Road clear for mobility plan implementation.

The creation of the Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) may pave the way for the implementation of the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for Kochi region drawn up by Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) with the aim of developing a sustainable urban transport system for the next two decades.

It was submitted by KMRL just weeks ahead of the commissioning of the Kochi metro last June and was subsequently approved by the State government.

Among the key proposals of CMP was setting up of a Bus Rapid Transit in the Eramalloor-Kakkanad section and 13 mobility hubs complimenting the metro corridor. The whole idea is to improve the public transport system and reducing the usage of private vehicles. CMP has well-defined contours with the 25-km metro corridor to serve as the high-capacity public transport network, the Water Metro project as the low-capacity network and the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) as the medium-capacity network of the proposed Integrated Transport System.

The passage of UMTA Bill is critical in the implementation of the BRTS proposed along the National Highway stretch from Ermaloor to Kaloor and further along the Angamaly-Aroor bypass since only UMTA has the authority to coordinate various agencies and implement the massive public transportation network.

CMP further proposes 13 mobility hubs at Thevara, Aluva, Cherai, Paravur, Angamaly, Perumbavur, Kakkanad, Thripunithura, Poothotta, Aroor, Fort Kochi and Vypeen. Out of this, the one at Aluva has been proposed as inter-modal transportation mobility hub along the line of the Vyttila mobility hub. CMP was born out of the realisation that only 48% of the population was using public transport in Kochi as against private vehicles accounting for 78%.

Apart from paving the way for the implementation of CMP, UMTA is expected to streamline coordination among various stakeholders since, at present, around 20 various departments connected with transportation are acting on their own with hardly any consultation among them.

UMTA is also critical to the fruition of various metro-related services being planned by KMRL. Though it has already rolled out a smart card for metro riders, it will come to serve as the single ticket for all modes of transport as originally envisaged with the advent of UMTA. UMTA is also critical in the rationalisation of routes, timing of public transport services, and bringing multiple societies of private buses under a single umbrella.

THE HINDU