Namma Metro - Last Mile Connectivity

Bangalore has gud weather most time of the year..so u dont need a car all the time.. Narrow roads.. flexibility.. some of the many reasons that promotes bikes and scooters.. The govt has mentioned some stats abt the vehicles which says we have 22L 2 wheelers on road of the total 34L.. Lets make some provision for their parking at the metro stations..again not in CBD but more like every alternate station outside the cbd!

1. Exclusive prepaid autos.
2. Shared prepaid autos (probably with Tata magic type).
3. Shared Innovas or Tata Wingers (For those who cannot come out of A/C).
4. Non-Airconditioned mini buses (such as Tata starbus or Mazdas).
5. Airconditioned-mini buses (such as the Kingfisher pickup bus like).
6. Passing by normal route buses (alteration of routes by BMTC to make the existing routes to pass near Metro stations).
7. Meru or Easy Cab like taxis with fares ranging from 25-50 rupees.
8. Very nominal cycle parking charges
9. Congestion charging near Metro stations and heavy parking fees  to avoid personal vehicles except for bicycles.

Narayan,

Hats off to you, man. BMRCL together with BBMP are planning some 300-400 mtrs of uniterrupted side walks leading up to Metro stations, but this effort, though commendable, is not enough, really.

Your suggestion of a pavement authority is thought provoking & perhaps, a long felt need. BBMP/BWSSB by themselves have not been able to deliver, so far. I am not sure they if they can monitor the sidewalks once the Metro stations are built & after the Metro is operational. BBMP & BWSSB contractors, after cleaning the storm drains on the sides of streets, deposit muck by the road side, especially over the pavements. We do need proper monitoring to make sure that pavements are maintained throughout. In any case, the present proposal is only around Metro stations & does not extend beyond.

Maybe it's a good idea to have a separate body (under BMLTA) to maintain pavements. This body can also ensure that pavements are not misused by hawkers & shops that are using part of the sidewalks for displaying their wares, as also to stifle side walks from turning into parking lots (Eg. Indiranagar 100-ft road, & koramangala 80 & 100-ft roads).

I think this is a great idea - & needs further review.

DIMTS has proposed and implemented very good side walks in delhi on the BRT corridor. Same design can be implemented here too. DIMTS has going forward with many good standards and implementations, whereas our BMLTA is behaving it is not concerned with anything. Why doesn't Government appoint consultants from DIMTS to BMLTA who can do some serious change in terms of sidewalks and cycle tracks. http://in.youtube.com/wat...

Seems to need a lot of space....

unless its like this one...

The stations outside the CBD should have sufficient 2 wheeler parking space. It should be assumed that every passenger that is taking the metro is going to be on a 2 wheeler. so 200-300 will not be sufficient if you want to use the model of park & ride. It has to be a lot more than that or at least have the capability to quickly expand beyond the initial 200-300 on demand. In conjunction with this if there are bike (bicycle ) rentals/shuttle services, fixed charge autos, etc near the stations in CBD. For places like ITPL/Electronic city shuttles synchronized with metro timing will do the job.

ebi.schubert's idea is very appropriate. I was thinking about this sometime back.

Having good rentals of cars / two wheelers and auto stands close to Metro Stations or allocating TTMC floors for vehicle renting companies is a very good idea. I cannot imagine even a small US municipal airpot without a car rental company or the other.

I can log on to websites like pricline and book my rental car which in many cases is located on the airport premises.

Yes, situation in India is different. But if a family of 5 wants to travel to say Jayanagar 4th block and takes the Green Line Metro from Hessarghatta cross to Jayanagar metro station. This famiy, say, consisting of father, mother, mother-in-law and two kids can easily rent a Tata Nano or a Wagon R or any other car and drive it from the Jayanagar Metro station and return it back.

I am sure there will be incentives like frequent user, insurance claim et al, which can be passed on to the customer as part of the cost.

This way, last mile connectivity has a lot of choices.

