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Authorities in India
A Report by
Institute of Urban Transport (India)
Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... 4
PART I INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 7
1.1 Functions in Urban Transport .................................................................................. 7
1.1.1 Background ...................................................................................................... 7
1.1.2 Functions Hierarchy ......................................................................................... 7
1.2 Roles and Authorities .............................................................................................. 9
1.2.1 The Centre, State and City Governments ......................................................... 9
1.3 Types of Existing Institutions ................................................................................. 10
1.3.1 Planning authorities ....................................................................................... 10
1.3.2 Regulatory Authorities ................................................................................... 11
1.3.3 Infrastructure Development and Maintenance Authorities ............................ 11
1.3.4 Service Provision Authorities .......................................................................... 13
1.3.5 Land Owning Authorities ................................................................................ 13
1.4 Types of Acts and Laws ......................................................................................... 14
1.5 Summary............................................................................................................... 16
PART II GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS FOR URBAN TRANSPORT ..................................................... 18
2.1 Background ........................................................................................................... 18
2.2 Land Transport Authority (LTA), Singapore ............................................................ 18
2.3 Transport for London (TfL), London ....................................................................... 19
2.4 Syndicat des Transports dIle de France (STIF), Paris ............................................. 21
2.5 TransLink, Vancouver ............................................................................................ 22
2.6 LAMATA, Lagos ..................................................................................................... 23
2.7 Summary............................................................................................................... 24
PART III DEDICATED ORGANIZATIONS FOR URBAN TRANSPORT IN INDIAN CITIES ............... 27
3.1 Need for a Dedicated Authority for Transport ....................................................... 27
3.1.1 Policies and Programs by the Government ..................................................... 27
3.2 Historical Evolution of UMTAs in India .................................................................. 27
3.2.1 Archives ......................................................................................................... 27
3.2.2 Towards Better Coordination ......................................................................... 28
3.3 Summary............................................................................................................... 30
Part IV UMTAs IN INDIA....................................................................................................... 32
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study has been undertaken by a team led by Ms Ishita Chauhan, (Research
Development Officer, IUT) with support from Ms Vijaya Rohini Kodati (Transport Planner,
IUT) and Mr Daniel Kriske (Intern-April-July 2013, IUT). The team is thankful to Mr BI
Singh (Director General, IUT) for his constant guidance and support. Dr OP Agarwal
(Senior Urban Transport Specialist, World Bank) has been a very important source of
inspiration and mentor for the conduct of this study.
Several interactions were held with senior officials and department heads in various cities
during the course of this study. The team would like to thank all the stakeholders
consulted either in person or telephonically for sparing their time and interacting with the
study team for the purpose of this study.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The need for a strong dedicated authority for urban transport cannot be denied. The
challenge lies in ensuring that these authorities do not merely exist on paper but get actively
involved in delivering their functions. This report has made an attempt at understanding the
status of urban transport in the historical context and arriving at the need for a dedicated
authority for planning of urban transport in Indian cities. It then covers the evolution of
UMTAs globally and in India and their significance in terms of performance.
International examples indicate the evolution of such dedicated authorities tirelessly over
decades of structuring and reorganizing the old acts and laws. The authorities once formed
have also transformed and evolved with time. In a lot of such cases it is seen that they have
had humble beginnings and were supported and made stable with the presence of a
stronger national government or provincial governments.
The 11 Indian cases covered in this study include a mix of city level UMTAS and also the
State level UMTAs. All the cases covered come out with interesting variations and myriad
issues. Based on visits and meetings conducted with stakeholders and decision makers, it
emerged that merely provision of Legislation for such an authority is not enough. What is
more urgently needed is the internal capacity building of such authorities. It was seen in a
lot of cases that despite a good representation from all related departments of the state,
the focus of discussions often ends up revolving around trivial issues of local or area wide
importance. The acts or government orders in most cases do not emphasize on the
frequency of meetings needed by the UMTA. The enthusiasm thus dies down with change in
leadership or championship. The UMTA is in most cases treated as a Government
Body/Executive Committee with little or no permanent staffing. Organizing of meetings and
distributing the meeting agenda is handled by one or in some cases more than one official.
Lack of manpower for secretarial work for the UMTA stands out as the major hurdle for
smooth functioning of the UMTA.
