PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM IN CALICUT CITY

Abstract

Infrastructure is considered to be the backbone of any kind of development, of which transportation is the most important. Transportation enables movement of people as well as goods across space which is essential for economic as well as social activities. Planning is indispensable for the effective functioning of the transportation system. Most of the Indian cities have unplanned transportation systems, which leads to various traffic and transportation woes. Majority of the cities suffer from inadequate transport infrastructure, traffic congestion, high accident rate, and environmental pollution. Atypical character of Kerala state in terms of urbanization is that, it is not limited to cities and towns. It sprawls along the road networks resulting in an urbanrural continuum throughout the state without proper distinguish between urban and rural area. Calicut, not being an exception, also witnessing same growth trend. In Calicut city, the low density dispersed growth following transport network, put additional pressure on infrastructure. This tendency along with increased per capita income has resulted in upturn in the number of personal vehicles. The traffic on the road has been aggravating every year. Capacity augmentation of the existing road is beset with the problems relating to limited right of way and land acquisition. Road widening and expanding the road network is not a sustainable solution to the proliferating travel demand. Transportation planning in isolation, for anticipating the future demand would not solve the problem. There is an urgent need for a transportation planning for the city with the integration of physical, economic and social parameters and various level policy integration. This made the rationale for the study which aims at the planning for sustainable transportation system in Calicut city. Methodology The research methodology follows problem identification, literature review, case studies, data collection, data analysis and proposals. Literature review has conducted using internet and online journal database. Bothe primary and secondary data has been collected to understand the functioning of the study area and its travel characteristics. Household level primary data has been collected to understand the control parameters that affect the functioning of the transportation system. Thus availed data has been analysed employing statistical methods such as tabulation, A Primary case study - Primary case study has been conducted on a city having similar characters and growth trend as that of study area, Calicut city. Kollam city has been studied for this purpose by visiting the city and observing the transport functions. Discussions with experts were also held to understand the city functions better. It has been inferred from the study that cities in Kerala prefer low rise, low density development. Multi-family residential units are preferred only by migrant population. Dispersed residential development with uni-centered social infrastructure increases the travel demand. Poly nucleated development can be promoted as found in Kollam city. Water based transportation is one of the sustainable transportation in terms environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. Water based transportation can be promoted in Calicut city also as there are number of riverine and canal in the city. Ring and radial is the most suitable pattern of road network that can be developed in the Calicut city which is found in the Kollam city also. Transport problems has to be solved at its root cause rather than increasing the transport infrastructure as the vehicular population increases. Transportation planning should be carried out for the Calicut city integration with land use, economic activities and ITC and professionally qualified planners should be deployed for it. Study area profile The Calicut city comprises of the Calicut Corporation and the out growth, with an area of 178.34 sq.km. The extent of the city covers corporation area and adjoining panchayaths such as Elathur, Olavanna, Ramanatukara, Cheruvannur, Beypore, Feroke and Kadalundi with a large and resourceful hinterland. Among these panchayaths Beypore, Elathur and Cheruvannur have been added to corporation area in 2011. Demographic analysis of the study area shows a decline in the decadal population growth rate. High literacy level, educational qualification and availability of the high standard health services has added to the decreased reproduction rate and death rate in the city. Along with this a good number of the household have migrated to Middle East and other countries that has created a gap in the demographic structure of the city. Average growth rate of the constituting panchayaths of the city is 4.27 which is less than the district growth rate of 7.2%. Core area of the city i.e. the corporation area is experiencing a negative growth rate. People are moving out of the city due to many C reasons. Traditionally the city has a low rise low density residential development and the indigenous people prefer same type of housing as long as they can afford it. Only migrated and floating population prefer multifamily housing. Land use analysis shows that 67% of the land is under residential use which constitute 75.72% of the developable area in the city. Land use analysis shows that there is no proper land use planning for the city and haphazard residential developments are found in the city. Secondary data analysis The land area dedicated for transportation is only 5.35% of the total land area and is much lesser than as prescribed by URDPFI for cities which is 12-15%. It implies that transport infrastructure such as roads is inadequate in the city. Motor vehicle growth rate of the district is 15% and that of population is 7.2%. Growth rate of the two wheelers is very high followed by cars and that of public transportation is very low. Out of the total trips generated in the city two wheelers contribute 47% of the trips but the passenger share is only 10%. Vehicular ownership shows that 0.21 cars and 0.7 two wheelers per house. Per capita motorised trip is 0.79 which is very high. Mode share data shows that only 36% of the passengers depend on public transport for daily transport 39% depend on the two wheelers, 12% on cars and 13% on autos. Right of way of the roads at some stretches are found inadequate. 