaged to look at the metro 20 years ahead. I was retained to look at industry and transportation.
In my report on traffic, I suggested a focus on railways. I proposed construction of a surface, circular rail transit system of around 100 km during the first decade; and an underground-cum-elevated rail system of around 100 km in the second decade.
When the DMK government was dismissed in 1991, the successor AIADMK government archived the reports.
In 1996 I visited the UK on an invitation from the British government. I looked at the London underground rail system. The extension of the LU to the dockyards connecting it through a tunnel below the Thames river near Westminister was under construction. I was impressed with the speed of work of the engineering marvel which took care of the safety of close to 1500 historic buildings along the route. I also interacted with W Atkins, specialist in such underground tunneling work which was constructing such systems in several southeast Asian countries. We presented in a cover story on this in our October 1996 issue.
Tamil Nadu then was not impressed by the elegance and imperative for such a mass transit system. But Delhi, under E Sreedharan, launched big on this and in a remarkably short time, built the Delhi Metro, a sprawling system that provides easy commuting facilities connecting Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad with vast areas of the Delhi metropolis .
IE is happy that the Chennai Metro dream conceived 20 years earlier started taking shape from 2011. It has significant potential for meeting the commuters’ needs of the growing population.
In 2008 IE again took the initiative: it organised a seminar on corridors of excellence. Two of the major projects deliberated related to an underground rail system for the Rajiv Gandhi IT corridor and the other, a dedicated high-speed rail track connecting Chennai and Bengaluru that can reduce travel time to just an hour. With Sriperumbudur and later Oragadam emerging vibrant industrial centres and with the entire stretch along Ranipet, Hosur, Electronic City littered with industrial units, IE felt a great potential for constructing this.
In our discussions with the heads of a couple of flourishing industrial units including Saint-Gobain and Nokia, we found interest on their part to contribute to the costs of construction. The prospects for such a facility reducing travel time to 20-30 minutes compared to the 100 odd minutes taken in travel by cars was a big attraction. Sadly the local government did not bother to press their claims. – SV
The more things change, the more they remain the same. There is more congestion on Chennai’s roads. Students, office goers and several others still commute by the backbreaking Metropolitan Transport Corporation or the over-crowded electric trains. Market economy plus subsidies have endowed most with a vehicle each. Bumper to bumper traffic is passé. A 9 km drive takes close to an hour and during peak time up to 90 minutes. There are more traffic snarls and road rage. Is that a sign of civilisation, or the death of innocence?
The same goes for Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Commuting in Mumbai stretches the credulity of endurance. Delhi is a driver’s nightmare. The massive increase in the number of buses make even the sprawling, wide roads of Delhi overcrowded and death-prone. Kolkata has traditionally been known for chaos in urban traffic and is still a relic of the past with ramshackle trams that dawdle along providing a cheap mode of transport.
But then India’s financial capital, the country’s political capital and the long time British - India capital for all dated the Mass Rapid Transit System long years ago, while Chennai slipped by. What is it that contributes to the long hours spent in commuting? Simple. The number of vehicles on the city’s roads has jumped up astronomically. There has been no corresponding improvement in the transport network.
32 lakh vehicles for 50 lakh people!
Chennai which once (in 1980) had only one-lakh vehicles now (2015) is home to 3.2 million. Only Delhi with 7.3 million is way ahead. Below Chennai lay Hyderabad (3.38), Pune (2.26), Mumbai (2 million) and Kolkata (0.5). But regarding vehicle density which is what matters, Chennai tops the list with 2093 followed by Pune 1260, Mumbai 1014, Hyderabad 723, Kolkata 355 and Delhi 245. The reason, of course, is that compared to 1800 km in Chennai and Pune, 2000 km in Mumbai and 1400 km in Kolkata, Delhi has 30,000 km of road length.
Against Maruti as the only producer of cars to contemporary designs and high volumes, in the 1980s, today we have cars produced in lakhs in collaboration with Italy, Germany, Britain, Korea, Japan, the US and not to forget our very own. And in large volume. Add to these the large production of two-wheelers and commercial vehicles. Understandably, an already over-strained urban transport system has not been able to cope with this rate of increase in the influx of new vehicles.
Hefty subsidy for bus transport
Add to these faulty policies that provided hefty subsidies on bus services, which are state monopolies. In Madras metro, the Dravidian parties considered the railway system operated by the federal government as alien. There was a suicidal switch from the mass transit facility of the local rail system to road transport. The fare charged for bus transportation is a fraction of that charged by an already losing suburban rail system. This subsidy has resulted in a massive shift of the rapidly increasing commuter traffic from rail to road along the routes where both services operated.
Contrast this with the lack of a system to retire compulsorily over-aged, and decrepit vehicles and to the microscopic leeway available for widening or extending the road network. And also look at the co-existence of hand-pulled rickshaws in Kolkata, the tongas in Delhi, the fish-carts and cycle rickshaws in Chennai, all clamouring for a place on the roads.
So, where do we go from here? The answer lies in the quick development of a rapid mass transport system the likes of which you see in London and New York.
Chennai Metro Rail Limited
And this is precisely what Chennai fashioned out a few years ago and is now in the process of stitching together a network across the city. Let’s look at the finer details.
An investment of Rs. 19,000 crore to build 45 kilometres of metro rail in the first phase and Rs. 45,000 crore to provide 107 kilometres in the second stage in Chennai is considered to be a hallmark of development.