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The future of UMTAs in India appears to be bright, however, steps need to be taken towards
constantly improvising and improving the service levels of the UMTAs. Never the less, it is
more important to realize the potential such authorities hold in ensuring integrated
planning at the urban level. While, strong legal entities may take years to form and gain
shape, efforts must not slow down towards setting up such bodies on account of increased
burden on the government. Coordination is the key to good governance, and the most basic
function of such authorities is to make sure this takes place. Functional composition,
organizational composition may vary from city to city and state to state. There can never be
a single template for all. But making sure that all necessary urban transport functions are
met with must be the key objective for every government
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
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PART I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Functions in Urban Transport
1.1.1 Background
Typically, there are multiple agencies managing various forms of urban transport at the city
level. Even a particular type of function can be carried out by more than one organization.
For example, road development comes under the purview of not just the Public Works
Department (PWD), but also under the respective Municipal Corporation, the National
Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and there may be a few more localized organizations.
Another example of multiplicity of authorities managing a common kind of task is public
transport operations; several cities in India have more than one type of organization that is
operating bus services. A classic example of this is the city of Kolkata, which has five
organizations that are contributing towards bus operations within the urban limits. The
Calcutta Tramways Corporation (CTC), the West Bengal State Transport Corporation
(WBSTC), Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC), the South Bengal and North Bengal
State Transport Corporation (SBSTC and NBSTC respectively) are the various types of bus
operating organizations in Kolkata in the state of West Bengal. Similarly, strategic transport
planning for a city is another area of urban transport which is often covered by more than
one organization, and in some cases, remains completely uncovered. Thus it can be seen
that there is no clear format of which organization performs what kind of function in an
urban area. Moreover, the format and structure is found to be varying from one state to
another.
The best way to look at this byzantine situation is to first understand the type of
standardized functions that go on in an urban area. An assessment of who performs each of
these functions could lead to an understanding of the roles of various authorities and also
the type of organizations that are supposed to carry them out.
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Strategic
Functions
Level I
Long Term Planning
Policy Formulation
Development of Vision
Financing Strength
Infrastructure Service
Planning Planning
Road, rail, airports, Route planning
bridges etc. Service and standard
Level II
planning
Enforcement Regulation
PT Construction &
Operations Maintenance
Rail, bus, metro, IPT Construction of roads,
Level III
Level I
At the topmost level comes the Strategic Planning Function. As the name suggests, these are
calculated or deliberated functions that could lay down the long term vision for a city. Long
term plans, creating a futuristic vision for the city, identifying financing options to achieve
the vision, creating suitable policies that also lead the city planning towards desired results
call be classified as Strategic Planning Functions.
Level II
Functions involving regulation, service and infrastructure planning and enforcement come
at the second level. All these are diverse in nature. Issues such as driver licensing, vehicle
registration, issuance of permits, setting of fares for public transport and even enforcement
can be classified as functions under law. These are thus important regulatory functions. On
the other side, service planning elements such as demand assessment, network and route
design, traffic management and control and policing also fall in the second level of functions
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Level III
The third level of functions is the actual delivery of functions. These could be in the form of
infrastructure construction and maintenance, impacting the user directly. Also, operations
of bus, metro, rail, taxies etc. can be categorized as a parallel side under service delivery
functions. All issues related to public transport operations such as depots and terminals,
common ticketing, data management, passenger information further add to the efficiency
of service delivery hence have been placed at this level.
The subsequent section outlines the respective roles and responsibilities of the various
organizations that exist at the central, state and city level.
The 7th Schedule to the Constitution contains specific lists for the Central government and
the state government to perform. It also contains a list of concurrent subjects that can be
discharged by both. While none of the lists contain urban transport as a specific item,
specific components of urban transport such as Railways, Ports, Airways, and National
Highways etc have been designated to fall under the Central Government list. This was done
so because it was assumed that these components would have interstate impacts hence
ideal if controlled by the Central Government. On the other hand subjects like municipal
tramways and ferries fell under the State Government list.
In all this, the responsibility for urban transport in the State and City Governments has
remained unclear. Generally, road transport systems, like bus based public transport, are
being dealt with by the Department of Transport whereas Metro Rail systems, wherever
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they have been initiated, are being dealt with by the respective Departments of Urban
Development. The role of the City Government is largely limited to road maintenance, street
lighting and furniture, maintenance of footpaths and parking management. Despite
recommendations made in the 74th Constitution Amendment to give city governments
greater authority, little has been implemented in most states except for Gujarat and
Maharashtra.
