Ahmedabad's public transport misses the bus

According to a recent study by Cept University’s faculty of technology and urban planning, more than 60% of the 511 commuters surveyed in Ahmedabad avoid taking the bus because the stands are too far. AHMEDABAD: For a city to be inclusive, it must help its citizens — through its public systems — participate in economic and social activities.

Mobility, particularly through public transport, lies at the core of inclusivity. A commute is made up of several elements.

These cover the first-mile connectivity, including walking to a bus stand; wait time for a bus; boarding a bus; in-vehicle experience; getting down; and the last-mile connectivity.

According to a recent study by Cept University’s faculty of technology and urban planning, more than 60% of the 511 commuters surveyed in Ahmedabad avoid taking the bus because the stands are too far. And 28% said that AMTS and BRT routes are circuitous and involved many interchanges.

Besides, 12% of commuters said they cannot carry two or more loads inside the bus. Only 2% of respondents said that they could not afford a bus ticket.

Professor Bhargav Adhvaryu, who led the study, said: “Modal shift cannot happen if you don’t provide bus stands at a comfortable distance.”

Adhvaryu said that shaded and continuous footpaths to walk — the first-mile connectivity — were as important as the last-mile link.

On what can be done to improve the public transport experience, nearly 34% of the respondents said that bus stands should be comfortably located. And 42% wanted the journey time to be reduced.

Moreover, 34% of the respondents wanted improvements in the first- and last-mile connectivity, while 22% wanted reductions in bus fares. A meagre 2% wanted better quality buses.

The survey analysis found that about 88% of the respondents did not use public transport because it was more time-consuming due to many interchanges or circuitous routes.

They cited poor first- and last-mile connectivity as another problem.

“Then there are economic reasons. For instance, taking a bus to a destination should be cheaper than taking a vehicle and paying for fuel and parking,” Bhargav said.

“Higher costs of private transport can tilt the case in public transport’s favour.” He said many people have variable destinations — for instance, those in marketing or the construction industry. He said boarding and destination studies should be carried out to make re-routing of bus services a dynamic process.
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