20% of the roads in the city have less than lOm right of way. Insufficient right of way along with road side parking, street vendors and hawkers adds to the congestion in the city. Foot paths are absent in many stretch of the roads. The existing foot paths are also not maintained properly and encroached by hawkers and street vendors and sometimes occupied by beggars and cobblers, discouraging pedestrians to use foot paths. Majority of the roads an intersections in the city have traffic volume beyond its capacity during peak hours. Public transportation in the city is in adequate and not accessible to everyone in terms of distance. Primary data analysis Primary data analysis concludes that income is the most important parameter that decides the functioning of the urban system. As the household income increases disposable income for comfortable and convenient travel also increases. When the public transportation system fails to offer a comfortable travel at economical prices people opt for personalised vehicles. It is also found from the 74% of the households ED own two wheeler and use it on a daily basis. It is also observed that as the income increases the expense on education also increases. The more the number of graduates S and post graduates in the higher the household income and the car ownership also. Validated system dynamics models have been used to project the population and vehicle population for the horizon year. If no planning intervention is made and let the trend to continue, then the population of the year 2041 would be 841582 and the number of households residing in the city 191269. The projected vehicular population for the district is 1770503 of which 1294656 would be two wheelers and 370517 would be cars. The number of bus transport that would be requires to serve these population is 450 buses whereas the existing bus fleet is only 319. In order to anticipate the future scenario urgent interventions has to be made to reduce the use of personal vehicles and vehicle ownership. Proposals Bus transportation: Increase the number of KSUDP A/C and non A/C buses in the city. Existing private buses of more than 10 years' service may upgraded to urban bus stands as specified by MoUD. 3 main road stretches in the city can be improved to promote single lane BRT during peak hours. • Local train transport: In order to ease the traffic on road especially in north south direction local train transport may be proposed from Elathur to Kadalundi. In future this can be extended further to Vadakara in north and Kadalundi in South. • Water transport: Introducing passenger transport through Canaoli canal from Eranjikkal to Kallai stretch. • Road infrastructure improvement: Road widening and junction improvements at critical road stretches and intersections so that existing congestion can be relieved. Introducing fly over at level crossings within the city centre. Construction of new roads to establish clear radial and ring pattern of road network and smooth movement of the traffic. - • Public transportation :Relocation of intercity bus stand from the city centre to out of the city core so that inter city buses entering city core can be avoided. The existing intercity bus stand can be converted as city bus stand. Public FD transportation to be introduced in the some of the existing roads within the city so that accessibility can be improved. S ITC: Surveillance and management of the traffic using ITC. • Parking: Parking complexes at significant locations and pedestrian infra-structure improvements at city core areas during peak hours. IPT: promoting CNG based auto rickshaws and intruding share auto system as feeder system to the BRTs. There are policy recommendations also so that the number of vehicles on roads can be minimised. Poly-centred development with decentralised social and economic infrastructure can be promoted. Calicut Development Authority to acquire developable vacant lands within the city core and to redistribute for development purposes that confirms to the sustainable development plan. • Policies for restricting the issuing of driving licenses and to make licensing process stricter. Introducing the black mark system on license for violation of traffic rules will reduce the traffic violations. • Restricting personal vehicle access to congested areas during peak hours. • Restrict the green field development through effective development rules. Conclusion Transportation system is one of the factors that affects the physical development and economic activities of the city. As the transport scenarios in the city deteriorates due to inadequate infrastructure and increased personal vehicles on road, there is an urgent need to address these problems and fix it. Infrastructure augmentation is not a sustainable solution to these problems. There should be a paradigm shift from the conventional mode of transportation planning to integrated approach so that these problems can be addressed at root cause. Promotion of mass transportation is a solution to sustainable transportation. Economic sustainability, accessibility and people's consensus to the new system so has to be studied before in hand. Land use pattern of the city should be such that it reduce the travel demand. Ultimate aim is to promote a development that reduces the need to travel.