This has resulted in a relatively large share of control and authority in the hands of the state
in terms of urban transport planning for the respective cities. Decisions are generally taken
at the state capital level for all urban areas. These decisions taking departments are either
the Transport or the Urban Development Departments. With no clear mandate for ensuring
people and environment friendly mobility solutions at either the State or City Government
level, the results of poor planning reflect in increasing problems motorization and rising
congestion in all cities.
From amongst the various operating hands of the Central, State and City government, the
type of organizations that carry out each of the above discussed functions are discussed in
the sections below.
There is a whole gamut of organizations that co-exist at various levels of the government to
carry out the said functions. In order to understand correctly what each one does, some
form of a classification is necessary.
The sub sections below list five main categories of organizations and authorities.
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planning boundaries of a city. Such Authorities possess the power to acquire, hold,
manage and dispose of land, carry out building activities, execute work in connection
of transport services, supply of water, sewage disposal and electricity, and maintain
other services and amenities.
d) Planning Commission
The Planning Commission is charged with the responsibility of making assessment of
all resources of the country, augmenting deficient resources, formulating plans for
the most effective and balanced utilisation of resources and determining priorities. It
is mandated to prepare Five Year Development Plans for the country.
Recommendations for investments needed in the urban transport section for a
period of 5 years at the country level are outlined by the Planning Commission.
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Transport Wing: Deals with matter relating to Road Transport. The main
responsibilities of the transport wing include motor vehicle legislation,
administration of the Road Transport Corporations Act of 1950, taxation and
insurance issues, evolve road safety standards, compile and analysse annual road
accident statistics and carry out awareness campaigns.
a) Ministry of Railways
The Ministry of Railways is a ministry in the Government of India, responsible for the
country's rail transport. The ministry operates the state-owned Indian Railways, an
organisation that operates as a monopoly in rail transport.
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cities in Gujarat and Maharashtra are slightly more independent in comparison and
have a stronger hold on city level matters than their respective State Governments.
Amongst other civic responsibilities, the command of the local Municipalities in
states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on urban transport matters is found to be
significantly huge.
1.3.4 Service Provision Authorities
a) State Road Transport Undertakings (STUs)/ Corporations
These STUs are primarily corporations generally headed by a Managing Director who
is nominated from amongst the senior administrative staff. The primary objective of
these STUs is to provide vital connectivity within the state and inside cities
b) Development Authority
The land parcel falling beyond the municipal boundary and upto the noptified
planning boundary generally is owned by the respective development authority in
any urban area. These authorities are responsible to plan the use of the land and lay
out basic infrastructure services like roads, housing, schools, hospitals etc for urban
use.
c) Indian Railways
The Indian railways is the single largest government body which owns large portions
of urban and rural land across the country.
This various organizations discussed above form an exhaustive list of organizations
commonly found to be performing the various urban transport related functions at various
levels of governance. There may be many other organizations formed at the city or state
level which may vary from one state to another. It is however clear that there are multiple
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organizations responsible for carrying out urban transport functions. Most of these
organizations functions as per some relevant acts and laws which constitutes or formalizes
their roles. Overlapping of functions is commonly seen as an issue in a lot of their functions.
For example in case of the PWD, NHAI and the respective Municipalities; all are in some way
responsible for developing roads in a city. Acts which back these organizations have been
existing for several decades and often found to be outdated and obsolete.
The following section of this Part of the report elucidates the various acts and laws which
are followed in the country by various organizations.
Some of the acts and laws followed in the country are listed as under
a) Tramways Act
This act has been formulated for operation of trams in the road surface within the
Municipal limits that permits free access across the tracks.
their liability for loss of or damage to such property occasioned by the negligence or
criminal acts of themselves, their servants or agents.
f) Motor Vehicles Act 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989
This mainly relates to licensing issues and Management of traffic.
general locations of land and the extent to which the land may be used for
residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural and recreational purposes or as
forest or for mineral exploitation;
o the identification of urban and rural growth center and new town sites;
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within the Metropolitan Region and to provide for matters connected therewith.
Authority works on the development of city regarding control and acquisition of
land, building constructions and social and physical infrastructure in urban area of
city.
