Assessment of Quality of Transportaion Sysyem in a Medium Sized City: A Case Study

Assessment of Quality of Transportaion Sysyem in a Medium Sized City: A Case Study

Arathy Anirudhan

M.Tech student, Department of Civil Engineering

Govt. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology Kottayam, Kerala, India

Jomy Thomas

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering

Govt. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology Kottayam, Kerala, India

AbstractThe travel demand of India is keeps on increasing day by day. In order to meet the demand of the existing scenario of road traffic particularly in urban areas it is necessary to evaluate the performance of the existing transportation system of a city. Transport sector has some performance indicators. similarly For the assessment of quality of operations we have to identifying these performance indicators. In the present study the quality assessment will be done for the city of Alappuzha based on the service level benchmarking procedure given by ministry of urban development in the year 2010. Here a total number of ten performance indicators have been taken and finally a performance report card will be derived.

Keywords Transport system, Performance indicators

INTRODUCTION

The challenges of the urban transport sector in India are growing rapidly, and government agencies at various levels are taking steps to address the gaps in service delivery. One of the important steps towards this is introduction of appropriate systems for information management, performance monitoring, and benchmarking. It provides a common minimum framework for monitoring and reporting on service level benchmarks and also the guidelines on how to operationalize this framework in a phased manner.

1. Objectives

   The main aim of the study is to quantify asses the quality of urban transportation of Alappuzha city. It also aims to suggest measures to improve performance in urban public transport sector of Alappuzha

   1. LITERATURE REVIEW

      The process of benchmarking is in the initiation stage in India. In 2009 the Ministry of Urban Development New Delhi has published the guidelines [MoUD, Government of India] for the benchmarking of public transport. They have provided a database for service level benchmarking of cities [http://www.utbenchmark.in/]. All cities covered by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) have been advised to benchmark their level of services for various parameters specified by the ministry. The exercise aims to generate information that will be useful in making urban transportation systems effective.

      Detailed indicators have been developed to assess the level of service (LOS). Jasti Chaitanya [2011] published the first paper on the Benchmarking process suggested by MoUD, reviewed thoroughly and identified the problems in the direct application of these guidelines to the medium sized cities. .

   2. METHODOLOGY

      Methodology serving all the objectives of the study has been shown in Figure 1.

      1. A Review of Conventional Qualityb assessment procedure suggested by MoUD

         MoUD had released the SLBs in December 2009 for the first time in India and later modified the same in December 2010. The concept of benchmarking is completely concentrated upon the Developed cities rather that Developing cities and the present process was not at all suitable to evaluate the performance of medium or small sized city. So its clear that the SLBs are not tailor made for all the cities and needs to be altered for each and every city individually. So here is an attempt made to minimize the effort by making more flexible and easily adaptable e SLBs by altering the key performance indicators.

      2. Identifying problems of direct application of Conventional SLBs to medium sized cities

         Service Level Benchmarking is biased towards metro cities and may not be a right approach for medium-sized cities for the performance monitoring. Drawbacks of the conventional benchmarking process have been listed as below in the Table No.1.

         TABLE I. Problems of direct application of conventional SLB procedure suggested by MoUD

         No	Segment	Problems
         1	Public transportation system	Almost absent in most of the Indian cities
         2	Pedestrian facilities	Pedestrian delay judged based on signal phase which exists very rarely
         3	Non motorized vehicles	Almost absent in most of the Indian cities
         4	Usage of ITS	Almost absent in most of the Indian cities
         5	Intermediate public transport	Not at all considered, being predominate mode of travel in all Indian cities
         6	Parking space	Strictly parking	encourages	on	street	paid
         7	Financial sustainability of public transport by bus	Most of the cities dont have a public transportation facility; hence it has to be made flexible for consideration
         8	Delay at intersection	Not at all considered
         9	Pavementcondition	Notatallconsidered

