HOT TOPICS
SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
The 'Last Mile' myth
Written By Naveen - 26 June, 2011
Bangalore Bus Bus Stops Analysis Last Mile Transportation public transport public transport Bus metro footpaths
I think the many repeated questions raised about 'Last Mile Connectivity' is more of a creation by the very large affluent private vehicle loving public in this city that loathes walking even short distances to & from bus stops, rather than reality.
For example, in places like Mumbai, Mangalore & Chennai, there are people that easily walk upto 1.5km for PTs & sometimes even 2km, wheras in Bangalore, even distances of less than 1.0km is viewed as a serious "last mile" problem since it compares poorly with private vehicles for mobility that everyone has gotten used to.
In Mumbai, ascending & descending stairs at train stations & walking to bus stops can be more strainous than the exertion of walking over a km, but most people do it as a matter of course & without any fuss everyday amidst crowded & very uncomfortable conditions - & these include many well-off office executives, too, who prefer trains to avoid the time delay & strain of driving long distances through crowded roads. For many residents in suburbs such as Chandivli, Powai & Marol, bus access is well over a km but they walk anyway to take a bus to get to the train station, stand & travel within packed trains & walk more at the stations (both ends).
In Mangalore, buses ply only on well patronised main thorougfares. On NH-17, between Kadri & Pumpwell (2km), there are no buses decades on due to lack of sufficient number of patrons. The story is the same at Ullal, Hoige bazaar, Marnamikatte, etc. Thus, people living in or around these areas are forced to walk well over a km to the nearest bus stop.
Even abroad, the walk component on a trip can be considerable, even in cities that have good PT systems. In fact, real estate prices are dependent on how close or far the home is from the nearest train station or bus stop. There are residential buildings in New York that are far removed from the subway in Queens & Brooklyn, but people walk anyways, but pay lower rentals due to the inconvenience of the location. This does not necessarily mean that buses must be run there, despite the poor patronage.
I don't believe that it's possible to run buses in narrow roads within residential or interior areas with insufficient loads to address the so-called 'last mile' problem for all - any form of PT has this deficiency & this must be accepted as a reality with PT.
Given these examples, why do we find it so hard to accept the fact that buses can only be run where roads are wide enough & where there are sufficient number of users ?
This aside, no large city can manage with only buses for PT - Bangalore is perhaps the only large city of 8 million people that is still trying to do it. All large cities have train systems or Metros on exclusive tracks to move people faster. Buses in mixed traffic can never match the efficiencies of such train systems over long distances.
COMMENTS
idontspam - 26 June, 2011 - 10:01
Incentive to use pvt transport is continually being created in parallel, so the comparision is against point to point service they are getting now.
Bangalore City Rly. Stn. and Majestic bus stn.
pathykv - 27 June, 2011 - 17:17
The misery suffered by the train/bus commuters in negotiating the subway between the two is being discussed repeatedly.
Even the Transport minister felt the need for a shuttle service.
In most cities the bus stops are provided close to the entry/exit of rly.stn. so that the transfer of commuters can be seamless
The earlier the feeder service buses are provided to the rly.stns, the better.
K.V.Pathy
Naveen - 26 June, 2011 - 14:02
Mr Raja Rao,
What you state are factors that are common to all Indian cities, not just Bangalore alone. The street conditions are bad in every Indian city, & in addition to dust & pollution, one sweats easily when travelling by any mode of PT - be it a Mumbai local train or bus or a Chennai bus or an ordinary bus in Bangalore. In fact, Bangalore is somewhat cleaner than other large Indian cities & has good A/C buses, but people seem to want to complain more because of the strong preference to travel by private vehicles in the absence of restraints such as road & bridge tolls & easy availability of free parking.
If, as you say, the integrity of drivers & conductors is questionable, what about the travelling public that is underpaying the fares ? Are they free from blame ? In fact, if such is happening, it's because we have a public that encourages it - this is why we face all these problems. No point blaming only the conductors that cheat. As far as timing /frequency /efficiency are concerned, I think this would depend on the number of commuters. If there are large number of commuters, the frequency will be increased automatically, as it has in several areas - Jeevanbhimnagar & CVRaman nagar are examples.
I don't think connectivity within the system is any better in Chennai, or in Mumbai or anywhere in India - people willingly walk from Paris to Beach station in Chennai (700m), but, in Bangalore, one hears complaints about the long distance from city railway station to SBS bus station (450m). This is just another example of the last mile complaint that is probably unique to Bangalore.
Naveen - 26 June, 2011 - 17:26
Mr Asko Kauppi,
Many thanks for your post here & I had read newsreports about the PRT presentation at transtec in Delhi, following which I went through the presentation & had had a few questions. I know you probably are sorting them all out, but anyway, here they are :
1) How will the problem of so many individual cabs running on tracks without conflict with one another be solved ?
2) What about the problem of cabs stopping midway to drop off passengers ? How will the problem of halting all the others behind & upseting schedules be addressed ?
3) How would cabs switch tracks to synchronize with destinations desired by each cab user ?
4) What about maintenance of all the steel bar tracks in tropical conditions, which can be quite a challenge by itself ?
5) At less than 6000 persons per hour capacity maximum, would the investments justify the utility ? How does it compare with costs with Metro or Monorail ?
Thanks for the information, in advance.
R V Raja Rao - 26 June, 2011 - 12:16
Last mile connectivity is certainly not a creation by large affluent private vehicle loving public. The cleanness of the area, age factor, availability of time at their disposal, timing and safety of the area, convenience, weight of the luggage one need to carry, all these factor will determine the walking even short distances.
In Chennai people may walk up to 1.5 km to 2.00 km to reach some system of public transport because people chose to live on the outskirts. Once they reach any system of transport, no one needs to walk much because the Public Transport System is well connected. They do not depend on prepaid Auto Counters like we do in Bangalore.
If the Public transport system is convenient no one wants to drive their private vehicles on busy and congested roads. Even in Bangalore many office goers engage and share a private vehicle to commute to their office.
Walking conditions in Bangalore are not comparable to walking conditions prevailing in other countries. With the amount of pollution one cannot walk with clean dress and come back home clean let alone wearing suits and formal dresses.
Our public transport system is covering even the interior areas also. Most of commuters who travel in those routes co operate with the conductor and do not buy tickets. Number of passenger actually travels will be more than the no: of passengers shown in the trip sheet, hence the route becomes uneconomical. Here the problem is the timings, frequency, efficiency, honesty and integrity of the drivers and the conductors.
Last mile connectivity is not about connectivity from the residence to the public transport system but it is about the connectivity within the system.
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!