1.5 Summary
As explained earlier, there is a multiplicity in acts and authorities that are active in urban
transport in India. Some of these bodies and their acts been made recently like the Metro
Rail Corporations operating as per the Metro Rail Act. However there are some
organizations which over worked or underworked in urban transport affairs or have been
doing overlapping roles. Also that the acts that govern some such organizations have more
or less become archaic.
The NUTP of 2006 recommended the need for integrated planning to happen; setting up of
a unified agency for urban transport was one of the key recommendations made by the
NUTP. This umbrella agency if backed by a suitable law could integrate several existing acts
which now stand obsolete and defunct. This has been practiced in some of the global cities.
The next part of the report covers some such international cases where institutions
responsible for urban transport have evolved over years and decades of structuring and
restructuring the old acts and laws.
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PART II
GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS FOR URBAN TRANSPORT
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The previous part of the report dealt with the status of urban transport in the Indian
context. Varied functions being performed by multiple organizations and multiple acts have
become hurdles for integrated planning in the country. Even in the present day scenario,
there is no clear responsibility with any existing organization to plan, manage and organize
urban transport in cities. Part II of this report makes an attempt to look at some of the
international cases of umbrella urban transport authorities. The subsequent sections
present the transport authorities of Singapore, London, Paris, Vancouver and Lagos. It
briefly covers the organization in each city by looking at their evolution, the size and scale of
the organization, financial arrangement and performance, legal framework along with roles
and functions. This has been covered in the subsequent sections
Prior to the LTA, various agencies each dealt with separate aspects of transport planning.
The Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRTC) dealt with the metro system; the Roads &
Transportation Division of the Public Works Department (PWD) were responsible for roads,
walkways, bus shelters and the like; the Land Transport Division of the Ministry of
Communications developed land transport strategies and policies; and the Registry of
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Vehicles (ROV) controlled vehicle ownership and enforced traffic policies. Planning in such a
fractured nature necessitated a large amount of inter-agency collaboration, causing transit
developments to occur as just an afterthought, serving simply as an addendum to building
developments.
The LTA is responsible for most aspects of project planning, implementation, and
maintenance. Certain roles are leased out to the private sector, such as rail and bus services
(to SBS Transit Ltd and SMRT Corporation Ltd), and use of smart-cards for fares (to TransLink
and EZ-Link). The PTC and LTA share regulatory roles, with the former regulating fares and
bus service, and the latter regulating rail operations.
The LTA has demonstrated sustainability not only through its planning and organizational
structure, but through its finances as well. It is responsible for meeting its own operational
costs, and regularly generates a surplus, which is set aside for investment in future projects
and in securities. Around half of its income is from the government in the form of grants; of
the remaining share, about 75% is management fees from the government; the rest is from
other fees and taxes. Capital costs of projects come from government grants or loans from
the MoT, but a prerequisite to new transit projects is that fares will cover the regular cost of
operations. For fiscal year 10/11, operational income was $522M, net surplus $22M, and
total comprehensive income $14M. At the end of FY10/11, the staff numbered 4361. LTA
makes a point of retaining quality workers by benchmarking their salaries against the
private sector, and of encouraging innovation through their Staff Suggestion Scheme.
Such measures should keep the Land Transport Authority efficient and sustainable for the
coming decades in Singapore.
The need for a dedicated authority for integrated transport was realized in the early 20 th
century. 1933 was the year of evolution for a series of transport authorities that evolved
subsequently in various forms and shapes for managing transport in London.All the
organizations carried London Transport brand until 2000. The period began with the
creation of the London Passenger Transport Board, which covered the County of
London and adjacent counties within a 30-mile (48-km) radius. This area later came under
the control of the London Transport Executive and then theLondon Transport Board. The
area of responsibility was reduced to that of the Greater London administrative area in 1970
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when the Greater London Council, and then London Regional Transport took over
responsibility. Since 2000, the Greater London Authority has been the transport authority
and the executive agency has been called Transport for London; ending the 67 year use of
the London Transport name.
Transport for London (TfL) has its beginnings in the Greater London Authority Act of 1999.
This act placed the responsibility of ensuring efficient, sustainable transport for Greater
London, and the powers needed to accomplish such a goal, into the Mayors Hands. Coming
into full existence in 2000, TfL was designated as the statutory government body entrusted
with the task of making the Mayors goals and visions reality. The act allowed for the
organization to delegate certain tasks to subsidiaries.