According to the Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) by the end of Phase I of the project the Metro will increase the share of public transport to at least 55 per cent out of the total trips by all modes of transportation. In absolute figures, it aims to carry 250,000 passengers a day against the present figure of about 12,000. Also, the metro system will result in multiple benefits such as reduction in air pollution, time-saving to passengers, reduction in accidents and traffic congestion and fuel savings. No wonder, the public have high expectations from the metro rail. But within a short span of time, they began experiencing several problems and are seeking improvements in the system.
The user needs 4 ‘A’s
Various studies on the adequacy of public transport recommend a comprehensive approach to improving public transport from user’s perspective and this should cover the four As - Affordability, Availability, Accessibility and Acceptability. Among these four factors, affordability, namely the paying capacity of the individual, is the most important.
Availability of transport refers to route coverage and timing. Considering the weather conditions in the country, the area within 500 metres on either side of the metro line has been found to be the influence zone of the metro. A feeder system has to be provided to serve areas beyond this. Transfer requires a properly coordinated scheduling of primary and feeder services, combined ticketing system and minimal waiting time. At present these are lacking.
Accessibility pertains to the ease with which the passengers can access to the metro. It depends on the quality of transport services such as overcrowding, availability of seats and comfort. All these are directly related to the standards of the trip maker. The modern system, with its support equivalent to international standards, though appreciated, is beyond the need of the a traveller in the city.
Fare structure: Metro Rail Rs 10- Rs 60. Bus Rs 3 - Rs 20
To keep the fares low, the government has provided various incentives and subsidies for the operation of metro rail: A 30 per cent contribution to the equity. A 60 per cent long-term loan at low-interest rate plus a ten year moratorium. Tax exemptions 15 to 20 per cent of the project cost and development rights over real estate along with exemption from property tax and capital gains tax. In spite of all this, the average fare of Chennai Metro is Rs. 10 – 60 per trip, against the bus fare of Rs. 3–20. This price is beyond the reach of the low-income people, who account for a sizeable population of the city. These people either walk or cycle and use the bus to go to work if the work place is far away.
The upper and middle strata of the middle-income people own motorised two-wheelers, which account for about 90 per cent of motor vehicles in the city. They spend about Rs. 1.50 per kilometre of travel. Those, who do not own motorised two wheelers, travel by bus, share-auto and auto-rickshaws. Only a part of the middle-income people is attracted to travel by metro rail.
The high-income people depend on personalized transport. Considering the increasing congestion, their shift in ridership to metro can happen. But the experience in India has shown that in such conditions metro attracts only a small share of private motor vehicle users. People are opting for commercial passenger transport vehicles such as Ola taxi, Uber Taxi. Fast taxi and Ola auto-rickshaw are likely to increase.
Restrictive measures...
As the economic and social benefits to the commuters are high for using the metro rail, stringent steps should be taken to reduce the number of private vehicles on the road. Such an action is possible only if the metro network and the feeder system are well-developed to provide adequate, efficient and economical transport to the people.
In a few cities such as Kochi, it is contemplated to prohibit the operation of private bus operators plying on the metro corridor. It will help the metro rail to have a captive market, but such a step will result in a considerable financial burden on the community.
To make the subway system more sustainable, one must increase the density of development along the rail corridor on either side. This may help metro rail, property owners and traders to gain monetarily, but it will increase the demand on other infrastructures such as water supply, sanitation, electricity and road, which are already saturated.
Challenging task
Travel characteristics of people in Chennai are heterogeneous. There are two extremes of socio-economic groups, viz. car owners and slum dwellers. In between are sandwiched two other groups, viz. one using motorised two wheelers and para-transit (auto-rickshaws, share autos, etc.) and the other using mass transport. Planning for such a mixed society is challenging.
According to the planning policy of the government and the World Bank’s recommendation, urban transport should take care of the needs of the poor. In such a case, fares of the metro system have to be brought down considerably; but this will financially affect the viability of the metro. Given the above, efforts should be made to improve the operational efficiency and service quality of the system by proper planning and integration with other modes.
For years, a unified transport authority for the cities has been suggested to coordinate all the modes of transport; but this is without tangible progress. For getting maximum benefit out of the metro, there is an urgent need to integrate all modes of transportation. London offers an invaluable global model which Sydney and Auckland have successfully adopted.
The experience gained in the Indian cities has shown that there are many limitations in the functioning of the metro system. While tackling the transport problems of the second tier cities, a two-pronged approach can be adopted – first, to minimise and control travel demand by proper urban planning; and second, provide medium capacity transport systems like combined at-grade and elevated Bus Rapid Transit System.
The massive shift from rail to road
A low introductory price, even on par with the bus services, would help the railways use the costly infrastructure better. When Hyatt Regency opened its posh hotel in Delhi, it offered a special introductory price of just Rs.700 per night of stay for the first year. With smart marketing, there was near full occupancy even during the first year at the end of which the tariff was moved in line with the market. With fixed costs forming such a high proportion of the total expenditure, expensive pricing can only contribute to poor utilisation of a costly facility.
IE, the business magazine from south was launched in 1968 and pioneered business journalism in south. Through the 45 years IE has been focusing on well-presented and well-researched articles. When giants in the industry stumbled to keep pace with the digital revolution, IE stayed affixed embracing technology.