A metro station can be integrated with:

a) Mono Rail line
b) BMTC bus
c) BRT bus
d) Commuter Rail
e) South Western Rail
f) Autos
g) City Taxis
h) TTMCs with two wheeler / car rentals
i) Free bike / cycle rentals

Just to say -

1. Sufficent parking - how sufficient is sufficient? There will never be enough parking for all and hence the focus should be on revitalising the buses in offering connectivity.
2. Why exactly can a family not consider a bus ride? I have done it in Mumbai and do it regularly in London (can't do it in Pune becuase of lack of connectivity and quality of service - again the very things we ought to fight for).
3. I disagree with the idea of charging cyclists for parking. At a time when cycling needs to make a major come-back, it ought to be incentivised and made completely free.
4. What may work better than folding cycles is a Velib like cycle hire scheme.
5. Intermediate public transport (ITP - taxi / rickshaw) and its regulation is a much better option that vehicluar rental schemes (which BTW are in place in mage cities worldwide- nothing to do with size, its the level of investment and entrprise that is vital - this in turn increases prices). ITPs don't need parking, they drop off and go away either with another passenger or move to the roads in hunt of another client.
6. But walking to stations ought to be the biggest and most important factor in success of a Metro. Go for footpaths wider than those on Delhi BRT (which are not in keeping with IRC norms by virtue of being narrow). Slap 2 meter wide footpaths on either side, even reduce road width if need be, get rid of on-street parking (which consumes maximal space) and TDM will begin and congestion will drop (there is evidence to support this). I remember walking from school to home in South Mumbai which has always had wide footpaths, we (me and my peers) took either the Marine Lines or Marine Drive, get a dry bhel or peanuts and enjoy one the best walks ever. As an adult, walking is great as you can pick up many things on the way from the road side shops (I am not referring to obstructionist hawkers) - all daily essentials while going back home.

ASJ

I agree on the pavement thought. Pavement quality needs to be enhanced to invite people walk more. Nowhere in Bangalore do I get an uninterrupted strech of free pavement to walk. There are trees, poles, vendors, vehicles, human urine, dog poo, gaping holes and what not. Where the new pavements have been laid after a few feet I encounter the obstructions which force me on to the road or the pavement itself completely disappears. I cant even imagine the plight of old people, disabled and children.

People are hesitant to Change - as saw with BIAL. But America has proved us wrong!

So, we will never change if we don’t take a new step. We are used to taking our car/bike every where we go. Blame it on bad pavements, poor road, bad public transport... whatever. But if change is what we want from them, we need to change too to suit them.

We can't improve public transport and then still expect to find parking outside your destination. We have to change our mental models of city navigation and get accustomed to new ways such as Walking, cycling and others which right now seem impossible.

I am sure, this luxury of taking your car everywhere currently (because of a lack of a better system) would have caused a bit of laziness within us. If we keep feeding that, we are actually going backwards!

What we need is Bold decisions, and people to see the need to change – with the city.

Hence, yes, a large part of the solution is with the stake holder (BBMP BDA ...etc) but we really have to change our pre-assumptions about city traveling. Hence these ideas of Car Parking and multi level parking’s everywhere you go, do not somehow complement the solution of having a metro in the first place.

Of course, there will be hiccups and hesitancy. Dare I say Metro will be a smooth implementation/arrival into Bangalore! But if we don’t over come them by getting used to new methods, its like taking a temporary pain killer.

I totally moot the idea of Walking, Cycling and Busses (in that order.) And I believe we should start now.Let us campaign for better pavements, cycling lanes and BRTS. I am sure if we start now, we can be better prepared for the Metro. Otherwise the Metro will be jammed above, and we will be in the same jam below!

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." : Barack Obama

We seem to have forgotten this convenient, environment friendly option for short distances (up to about a mile or mile & a half) !

Above - Cycle Rickshaws at Berlin's PotsdamPlatz.

Below -A Pedicab designed by Yamaha

 

 

Above, & Below :  Berlin's Central Stn - Hautpbahnhof - Perhaps one of the most environment friendly buildings in the world, with "Tops Open to the Heavens" for daylight. The Metro (UBahn) operates from upper levels, whilst Inter-City (Deutsche Bahn) operates  from lower levels.

Ravi_D,

Many thanks for posting this link - a great development & a well written column.

China is changing too ! Once the most popular form of transport, bicycles had been banned in downtown shanghai, now only to be reinstated.

I wonder where India is headed :-)

The 15% traffic from roads if in terms of persons in vehicles than it may come to :

1.0 1Car ~2 persons

2.0 1 Three wheeler~2persons

3.0 1Two wheeler~1 person

4.0 1Bus~60 persons

So actually the 15% in terms of vehicles will be about 35% of persons and if the 15% is in terms of persons than in terms of vehicles it will be ~5%.

Now please note that the yearly projection (increase) as per the Indian Roads Congress -in absense of any data or without doing traffic modeling- is 7.5%.

If we take a conservative estimate it will ~5%. So the congestion level will be maintained in two years of post construction of metro.

