Page 44 - TT Magazine Feb-Mar 2019

PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Despite carrying
such large number of
passengers, despite
knowing that buses
have the potential to
really relieve all our
cities of congestion,
these systems are
not getting enough
attention.
Dhawal Ashar
44 February - March ’19 / TrafficInfraTech
transport are enormous, agreed Prof to look at airways also because there
Changes happening in the urban
are some services which people are
Swami “There is a continuum which planning to start from Mumbai airport
has emerged, one part of it is people to Nariman Point. So, there will be
would like to have a more flexible kind
different challenges when we look at
of a mode; it could be a two-wheeler, multimodal integration.
three-wheeler or a four-wheeler. Public “There must be a legislative
transport need not be metro or a framework which supports UMTA.
bus, it could be anything. We need
Over the years, we are working in
to recognize the change, if we don’t silos like railways and roadways have
recognize then the work is going to be their own domain; when waterways
much more difficult.
and airways are added, who is going
“The moment we look at things to put all these ideas together, plan
differently, the role of Unified and execute? So, UMTA must have a
Metropolitan Transport Authority holistic view and if that happens that
(UMTA) will also change in a significant would be a great thing to have.”
way. One is not so much of a provider, Rushab Shah felt that the government
a regulator or a financer, it will have needs to build a platform for private
financing and regulating part of it players to integrate their services into
but more importantly it is more in the transportation networks especially
terms of organising and managing the in metros. There is no opportunity for
mode. How do you connect all these a private transportation player. From
modes as a collective system rather a commuter’s point of view, there is
than independent system? Therefore, going to be multimodal transport; he
we need to relook at the entire does not care whether he must take
department, think of an organisation, a bus, an auto or a train. So, if there
one at a state level and another at city is technology today and google maps
level.” across other cities, you can see what are
Prasanna Patwardhan stated that the different modes that you can take.
UMTA is projected or designed today So going forward, bringing in private
like a toothless tiger. “Enforcement players also onto this framework is
authorities understand only statutory going to be important.”
provisions unless you have legal Pranjali Deshpande, pointed out that
backings. Going forward, we will have auto-rickshaws/share auto-rickshaws,
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