TfL currently has more than 25,000 employees, and for the year ending 31 March 2012,
boasted gross revenue of 4.181 billion (approximately $6.506 billion). About 78% of this
figure came from fares, 5% from congestion charges, and 3% from advertising. Grants
accounted for 4.823 billion, and were used to fund operations and capital expenditure.
Including grants received, this translated to a before-tax surplus of 2.274 billion, or $3.539
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billion (after accounting for actuarial loss and movement of financial instruments, the total
becomes 1.404 billion/$2.167 billion).
The coming decades should see TfL maintain its prominence as its subsidiaries continue to
grow. One example is the Crossrail project, scheduled to begin operations in 2018, which
combines a new East-West rapid train line with several upscale property developments.
Having previously been a joint venture between TfL and DfT, Crossrail is now a wholly
owned subsidiary of TfL.
Today, STIF remains a body that is entrusted with the task to organize, coordinate, and
oversee public transport for Greater Paris. It promotes public transport for residents,
enacting strategic guidelines on their behalf. Acting as chief financier for corporate
groups such as RATP, SNCF (Socit Nationale des Chemins de fer Franais, the national
railway company), and OPTILE (Organisation Profesionnelle des Transports dIle de France),
its operating revenue in 2009 was 4.430 billion euros (approx. $5.794 billion). Of this figure,
67.2% came from transport taxes, and 24.9% from public contributions. In the same year,
the operating expenses totaled 4.451 billion euros ($5.824 billion), with 43.3% used to fund
RATP, 36.7% to fund SNCF, and 11.9% going to OPTILE. In addition to the above revenue
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listed, STIF also collected funds from certain fines and adjustments over the previous year,
allowing it to retain a 4.2 million euro profit ($5.49 million).
Together comprising 80% of STIFs budget, RATP and SNCF are the two most important
providers of public transport for Greater Paris. In addition to the national train network and
several other projects around the world, SNCF operates and manages most of the suburban
and commuter rail lines of Paris. RATP, meanwhile, provides the citys bus, tram, and metro
service. In 2012 RATP renewed their contract with STIF, set to last until 2015. Under this
contract, STIF is to contribute 8 billion euros to RATP, with 3.7 billion each for capital
expenditures and operating expenses. For the year ending 31 Dec 2012, RATPs revenue
(excluding income from disposal of concession assets and other activities) totaled 4.934
billion euros, or $6.454 billion (approximately 85% of this revenue was due to the
companys Paris activities, the rest from business in other parts France or abroad). The
organization realized net earnings of 284.8 million euros ($372.5 million) during this year.
Now with a staff of 56,000, RATP, under the guidance and framework set by STIF, continues
to provide quality, sustainable mass transit for the Paris region
With the passing of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Act on 30
July 1998, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority was formed to provide a
regional transportation system that moves people and goods, and supports the regional
growth strategy, provincial and regional environmental objectivesand the economic
development of the transportation service region. This body, popularly known as
TransLink, began functioning in April 1999. It was entrusted with the responsibilities of
planning, financing, managing, and providing organizational leadership and oversight for
public transportation in Greater Vancouver.
As dictated in the original act that created the body, a number of changes took place in late
2007. The official name was changed to the South Coast British Columbia Transportation
Authority, although in most cases it continues to be referred to its popular name. Second,
the governing board which had held elected directors was replaced by one staffed with
appointed professionals and specialists who hold their position for three years. The
geographic scope of TransLink was extended, reflecting the growing size of the metropolitan
area. In addition, TransLink was allowed to collect revenue generated from land
developments around its stations, and was granted greater control over fuel, property, and
parking sales taxes.
TransLinks system today consists of three metro light rail lines, a commuter rail line, and
buses; it is also responsible for the major road network, regional cycling areas, and the
AirCare vehicle emission-monitoring program. While TransLink is responsible for planning,
government relations, and financing public transit, operations are contracted out to other
companies. Two of the light rail lines, Expo and Millenium, are operated and maintained by
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British Columbia Rapid Transit Company Ltd., (BCRTC) and the third line, Canada, is under a
35-year concessionary contract to the private company InTransit BC. A subsidiary of BCRTC
also runs the commuter rail line, the West Coast Express. 95.5% of the citys buses,
including the water-borne SeaBus, are operated by Coast Mountain Bus Company Ltd.
