Transport studies gather dust
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Ten study reports on the transport sector in the city have been left untouched in the corporation office for over a decade.
And these reports on public transport by renowned international and national agencies, had cost the corporation over RS 15 crore. Yet, not one of the recommendations has been implemented in this growing city.
Some agencies that conducted studies on rail, road and water transport sectors include National Transpor-tation Planning and Research Centre, RITES, WAPCOS, INKEL, Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA), Global Works and Wilbur Smith Associates. Apart from this, former chief engineer of Konkan Railway C. Raju, had prepared a comprehensive city mobility plan for the corporation.
“Despite several studies, there exist no integration either in planning, operation or regulation in the public transport sector.
And, the city lacks a single agency to regulate, integrate, promote and manage the public transport system. The formation of a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority – a public transport regulatory body – is yet to be realised.
Even if a few major recommendations from these reports had been implemented, the city transport scenario would have improved considerably,” said town planning committee chairman K.J. Sohan who prepared a report on ‘An affordable and valuable urban transport system for the people of Kochi’.
As per a random study, only less than 25 per cent of the residential areas are covered by public transport in the city.
Even after several recommendations to expand public transport to cover un-serviced areas, nothing has happened.
Though many new arterial roads were constructed during the last few decades such as Airport–Seaport Road, Pottakuzhi Road, Stadium Link Road, NH-47A, and Kaloor–Kadavan-thara Road, no public bus service operates on these roads, expect partially, on the last route.
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