Circular grid bus network for mysore

CIRCULAR GRID BUS NETWORK FOR MYSOREMysore City Bus Service

Current Scenario Mysore Bus Service has improved tremendously over the years, thanks to KSRTC MCTD Management and JNNURM. Lots of new routes were added, fleet was added, old polluting buses were retired and new aesthetic buses including Volvos were added. Apart from this, lots of Bus Stands or popularly known as TTMCs were built along with the renovation of Central Bus Stand or CBS. Bus routing model has been Hub-Spoke model with most buses originating from a locality and ending at CBS with few exceptions. Except one or two route, all the Bus Routes Enter CBS located in Downtown or heart of Mysore. One of the problem of the service was the predictability of buses which will be shortly addressed by Intelligent Transport Management which provides realtime information on buses to Passengers at Bus Stops.There is another problem, which is the routing of the buses which will be discussed in this presentation.

Shortcomings

Neighbouring Locality Travel is not possible by this model unless the locality is on the path of CBS inbound or outbound buses.

One has to go all the way to CBS or any stop near CBS such as Agrahara / Pathashala and then change Buses.

Travel to opposite direction of the city is OK such as North-South or East-West. Travel between South to East or North-West is highly time consuming compared to a private vehicle since one has to go via Hub - CBS.

On top of this, this hub is not optimized since one has to go around Palace which itself consumes 10 minutes. A person changing the bus unless he does not getdown in Exhibition stop has to spend 20 minutes. This increases considerably during Dasara Festival.

All the buses entering CBD and roaming around Palace will lead to increased congestion. A delay in CBD will delay the entire system and result in unpredictable bus timings, indefinite waits. This occurs during Dasara.

Scenario 1 – Vidyaranyapuram – Siddhartha Layout.

1. Board CBS Bound Bus, Getdown in CBS – Approx 20 mins.

2. Change to Siddhartha Layout Bus – Platform Change – Wait for Bus to Come and Depart – Approx 15 Mins

3. Travel from CBS – Siddhartha Layout – Around 20-30 Mins

4. Total Journey – Approximately 55-60 Minutes

5. Travel in Private Vehicle – 20 Minutes

Scenario 2 – Udayagiri – Siddhartha Layout

6. Board CBS Bound Bus, Getdown in Hardinge Circle / CBS – Approx 20 Mins

7. Change Bus to Siddhartha Layout – If CBS, platform Change (10-15 mins)

8. Travel on CBS - Siddhartha Layout Bus – Approx 20 mins

9. Travel Time in Private Vehicle – 15 Minutes

Solution

Buses connecting localities in all the 4 directions, North, South, East and West to reduce travel time to neighboring localities.

For this Buses should run in Circular and Radial corridors forming a Grid. This grid should have high frequency and should be run like a Metro Network.

Advantages of Ring Routes is the Reduction in the number of buses entering CBD by ferrying passengers via outskirts to their destinations and there by reduce congestion in CBD, reduce travel time of passengers almost equivalent to private vehicle travel.

Also, limited number of buses should enter and leave the CBS thereby reducing load in front of the Palace and CBS.

Feeder Buses should be run connecting these corridors / Shared Autos can be licensed to operate from remote places to these Bus Corridors.

This model is working excellently in Bogota and Curitiba. They also have dedicated Bus Lanes which could be an option for the future in CBD and in the outer ring road.

Scenario 1 – Vidyaranyapuram – Siddhartha Layout.

1. Board Circular Bus Service – Travel Time to reach the Straigh t Line Bus – Approx 15 Mins

2. Change to Siddhartha Bound Straight Line Corridor / Feeder Bus– 5 to 10 Mins

3. Travel from Straigh Line Corridor – Around 10-15 Mins

4. Total Journey – Approximately 30-40 Minutes

5. Travel in Private Vehicle – 20 Minutes

Scenario 2 – Udayagiri – Siddhartha Layout

6. Board Circular Corridor Bus

7. Travel Time Around 10-15 Mins

8. Travel Time in Private Vehicle – 10 Minutes

Circular Bus Corridors

Proposal is to have three Circular Corridors

Outer Ring, Middle Ring and Inner Ring

Outer Ring as the name suggests passes through outskirt localities and touching the tip of the Radial Corridor routes. It connects Siddhartha Layout – Sathagalli Bus Terminal, Bannimantap, Vijaynagar Closer to Outer Ring Road, SJCE, Vivekanandanagar and JP Nagar forming a route of 42 kms with an average travel time of 1hr 30 minutes.