(CMBC), with the remainder being run by other smaller contracted companies.
As of the end of 2008, TransLink subsidiaries employed 6,100 people, a number which has
since likely grown. For the year 2011, the Translinks revenue was $1.311 billion, with 34%
coming from transit (including fares, advertising, and other related revenues), 24% from fuel
tax, and 22% from property taxes. Government transfers accounted for $82.26 million of
total revenue. During the same year, the expenditure was $1.363 billion, with 60% of that
figure due to transit operations. At the end of 2011, net debt of the corporation totaled
$3.544 billion; with the stakeholders and investors interests in mind, TransLink is obliged to
keep total debt within 350% of operating revenue.
In the coming years, TransLink plans to implement a number of projects, including a new
line, Evergreen, which will provide a connection between suburban communities, fare gates
in rail stations, and the Compass Card fare card system.
Greater Lagos, a metropolitan area with a population of 17 million, has long had no unified
public transit system, relying instead on hordes of privately operated minibuses. Various
agencies and government administrations as far back as the late 1970s pushed for
sustainable planning policies; however, real change came in 1999 when the newly elected
Lagos State Government formally enacted the Lagos Urban Transport Project (LUTP), with
five stated goals: a) institutional strengthening & capacity building, b) effective urban road
management, c) bus service enhancement, d) water & NMT promotion, and e) creation of
rail mass rapid transit. As part of LUTP, policy makers declared the need for a UMTA to
provide effective planning. To this end, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority
Act of 2002 created the organization known as LAMATA.
Established with a large amount of financial ($100 million) and technical assistance from the
World Bank, the Lagos State Government contributed an additional $35 million. The roles
and objectives of the organization include planning, implementing, regulating, and
facilitating projects to improve public transportation. In addition, LAMATA is responsible for
maintaining the road network within Lagos State, and for improving traffic flow.
To prevent overlap with other similar government bodies, LAMATA clearly delineated which
roles would belong to which agencies. The Ministry of Works remains responsible for
constructing roads inside Lagos State, while LAMATA simply maintains them. The Ministry
of Transportation (Mot) handles general policy formation, and LAMATA is responsible for
coordinating the various agencies under the command of MoT. Finally, Lagos State Traffic
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Management Authority (LASTMA) deals directly with traffic enforcement, with LAMATA
operating in more of a coordinating, planning context.
In late 2006, a revised LAMATA Law was passed, giving the Authority greater regulatory and
planning powers. This paved the way for LAMATAs principal achievement to date: the
implementation of a simple BRT corridor, dubbed BRT-Lite. Created through PPP,
LAMATA agreed to provide the infrastructure and guidance, while the private sector was
responsible for purchasing the actual buses, the recruitment and training of operating staff,
and all operational aspects. The local company EcoBank signed on, procuring 100 buses for
LAMATA under a deferred loan agreement worth 48 million Nigerian Naira (approx.
$305,000). Under the agreement, 12 special bus ticket dealers were chosen, who are
required to buy the tickets directly from EcoBank. In addition, The National Union of Road
Transport Workers Cooperative were leased an additional 120 buses, and are paid N36
million per month ($228,600) by the government for operations. As of 2009, the system
boasted a daily ridership of more than 200,000, exceeding expectations.
Light rail lines are under construction for the city as well. Using a Build-Operate-Transfer
(BOT) financing model, the implementation of this project will somewhat mirror that of the
BRT line: LAMATA will provide guidance and planning, with the State and Federal
Governments financing the project. A contract was signed in 2005 with the American firm
LEMNA International to build the system, and a separate firm under a 25-year concessionary
agreement is expected to cover operations.
2.7 Summary
After studying the above five organizations from across the world, it can be concluded that
while Paris and London began realizing the need for a dedicated authority for urban
transport in the early 30s, cities like Vancouver, Lagos and Singapore are fairly newer
examples.
However, almost in all cases, such organizations have evolved after years of restructuring
and reorganizing. There organizations are strong legal entities and thus have an overarching
role to play for all modes of transport in the city. Another striking fact which emerges from
the cases is that ownership in their formative years rested with the more organized state or
national governments. With time, however, the ownership has passed on to local or
regional governments. Over the years, these organizations have grown into large
corporations and are well staffed with the right technical expertise, decision takers and
strong financial resources.
