What is Urban Mass Transport ?
Mass transportation, or public transportation is the movement of people within urban areas using group travel technologies such as buses and trains.
With rapid urbanization, the pressure is mounting on the public transport system from the people living in cities and towns across the country. Mass Rapid Transport System, MRTS has emerged as one of the most effective means of mobility for the citizens in tier-1 and tier-2 cities and Metro has been a major player.
Types of Urban Mass Transport system
The mass transport/transit systems in cities/ urban agglomeration can be broadly classified into the following five categories:
- Bus-ways and Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS): Bus-ways are physically demarcated bus lanes along the main carriageway with a segregated corridor for movement of buses only. At the intersections, the buses may be given priority over other modes through a signaling system.
- Light Rail Transit (LRT): LRT is generally at-grade rail based mass transit system which is generally segregated from the main carriageway.
- Tramways: These are at-grade rail based system that are not segregated and often move in mixed traffic conditions.
- Metro Rail: Metro rail is a fully segregated rail based mass transit system, which could be at grade, elevated or underground. Metro systems also include monorails
- Regional Rail: Regional rail caters to passenger services within a larger urban agglomerate or metropolitan area connecting the outskirts to the centre of the city. Regional rail are common in large metropolitan cities and help in decongesting the city centre by providing safe, and speedy access to the city centre for commuters residing in less congested suburbs.
Benefits of Urban Mass Transit
Transit, when it is well utilized, then, produces important benefits for the community:
- Air-quality improvements
- Less land consumption than an auto-dependent transportation system
- Lower energy requirements, and
- Lower accident costs.
The Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System
It is a state-owned subsidiary of Indian Railway, is a metropolitan elevated railway line in Chennai, India, operated by the Southern Railways. It is the first elevated railway line in India
Role of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Urban Transport Wing of the Ministry of Urban Development is the nodal division for coordination, appraisal and approval of Urban Transport matters including Metro Rail Projects at the central level. All the interventions in the urban transport by the Ministry of Urban Development such as Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), urban transit infrastructure or financing of metro rail projects etc, are carried out as per the provisions of National Urban Transport Policy, 2006.
