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22 FEBRUARY - MARCH ’17 / TrafficInfraTech
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Surat:
Smart City in the making
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Surat, with a population of 4.6
million (as per 2011), is the 2nd
most populous city of Gujarat.
The city of Surat has made
remarkable progress in terms
of infrastructure development
such as water supply, drainage,
sewerage, solid waste
management, roads, urban
poor housing etc. However, the
City is now geared towards
putting in place improved
Public Transport Infrastructure
and Integrated Multi-Modal
Public Transport System.
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The existing city transport
system is predominantly road
based; consisting of informal
intermediate para transit, city
bus services, private vehicles
and recently introduced BRTS Services.
The rate of motorization in Surat is one
of the highest in the country. The number
of vehicles registered in Surat RTO area
has risen from four lakh in 1994 to 13
lakh in 2007 to 17 lakh in 2011 and has
crossed 24 lakh as recorded in the year
March 2015.
In 2006, the responsibility of
providing/managing public transport
was transferred from the state
government to the local body. Taking
long term sustainability perspective,
the city decided to provide primacy to
public transport and pedestrians and
prepared a comprehensive mobility
plan for urban mobility in 2007. The
goal of the Surat Comprehensive
Mobility Plan is to provide ‘Integrated
land use and transportation system,
that minimizes the need for travel,
provides choices for modes that are
safe, socially, economically, financially
and environmentally sustainable and
provide a global image for the city’.
Efforts for better
Infrastructure and
Sustainable Mobility:
Efforts towards bridging gaps in
infrastructure are being worked out
by the city authorities. In line with
the City mobility Plan – 2007-08, SMC
initiated a phase wise development of
the BRTS, named Sitilink from 2008.
Today city has 81km operational Sitilink
BRTS and a complimentary Sitilink City
Bus Service along14 routes, which
was introduced to complement the
BRT network. In total the urban bus
service planned for the city consists
of 102km of BRTS and 515km of bus
service. The city is looking forward to
developing a high mobility corridor
along the periphery of the old city
and is assessing the feasibility of a
Metro rail service. Unlike many cities,
Surat has an opportunity for providing
an integrated multi-modal transit
network.
Development of BRTS
Infrastructure
Surat has a high transit demand.
Considering this potential for transit
market, the City focused on an
extensive BRTS network of 102kms
Surat Public Transit
Surat BRTS
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Our cities are designed for
community living and collective
mobility. Recognising this, the
city of Surat is developing a
multi-modal integrated transit
system. Physical integration
of various modes and single
ticketing system featuring
cohesive tariff rates across
different service types and modes
are key features of the system.
are suitable for BRTS stations as
well as for City Bus Stations thus
allowing opportunity for physical
integration of the two different
services.
This is also supported with 12
planned terminals and depots.
The design and number of buses
required are planned considering
the current market size and targeted
ridership. Currently 200 buses has
been procured and 375 buses are
in different stages of procurement.
High Mobility Corridor
To support economic activities
concentrated in the heart of the
city, a ring corridor – High Mobility
Corridor serving either directions
for a length of 12km and 22
stations is proposed. The corridor
will be serviced by 34 high quality
buses with a frequency of 3-4
minutes in peak hours assuring
reliable services.
Metro Rail Transit
System
SMC in association with MEGA
& DMRC is working on a detail
feasibility report for Urban Metro
Rail service. The City has adopted
the strategy of integrating the
metro with BRTS and city bus
services to develop an integrated
mass network for Surat.
Phase I of the metro system is
planned for a network of 38km
with approximately 38 stations.
This consists of the east west line
planned to connect: Sarthana to
Dream City and North South line
to connect Bhesan to Saroli area.
In phase II, 10kms of additional
corridor is under consideration
which is yet to be finalized.
Integrated Multi
Modal system
An Integrated multi-modal
system is proposed to integrate
BRTS, high mobility corridor
(proposed), city bus services, Metro
(proposed) and urban ferry system
(proposed) to provide seamless
connectivity and mobility across
the city. The system is proposed
to have physical, fare, information
and institutional integration,
supported by sustainable
financial mechanism and policy
initiatives. The integrated system
is expected to generate modal
shift and make public transit a
preferred choice to commute.
To support the urbaneconomy,
transit accessibility and mobility
are important. SMC is already
in process of developing a Surat
Comprehensive Mobility Plan.
Surat BRTS and City Bus Integration
(currently 81 km in operation and 21km under
implementation). There are 184 planned
stations out of which 128 are operational.
Today a fleet of 66 Premium standard AC buses
and 50 AC midi buses serve the system. Surat is
the first city to run AC-Midi bus instead of the
standard bus.
