VISION FOR FUTURE: MTC to appoint consultant to boost commuter patronage

As part of the World Bank-funded Chennai City Partnership, the consultant would provide a long-term vision to improve the quality of services, with sustained funding and financing, to transform the MTC.

The Corporation has invited bids to appoint a consultant to prepare a business plan and also to carry out a multimodal accessibility analysis of public transport in the city covering suburban rail, Metro, bus and paratransit service.

In the bid document, MTC said that despite its efficiency, its share of total trips in the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) has dropped from 39 per cent to 22 per cent over the past three decades resulting in increased congestion, transport-related emissions and road traffic accidents in the city.

“The Comprehensive Mobility Plan of Chennai seeks to reverse this trend and recommends achieving a mode share of 57 per cent for public transport trips by 2048, including city bus, Metro Rail and suburban rail services,” the bid document said. To achieve this, the MTC has to provide safe, convenient and affordable services to the citizens in a way that bus services would become more attractive than private vehicles like cars and two-wheelers.

Noting the lack of funding and financing to meet its operational cost considering its low ticket fares revenue, it said that the MTC’s fleet and service levels have not kept pace with the rapidly increasing travel needs of the public. A senior MTC official said that the consultant is expected to prepare a five-year plan for service delivery, including the needs for total-fleet, vehicle kilometre of service and ridership. Mapping the existing public transport network and services along with the residential and employment developments in the city; analysing the accessibility of the public transport for the current residential areas and jobs along with modelling for upcoming developments proposed in the master plan; identifying key service gaps in the MTC network, including areas requiring strengthening route network; and increasing service frequencies and alternative service types are among the mandates for the chosen consultant.