         Fig.1. Chart showing methodology of present study

      3. Study area identification

         The study area is Alappuzha town, which is the sixth largest town in Kerala with an urban population of 174,164. Alappuzh town was formed in 1906. The town area was further extended in 1943. At present the town covers an area of 46.77 km2. The city is accessible by air, rail, road and water. The presence of a lot of backwaters and canals makes water transport a popular means of transport. Alappuzha town accounts for nearly 50.72 % of the urban population of the district. Alappuzha town occupies nearly 20% of the area of the Ambalappuzha taluk and has got 46.5% of taluk population. Population density per sq. Km in Alappuzha town is 3735 persons. Map of Alappuzha city is shown in the following figure 2.

         Fig.2. Map of Alappuzha city.

      4. Checking the Adaptability of Conventional SLBs to the Present Study Area

         The adaptability of conventional SLBs to the present study area of Alappuzha has to be verified and it found as inadaptable since the KPIs like ITS, NMV were too high for the medium sized cities to benchmark the Urban Transportation System. So the conventional SLBs cannot be adapted directly and necessary alterations need to be done.

      5. Making the SLBs Flexible & Adaptable for Medium sized Indian Cities

         Its a tedious thing to make an SLB for each and every city individually so keeping all Indian medium sized cities in view a standard SLB framework had been developed by adding and removing few KPIs to the conventional SLB. The added KPIs are Delay at Intersections, Intermediate Public Transport and Pavement Condition. Similarly the KPIs like Financial Sustainability of Public Transport by bus, NMV & ITS were removed.

      6. Evaluating the performance of existing urban public transportation system

      The evaluation of the new KPIs has been shown from Table III, where as the unaltered KPIs evaluation was done based on the conventional techniqus suggested by MoUD.

      .

   3. DATA COLLECTION AND DATA ANALYSIS.

      Apart from the primary data such as link volumes, speed & delay etc. One needs to have the secondary data also such as accidents; bus route permits, pollution details etc. Data collection for benchmarking is shown in the table II below.

      TABLE II. Data collection methods adopted in the study

      Data	Type	Source
      Public transportation & IPT facilities	Secondary	District transport Officials (DTO), Alappuzha
      Pedestrian, travel speed, intersection performances, parking & pavement condition	Primary	By conducting trail runs & surveys
      Accident data	Secondary	SP Office , Alappuzha
      Air pollution level	Secondary	District Pollution Controll board
      Land use details	Secondary	District town planning department
      Benchmarking index	Primary	Expert survey

      The benchmarking will be done with the modified SLB procedure as the study area taken for benchmarking is a medium sized city like Alappuzha,

      for which the conventional SLB cannot be applied directly. The modified SLBs have been developed with such an intention that they should be applicable to all the medium sized Indian cities where as the combination of both must make the process of benchmarking more suitable for all the metro cities in India. With the same intention maximum effort has been made to integrate all the segments which make a significant impact on urban transportation.

