Surat has won the ‘Best City Bus Services Award’ while Mysuru’s public bicycle sharing has got the best non-motorised transport honours.
Kochi has won the Best Urban Transport Initiative Award for fastest completion of its Metro Rail project besides integrating the Metro with other modes of transport while Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh has been chosen for the ‘Commendable Initiative Award’ for the city police’s initiative for improving road safety. To achieve this, the Chittoor city police have introduced ‘no helmet-no petrol’ policy for two wheelers. The Awards for the ‘Best Urban Transport Practices’ were announced by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Monday.
According to officials, Surat city with a population of about 45 lakh was heavily dependent on three-wheelers and private vehicles till 2014, when the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) and city buses were made operational.
At present, 275 city buses operate on 28 routes in the city, with fares ranging from a minimum of Rs 4 to a maximum of Rs 22. With 95 per cent on-time arrivals and departures, 87 per cent of those using private vehicles and auto-rickshaws have now shifted to city buses minimising environmental and social adversity issues. Single ticketing system, Integration of city buses with feeder systems, Intelligent Transit Management are in place.
According to the Ministry, the tourism city of Mysuru launched its Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) in June this year with 425 bicycles and 45 docking stations. More than 6,400 members have been registered till last month. Fares are as low as Rs 5 for up to two hours of use. PBS resulted in improved last mile connectivity besides converting short distance vehicular trips to cycle trips, which are eco-friendly.
In the best city in urban transport initiative category, Kochi Metro project has been chosen for its innovative features including implementation in integration with water transport. Kochi Metro also introduced ‘Rupay’ based transit card.
H-TRIMS of Hyderabad, the Traffic Integrated Management initiative, has been chosen for the ‘Commendable Initiative Award’ under ‘Best Intelligent Transport Project’ category.
Hyderabad has about 39 lakh registered vehicles on its roads with 600 more added every day and vehicle density of 723/km, the second highest in the country but traffic management was being done with 20-year-old signal network, which do not function if power supply stopped. H-TRIMS was introduced in 2012 to provide round the clock, no break in service signaling at all the 221 junctions and remotely controlled. This initiative brought down waiting time at traffic junctions by over 33%. H-TRIMS initiative has been commended under the ‘Best Intelligent Transport System’ category.
Pune has won the Best Performer Award in this category.
In Chittoor, the city police have launched a programme called ‘Engineering and Enforcement initiative”, and students are roped in for creating awareness about road accidents and measures to be taken to prevent the same. Over 1.76 lakh drivers and riders have been administered oath, speed breakers and rumble strips erected to regulate speeds and 259 road side villages have been sensitised.