After That?

nJ

A reality check on inter-modal connectivity at all the East-West line Metro train stations

The Majestic interchange station is arguably the most critical link on the Namma Metro East-West line, connecting commuters to the hugely important transport hub.

But at 6 am on Saturday, when the line is commercially launched, the station will have just one entrance and exit point for the public. This will be on Gubbi Thotadappa Road, a good 10 minutes walk to the City Railway Station.

Tracking the connectivity of each East-West line station to other modes of public transport, Deccan Herald found BMTC bus stops within walking distance at most locations. But bus bays were a rarity. So were parking slots. However, the autorickshaws were everywhere!

If commuters alighted the Metro at the station named after the City Railway station, they would end up at the last platform, accessible only by a foot overbridge. But the reservation counter would be 500 metres away, a seven-minute walk.
  
Not yet seamless

You could hop off the Metro at Indiranagar, walk three minutes and hop on to a bus or autorickshaw to Domlur, Jeevan Bima Nagar or New Thippasandra. But is inter-modal commute so seamless at other stations on this Baiyappanahalli - Mysuru road line?

Flanked by the arterial Old Madras road, the Baiyappanahalli Metro terminal has few issues with bus connectivity or parking. The old railway station is just a foot overbridge away, and could potentially get packed with the IT crowd if a suburban train chugs its way from Whitefield.

However, it would be risky business for bus passengers coming into the city from KR Puram side. There are no skywalks or underpasses to get across to the station. Buses do stop, although there is no shelter. The best option would be to take the Metro at the Swami Vivekananda Road station, with good parking facility and a bus stop a few metres away.

Parking issues

Parking is a big issue at the Indiranagar and Halasuru stations. But buses and autorickshaws are aplenty. The bus stop is a three-minute walk from Trinity station. Beyond the bus-connected MG Road station, the Metro goes underground at the Cubbon Park station, from where the nearest bus stop on Queen’s road near Chinnaswamy stadium is over 500 metres away.

Next on the underground stretch is the Vidhana Soudha station, opening onto the Ambedkar Veedhi with bus stops in close proximity. Parking is not an issue here, although it gets tricky at the next station, Visvesvaraya, catering mostly to advocates and Central college students.

Rushing underground through Majestic and City Railway stations, the train eventually emerges out of the tunnel before the Magadi Road station. The elevated stretch covering Magadi Road, Hosahalli, Vijayanagar and Attiguppe stations is relatively hassle-free. BMTC bus stops are close by, although the road space has been eaten up by the Metro pillars.

Satellite bus link

At Deepanjali Nagar station, commuters headed to Mysuru, Kerala and inter-State destinations could alight and catch a bus / autorickshaw to the Mysuru road KSRTC satellite bus stand. But heavy traffic at the station entrance could prove tough for the passengers. The satellite bus stand is only 700 metres from this point. But the flyover link has no footpath!

The well designed Mysuru Road station could be the next best option. It has enough space for shuttle buses to pick up alighting passengers to the satellite stand. However, the road below the flyover is yet to be upgraded.

http://www.deccanherald.c...

What is the route number? I would like to use the bus facility.

The new route MF-2 is running from Baiyapppanahalli To ITPL. Today  travelled to ITPL by the same route bus.

The new East West Line stations are a joke and an eyesore. We are forced to park the vehicles on service roads of Vijayanagar. 

BMTC's swanky TTMC has much better parking facilities. It is just about 500 metres from Attiguppe Metro station. 

The security guard said "Tsar innu parking facility madilla." 

 

 

@srivatsan..this is because there has been sheer lack of co-ordination btw different govt bodies. There is no single institution which looks into public transport as a whole..there is narrowmindedness in the approach of integration..also this design for ph 1 was done by DMRC who had no clue about bangalore and its traffic issues..

BMRCL is slowly realizing the importance of integration..they have been slow to learn..but hopfully they will learn it for the good of all..

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation and South Western Railways have reached an understanding about passengers alighting at the City Railway Metro Station after many were caught for ticketless entry to the railway station these past few days. The confusion arose owing to the lack of integration over a foot overbridge (FOB) between the railway station and the metro station, which should have been planned before operations began.

Officials say that the situation has been resolved. “We have reached an agreement with the Railways’ authorities. We will both put up a temporary office near the FOB adjacent to the electrical sub-station. We will also install signboards to guide passengers,” said U.A. Vasanth Rao, Spokesperson, BMRCL.

@nags123 try tweeting BMRCL PRO Vasanth Rao and Kaur from BMTC..there should be a sollution

https://twitter.com/uavas...

@ekroopcaur