      	Average Speed	Representative Sample	Averag
      	of Pedestrian at	Technique in which time	e Speed
      	Intersection	taken to cross major leg is	of	LOS1
      		measured	pedestri	=2
      			an=
      			4.16 ft/
      			sec
      	Availability of	Calculate LUX level using	LUX=	LOS2
      	Street Lighting	luxmeter (10 samples / km)	5	=3
      	(LUX)
      	Percentage of	A= Total length of foot path	(A/B)	LOS3
      	city covered with	in the city = 0.5 km	*100 =	=4
      	Foot	B= Total length of road	0.99%
      		network = 53.576 km
      	Extent of	A =Number of FOB = 2	(A/B)
      	Coverage of	B= Total length of road	*100 =	LOS4
      	FOBs	network = 53.576 km	0.0%	=4
      CLOS = LOS1 + LOS2+ LOS3 + LOS4 = 2+3+4+4 = 13 Overall LOS = 4
      3	Availability of	Intermediate public transport facilities
      	NMV facilities
      	Equivalent Bus	EBUs has to be developed for	1.25	LOS1
      	Unit/1000	all modes of travel		= 2
      	population
      	Average speed	Average speed of IPT	35kmph	LOS2
      	on all corridors	facilities on routes determined		=1
      	Average waiting	Average waiting time of IPT	2	LOS3
      	time	facilities on routes determined	minutes	=1
      CLOS = LOS1 + LOS2+ LOS3 = 2 + 1 +1 =4 Overall LOS = 1
      4	Travel speed	Travel speed (motorized and mass transit) along
      	along major	major corridors
      	corridors
      	Travel speed of	LOS of each corridor	(Cn	LOS1
      	Personal	determined.Weighted	LOSn)	= 3
      	vehicles	Aggregate of LOS density	= 3
      		Computed
      	Travel speed of	LOS of each corridor	(Cn	LOS2
      	Public Transport	determined.Weighted	LOSn)	= 2
      		Aggregate of LOS density	= 2
      		Computed
      CLOS = LOS1 + LOS2 = 3 + 2 = 5 Overall LOS = 3
      5	Availability of	Availability of parking spaces
      	parking spaces
      	Availability of	There is no on street paid	ECS for
      	paid public	parking in Alappuzha town	on	LOS1
      	parking spaces		street	= 4
      	under .paid		paid
      	parking		parking
      			=0
      	Difference in	A=Maximum parking fee=	A/B = 3	LOS2
      	Maximum and	150		= 2
      	Minimum	B = Minimum parking fee =
      	Parking Fee in	50
      	the City
      CLOS = LOS1 + LOS2 = 4+2 = 6 Overall LOS = 3
      6	Safety	Safety
      	Fatality rate per	A= Total number of fatalities	(A100 000)/ B = 25
      	lakh population	recorded in road accidents
      		within city limits in the given		LOS 1
      		year 2014 = 44		= 4
      		B= Population of the urban
      		agglomeration in 2014 =
      		177079
      	Fatality rate for	A=Total number of NMV &	(A100 )/B = 10.2	LOS2
      	pedestrian and	Pedestrian fatalities recorded		= 1
      	NMT (%)	= 5
      		B = Total number of fatalities
      		recorded in road accidents
      		within city = 49
      CLOS = LOS1 + LOS2 = 4+1 = 5 Overall LOS = 3
      7	Pollution	Pollution
      	Annual mean	Obtain the Annual mean	Add	LOS
      	concentration	concentration range of RSPM	LOS	=8
      	range (µg/m3)	SPM, Oxides of Nitrogen,SO2	corresp
      		from KSPCB	onding

      Fig.3. Graph showing population growth trend over the decades

      B. Data Analysis

      The data collected and the calculation of level of service are explained in the table 2. The overall Score Achieved by the Alappuzha city is 2.4 which indicate its satisfactory performance in the Urban Transportation. The improvisation strategy has to be developed by using the performance report card (shown in table3) in which the present and targeted OLOS will be presented, so that each and every sector will be developed up to the desirable extent.

      TABLE III. Data analysis and calculation of LOS for each KPI

      No	KPI of SLB	Quantification of KPI	Formul ation	Result (LOS)
      1	Public Transportion facilities	Public Transportation facilities
      	Presence of Organized Public Transport System	A = Total number of buses operating on road in the city = 154 B = Total number of buses under the ownership of STU/SPV = 127	(A/B ) * 100= 82.47 %	LOS1 =1
      	Availability of public transport	A = No of Buses/ train coaches available in a city on any day = 150 B = Total Population of the city = 177079	A/B =0.85	LOS2 =1
      	Service Coverage of Public Transport in the city	A = Total length in road kms of the corridors on which public transport systems ply in the city = 39.113 km B = Area of the urban limits of the city = 23.44 km2	A/B = 1.66	LOS3 =1
      	Average waiting time for Public Transport	Average waiting time of each route identified and frequency distribution table prepared.	Median waiting time = 2 minute	LOS4 =1
      	Level of Comfort in Public Transport	Average Passenger comfort- Load factor for all routes determined	Passeng er per seat = 2.7	LOS5 =4
      	Percentage of fleet as per Urban bus specification	A = Total Number of Buses in the City = 154 B = Total number of buses as per the Urban Bus specifications in the city = 90	(B/A)* 100 = 59a%	LOS6 =2
      CLOS=LOS1 + LOS2+ LOS3 + LOS4 + LOS5 + LOS6 = 1+1+1+1+4+2 = 10 Overall LOS = 1
      2	Pedestrian Infrastructure Facilities	Pedestrian Infrastructure Facilities