Bus Services
To provide a last mile service, Surat has
introduced integrated city bus system planned
for a 515km network, covering 94% urbanized
area, 690 stops locations, served by 50 routes
and 875 buses. The city has chosen buses which
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Interchanges:
Taking long term sustainability
perspective, the City has decided
to give priority to improve public
transport infrastructure with a holistic
approach. Surat had already proposed
an Integrated Multi-Modal Public
Transit System. The various points
of interchange between different
transport modes have been identified
as potential nodes. The vision is to
integrate the various transit modes
with activity zones at each of these
interchange nodes. Hence the various
nodes of the city get interlinked with
better transit facility substantiated
with commercial, institutional and
entertainment activities.
To facilitate seamless transfer,
five interchanges have been built
(10 more under construction). The
Surat City Bus Stop
Surat Metro Route
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buses have central doors on both the
sides so that passengers can access bus
stations for all three types of services.
Fifteen locations have been identified
and planned, which will increase with
the upcoming Metro services.
Transit Infrastructure
Interchanges, Terminals and
Depots
To support the operations of the bus
systems – interchanges, terminals and
depots are being built. A total of 15
interchanges and 14 depots are proposed
in overall plan. The interchanges, depots
and the terminal shall create urban
nodes around the transit facilities and
support in decentralizing the city.
Multi Modal Transit Hub
A multimodal interchange is a step
taken towards promoting use of public
transport. In India where a major
share of intercity and interstate public
transport is used by train and regional
bus, developing a multimodal hub
which integrates the railway station
and regional bus service gives boost
to the city’s public transport network
and decreases dependability on private
vehicles. Thus it helps in reducing
city traffic congestion, pollution and
increases safety on streets.
Since last five years, Indian Railways,
GSRTC and SMC are exploring
development of passenger facilities at
individual strength near Surat Railways
Station/GSRTC terminal. Government of
India in July 2015 expressed an interest
in developing a Multimodal Hub, utilizing
locational opportunity of contiguous
land parcel of three parties and centrality
of their passenger services.
Surat is exploring an ideal opportunity
for developing a multimodal hub at
the railway station area, which can be
directly connected to regional services
(i.e. train and regional buses) as well
as urban public transit systems (High
mobility bus corridor, bus rapid transit
system, city bus service). Currently, there
are about 2.5 - 3 lakh users of regional
services with a potential of 80% transfers
to/from public transport services. This is
expected to grow in future to 4 - 4.5
lakh regional passengers per day and
1 - 2 lakh new users on account of
development of Hub.
Smart Mobility Solutions
As a Smart City initiative, Surat is
implementing ITMS features like AVLS,
AFCS, ATCS, EIMS, BDC for ensuring
service levels as well as proving end user a
convenient way to commute and increase
efficiency of pubic transport operations.
AVLS: The system shall be able to
track all the public transit vehicles and
government vehicles such as solid
waste collection vehicles, firefighting
vehicles, ambulances, etc. through
an AVL system. AVLS in public transit
vehicles will help in providing real time
information to users through audio-visual
facility in vehicles as well as at stations.
SMC is also developing a website and
mobile based application to provide
real time information so that people
can plan their journey in advance and
reduce their waiting time at stations.
Emergency Incident Management System
(EIMS) is also developed as an integral
part of AVLS for resolution of critical
emergencies such as fire and medical.
Control Centre: The information
is significantly required at various
levels like passenger information,
operation management and revenue
management. To integrate information
for a robust data base, the proposal
includes development of a City Mobility
Centre that shall act as a control center
for real time tracking, monitoring of
schedules and report generations. The
control centre at present monitors
public transit, vehicle and crew
rostering, inventory management
and maintenance log through Depot
Management Software. Control Centre
also communicates to vehicles using a
two way communication system of Bus
Driver Console.
Adaptive Traffic Control System:
An efficient management of traffic
enhances mobility. To improve
traffic behavior enforcement of
traffic regulation is mandatory. Surat
proposes to implement an Area
Traffic Control System to manage city
traffic. The system shall incorporate
dynamic signaling and camera based
monitoring of traffic regulation. More
than traffic management, the system
through better enforcement shall
improve road safety on urban roads.
Kharwarnagar Interchange
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Making Public Transport
the preferred choice to commute
Interview with M Thennarasan, IAS, Municipal Commissioner, Surat
What is Surat City’s Mobility
vision?
Vision for Sitilink is to deliver a
reliable, comfortable, safe, secure,
efficient and affordable public
transport services which would
be commuter’s preferred choice
of commute. This strategy of
providing quality services through
integration of City Bus System,
BRTS, High Mobility Corridor and
Metro Rail is aimed at making
Surat sustainable. Sitilink has been
created as a Company to manage all
bus systems.