Middle Ring, again as the name suggests connects the localities located at around a distance of 4-5 kms from CBD. It connects Chamundipuram with Udayagiri , NR Mohalla, Rajendra Nagar, Vontikoppal, Saraswathi Puram, Kuvempunagar and Jayanagar.. Total distance is 25 kms with an average travel time of 1 hour.

Inner Ring connects the CBD area of Mysore connecting City Bus Stand with Suburban Bus stand, Railway Station, MUDA Circle, University Office, Saraswathi Theatre, Chamarajapuram Railway Station and Agrahara. Route is around 9 Kms and travel time would be around 45 Minutes.

Straight Line Bus Corridors

Ramakrishnanagar – Mahadevapura – 14 kms via Kuvempunagar Double Road, Saraswathipuram, Chamaraja Double Road,Suburban Bus Stand, Mahadevapura Main Road, Sathagalli Bus Stand.

Vivekanandanagar – RS Naidunagar Bus Stand – 13 kms via Kuvempunagar Akshaya Bhandar, Ballal, RTO, Siddappa Square, Agrahara, Subarban Bus Stand, Fountain Circle, RS Naidunagar. Bus Stand.

Sharadadevinagar – Raghavendranagar – 14 kms via RTTC, Kamakshi Hospital,Saraswathi Puram Swimming Pool, Crawford Hall, Marimallappa’s, CBS, Nazarbad, Chamundi vihar Stadium, Raghavendranagar Bus Stand.

JP Nagar – Bannimantap – 16.3 kms via Sterling, Vidyaranyapuram, Siddappa Sqaure, Agrahara, CBS, Ayurvedic Hospital, Bamboo Bazaar, Highway Hotel, JSS Hospital, Bannimantap.

Infosys – Vidyavikasa Engg College- 23 kms via Vijaynagar, Kalidasa Road, Hunsur Road, JLB Road, Ramaswamy Circle, CBS, Bannur Road, Geetha College, Vidya Vikasa Engineering College.

Gundurao Nagar – Metagalli – 15.3 kms via St.Mary’s School, Agrahara, CBS, Hardinge Circle, Suburban Bustand, Irwin Road, Railway Station, KRS Road, VV Puram, K R S Road, Metagalli.

The Grid

This is how the Grid Looks with a combination of Circular and Straight Line Routes:

Scenarios:

Ramakrishnanagar to Infosys – Take outer Route towards Hebbal, get down at Hebbal 2nd Stage and changeover to SiddharthaLayout to Infosys Bus or the existent 116 or 119 Buses.

Chamundi Puram to Vivekananda Nagar – Take Inner Circle towards Ballal Circle, get down at Kuvempunagar Bus Stand. Changeover to RS Naidunagar – Vivekanandanagar Bus.

Vidyavikas Eng College to Vidyaranyapuram – Take the Vidyavikar College to Infosys Bus and changeover at Sangeetha Corner to the Outer Ring Bus towards JPNagar and get down at Vidyaranyapuram.

Implementation

15 minute frequency on outer corridor needs 6 buses in each direction and a 10 minute frequency needs 9 buses in each direction.

15 minute frequency on middle corridor needs 4 buses in each direction and a 10 minute needs 6 buses in each direction.

15 minute frequency on inner corridor needs 3 buses in each direction and a 10 minute frequency needs 5 buses in each direction.

For a 15 minute frequency we need 6 x 2 + 4 x 2 + 3 x 2 = 26 buses to start with. Gradually it should be improved with 10 minute frequency based on demand which may need 9 x 2 + 6 x 2 + 5 x 2 = 40 buses.

Straight Line corridors average distance is around 13 kms from one end of city to other and approximate travel time around 1 hour. For a 15 minute frequency, we need 4 buses in each direction. We have 6 corridors. So 4*2*6 = 48 Buses and For 10 Minutes, we need 6 buses in each direction, so we need 6*2*6 = 72 Buses.

Whole network for a 15 minute frequency needs 26+48 = 74 Buses and for 10 minute frequency, 40+72 = 112 Buses.

Further Improvement

Existing design is to route straight corridor buses via CBS. It would be highly efficient if we can avoid CBS. Instead have 3 north – south straight corridors crossing 3 east-west straight corridors forming a Grid.

Bus Lines should have route name like ‘A’ route, ‘B’ route for each corridor. Buses should display alight here to change to say ‘E’ route etc.

Apart from this corridor, we should also have suburbs of Mysore to connect to Mysore and a Ring Road Service once Ring Road is more populated.

Dedicated Bus Lanes / BRT can be planned on Outer Ring Road now itself before it is fully utilized for enabling faster Bus Movement without traffic hinderence.

This is what every Mysorean should say

I love MCTC Bus Service….