      			to each pollutan t
      RSPM + SPM+ NO2+SO2 = 1+1+2+1 = 5 Overall LOS = 1
      8	Financial Sustainability of Public Transport by bus	Financial Sustainability of Public Transport by bus
      	Extent of Non fare Revenue (%)	A = Revenue collections per annum from non-fare related sources = 1145418 B = Total revenue per annum from all sources = 300536472	(A100 )/B = 0.38	LOS1 = 4
      	Staff /bus ratio	A=Total staff of bus operation and maintenance = 241 B =Total number of buses = 57	A/B = 4.2	LOS2 = 1
      	Operating Ratio	A= Cost including depreciation cost, operation & maintenance cost, month = 42710218 B= Total revenue generated from all sources such as Fare Revenue and non fare revenue = 26105321	A / B = 1.636	LOS3 = 4
      CLOS = LOS1 + LOS2+ LOS3 = 4+1+4 = 9 Overall LOS = 3
      9	Integrated landuse-transport system	Integrated landuse-transport system
      	Population density	A= Total city area = 4677 Ha B = Population in the city = 174164	B/A = 37.24	LOS1 =4
      	Mixed land-use on major transit network	A = Total developed area = 2228 Ha B = Total non-residential area = 394 Ha	(B/A) 100= 17.7%	LOS2 = 2
      	Intensity of development city wide	A = Floor space Index applicable to most part of the city as per Master Plan/DP	2.3	LOS3 = 1
      	Intensity of development along transit corridor	A = Floor space Index applicable to most part of the city as per Master Plan/DP=2.3 B=FSI along transit corridors= 3	B/A = 1.3	LOS4 = 3
      	Clear pattern and completeness of the network	Major roads have somewhat clear pattern (gridiron) but incomplete network	2	LOS5 =2
      	Percentage of area under roads	A= Overall developed area of the city = 2228 Ha B= Overall area under road network = 115 Ha	(B/A) 100= 5.16%	LOS6 = 4
      	Percentage road network with exclusive ROW for transit	Total length of road having exclusive BRT/Metro/LRT/Mono rail = 0 km	0%	LOS7 = 4
      CLOS = LOS1 + LOS2+ LOS3 + LOS4+ LOS5+ LOS6 = 4+2+1+3+2+4+4 = 16 Overall LOS = 3
      10	Riding quality of pavement	Riding quality of pavement
      	Road Quality Index (RQI)	IRI value of major roads in the town was obtained using Roughometer.	IRI = 2.7 RQI = 2.01	LOS= 2
      Overall LOS = 2
      Performance of Alappuzha city in the urban transportation sector is = ( 1 + 4 + 1 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 3 +3 + 2)/10 = 24 / 10 = 2.4