Surat city is known for its
extensive coverage with
basic services such as water
supply, drainage, sewerage
etc., However the city has not
focused on the public transport
in the past resulting in major
deficiencies. Will the integrated
plan help bridge the existing gap
in urban mobility?
Historically Public Transport has
not been obligatory function of the
city government. Earlier services
were provided by GSRTC. Lack of
transit opportunities have given rise
to auto-rickshaw and private vehicle
dependency leading to traffic chaos
and pollution. SMC started focusing
at Urban Transport in 2008 when it
initiated the process of developing
BRTS. However, the 102km network
planned for BRTS, still offered limited
coverage.
Generally experts advocate
incremental approach in which
public transport is developed
over a long period of time as it is
understood that people take time to
change their travel habits. The city of
Surat did not have the luxury of time
to adopt this incremental approach.
We needed to do something big and
quickly. Hence we have adopted a
big push approach wherein four sub-
systems; BRTS, City Bus, HMC and
the Metro Rail are being developed
simultaneously.
This strategy, it seems, is already
paying dividends in a big way. In a
short period of three months with
the introduction of 250 buses, we
have started attracting over a lakh
passengers on a normal day. We
hope and believe that this will only
swell with expansion of network
and deployment of buses. By June
2017, we will have about 800 buses
on road; catering approximately
3-4 lakh passengers per day. Hence
forth it is expected to double in a
year’s time.
Mobility in Surat is dependent
on auto-rickshaws and private
vehicles. Will the citizens prefer
to shift to public transit modes?
People prefer accessible, reliable,
comfortable, safe and affordable
services. SMC has aimed to provide
services with end-user’s perspective.
Sitilink competes with shared auto
and hence ensuring reliability and
affordability are key challenges.
Sitilink strives to provide regular
services within eight-ten minutes
along defined bus routes thus aspiring
to build trust and reliability amongst
users. Developing this reliability shall
take time, and we are prepared for
it. Our focus will be on providing and
maintaining service reliability, thus
making public transit a preferred
choice to commute. Adding to these
efforts, we also plan to integrate the
three-wheeler services with the public
transport systems.
How is this initiative contributing
to Surat’s Smart City Mission?
Providing reliable public transit
is itself a smart initiative, as it
reduces traffic congestion, fuel
consumption and traffic pollution.
Additionally, initiatives like Smart
card for Single Ticket journey in the
integrated system, Automatic Fare
Collection, Tracking performance of
transit services through Automatic
Vehicle Location System, Passenger
Information System, Depot
Management System and Automatic
Traffic management System have
been undertaken for efficient
management of services. In my view
‘seamless mobility is smart mobility’.
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Automatic Fare Collection
System: With planning of
single ticket for multiple
system, SMC is also in
the process of developing
integrated smart card which
can be used in all type of
public transport services,
paid parking, bicycle sharing
or rental scheme, retail
purchase, payment of local
taxes, etc. The smart cards
shall be introduced with fare
discounts for senior citizens,
students and industrial
workers.
Proposal
Water transport has been an unexplored
mode in the city of Surat. This mode of
transport is affordable, eco-friendly and
offers substantial time savings as it avoids
the city traffic. Exploring the capacity of
Tapi River to improve city mobility, a ferry
system is proposed to be developed in
the near future. The pipeline project shall
support in decongesting city traffic as well
as improve urban environment by reducing
traffic pollution. The proposal looks
forward to developing two urban water-
transit corridor (east & west) of 5-6km
in project period which can be extended
to 12-15km in future. The infrastructure
requirement of ferry vessel is proposed
on PPP model. Commercial development
and recreational activities are proposed to
make the project financially sustainable.
Surat City is now developing into a
smart city; where provision of Public
Transport facilities is imperative. The
attempt to create an integrated mass
transit approach in order to solve the
transportation issues of the city, shall
provide relief from congestion, improved
safer streets, affordable city mobility,
options for economically weaker society
as well as reduced pollution. This will
provide opportunities for transit-oriented
development promoting compact city and
enable integration with other modes.
The project shall be implemented
by Surat Sitilink Ltd. (SSL), which is a
special purpose vehicle (SPV), developed
under Surat Municipal Corporation for
management and operations of Surat
BRTS system. Sitilink is a regulatory agency
and all its operations are planned through
a set of PPP arrangements.
Surat Municipal Corporation
has initiated to deliver public
transit services at affordable
rates. The fare structure
will provide cost effective
travel option. The commuters
will be able to experience a
‘single ticket’ travel to and fro
any location, i.e. immediate
transfer from BRTS to city bus
or city bus to city bus routes,
ensuring low fares.
Surat Multi Modal Hub
Surat SMART Centre
This article is prepared by
Centre of Excellence in Urban
Transport (COE-UT),team
lead by Prof H M Shivanand
Swamy, Executive Director,
COE-UT,CRDF, CEPT University.