      TABLE V. Urban Transportation Performance Report card for Alappuzha city

      No	SLB (modified)	OLOS	Action plan to achieve target
      1	Public Transort facilities	1	Organized public transport has to be started along the routes connecting tour destinations in the city. Number of KSRTC buses operating within the city has to be incrased by 15. Three new JNNUR low floor ac city bus services and inland water transport has to be encouraged. ( Figure 4)
      2	Pedestrian Infrastruct ure facilities	4	Installation of foot overbridge at District hospital junction. Provision of foot path of atleast 5 ft width from YMCA to Punnappra on NH 544. Major intersections have to be signalized with an exclusive pedestrian phase.(District Hospital junction, SD college junction, kaichoondi junction, valanjavazhy junction, Outpost)
      3	IPT Facilities	1	Increasing the frequency in non peak times and making it available in all routes which could not be covered by public transport, by offering some tax relaxations and making the route permit free.
      4	Level of usage of intelligent transport system	4	Surveillance cameras have to be fixed at all major junctions within next 2 years. All junctions have to be signalized within 2 years and synchronized within next 3 years after signal installation.
      5	Travel speed along major corridors	3	Utmost care has to be taken such that the improvisation of PT and IPT facilities must not make any negative impact on private transport.
      6	Availabili ty of Parking Spaces	3	Off street parking has to be encouraged rather than on street parking. Multi level parking need to be introduced near Maatha jetty and finishing point
      7	Road Safety	3	Black spots ( kalarcode junction ,kaichoondi junction, thondankulangara , outpost) within the city need to be identified and geometrically improved within next 5 years Road Safety Audit (RSA) has to be carried out throughout city and road markings and signages have to be improved within next 2 years. Adequate sight distance should be ensured at out post junction and

      			shavakkottappalam junction .
      8	Pollution levels	1	Pollution level has to be kept low by reducing the concentration of SPM. The urban activities affect the water quality in the canals of the city, especially the vadakkanal. It will affect tourism operations. Strict enforcement has to be imposed on the inland water transport and canal side shops regarding the sewage disposal.
      9	Land Use Transport Integratio n	3	Town planning department has to be made as one of the approver for all the traffic and transportation studies.
      10	Financial sustainabi lity of public transport by bus	3	KSRTC services should focus on the comfort and travel time saving of the passengers. 3 New services should be started along Punnamada Aspinbal road and Beach- YMCA through Zhakkariya Bazhaar. Tourist only bus services within the city is another proposal.
      11	Riding quality	2	Regular maintenance of pavement must be made prior and after the monsoon within next 1 year,

   4. CONCLUSION

There are few drawbacks in the SLBs proposed by MoUD such as Pedestrian Facilities, NMV, ITS etc which cannot be considered for Benchmarking of Medium Sized Cities.. MoUD had not considered the aspects such as IPT, Delay at Intersections and Pavement Condition etc. which were the Key parameters in rating the Urban Transportation System. Modified SLBs used in this study have been counter acting the drawbacks of conventional SLBs and also making the concept of SLB more flexible and adaptable for Medium sized Indian Cities. The Alappuzha city is performing very poor in the segments such as Pedestrian Infrastructure facilities, Availability of Parking facilities, Level of usage of Integrated Transport System, Land Use Transport Integration, financial sustainability of public transportation and Travel speed along major corridors

Similarly Alappuzha city is performing Good in the Segments such as, Pollution Levels, organized public transport and IPT facilities. The process of SLB has to be made mandatory in all CMPs and CTTSs as it determines how effectively and efficiently the present Transportation system is performing in the existing situation and in which sectors its lagging behind, so that it can be improved easily with the future targeted LOS Urban network need considerable improvements in Road design and available road infrastructure, traffic management and in other such reasons which significantly contribute to road safety. The public transport of the city is financial sustainable but needs considerable improvements. Level of air pollution in the city is low. But the pedestrian facilities are poor.

Figure 4: Proposed bus route

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank scientists in NATPAC, professors of the College of Engineering Trivandrum, Professors and Associate Professors of Govt. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology Kottayam, Town Planning Officer Alappuzha and PWD Executive Engineers of Kottayam and Alappuzha for participating in the expert survey. We also thank Principal Govt. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology Kottayam for giving us the Roughometer for determination of IRI.

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