A comparative presentation of how these organizations have evolved with their functions
and scale is given in the figure below. The subsequent section of the report will shift the
focus to India and develop the need for integrated planning authorities for urban transport
in our Indian cities.
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Translink,
LTA, Singapore TfL, London STIF, Paris LAMATA, Lagos
Vancouver
LTA Act in 1995 Need for Similar to TransLink, Despite efforts
forms the basis dedicated London, need began since 1970, real
of formation of agency arised in for dedicated functioning in change came in
the LTA. 1933 authority first April 1999, With 1999 with
felt for Paris in the passing of enactment of a
Act ensured A series of 1930. the South Coast large scale
merger of four combinations (7 British project in Lagos
different organizations) STIF formed by Columbia
authorities eventually led a newer law in Transportation Project laid the
to formation of 2004, giving Authority Act foundation for
the TfL in 2000 authority to on 30 July 1998 UMTA named
Notable good
practices under Greater Greater PAris LAMATA as per
include London Council regional Change in name an act of 2002.
retaining quality as per London Government and org.
workers by Authority Act of and withdrawl structure made LAMATA set up
benchmarking 1999 of state in the act in with a $100
their salaries government. 2007 million corpus
against the TfL runs the and technical
private sector. Congestion STIF has real governing assistance from
Charging autonomy and board which the World Bank
The LTA Scheme is not had held
exemplifies designed to dependent on elected roles and
coherent limit the the French directors was objectives of
thinking and number of cars Government replaced by one the organization
planning and in the city staffed with include
has complete center, Acts as a chief appointed planning,
control over all manages 580km financer and professionals implementing,
strategic of roadway, and service and specialists regulating, and
functions, controls the controller for who hold their facilitating
service citys 6000 corporate position for projects to
planning, parts traffic lights groups such as three years improve public
of regulation RATP, SNCF and transportation.
and common TfL involved in OPTILE who are TransLink is
services. stretegic PT operators. responsible for Revised
planning, planning, LAMATA Law
Engagement of service planning Accordingly, government passed in 2006,
private entities and some STIF only relations, and giving it greater
for service regulatory role incharge of financing public regulatory and
delivery while Strategic transit, planning
functions subsidiaries are planning, operations are powers
indicates their usually regulation and contracted out
focus on responsible for service to other
the operation companies Staff Strength -
delegating planning.
operations and
needing private development of LAMATA
individual Staff strength of operates a lean
expertise. 56,000 as in Headed by
systems bureaucracy of
2013 professional
Staff strength staff selected by
as on 2011 - Staff strength
as on 2012 - Headed by WB standards,.
4361 It is headed by a
over 25,000
MD
Headed by the
Minister of Headed by the
Transport Mayor of
London
25
Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
PART III
DEDICATED ORGANIZATIONS FOR URBAN
TRANSPORT IN INDIAN CITIES
26
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Urban transport consists of elements like land use plans, development and master plans,
road network, public transport and its related infrastructure, personal vehicles, licensing
mechanism and authorities, land ownership, fare structure of public transport, Intelligent
Transport System (ITS) mechanism, traffic enforcement agencies and traffic law enforcing
mechanisms, goods and freight movement and their operators, road safety and accident
management system etc. All these functions generally work independently or with remote
assistance. There exists no monitoring agency that monitors and integrates these multiple
bodies in order to ensure smoother functioning of all aspects related to urban transport in
any city.
It is in recognition of this that the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) of 2006
recommended setting up of a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) for all
million plus cities in India in order to ensure that urban mobility is planned in a holistic and
integrated manner. The overall aim of the UMTA was thus visualized to be that of an
umbrella body that promotes public transport in the urban areas through formulation of
policies, programmes, rules and regulations related to urban transit. Since 2006, several
cities have moved towards setting up of such authorities either at the city/metropolitan
level or at the state level. Subsequent programs and advisory groups introduced by the
Government of India (JnNURM, NTDPC and 12 FYP working group committees) have further
stressed upon the concept of a dedicated authority for urban transport at various levels. All
these efforts have led to some of the cities and states to move forth in setting such umbrella
institutions in urban transport.
3.2.1 Archives
While the need for a dedicated urban transport authority was first recognized at the time
the Delhi Metro was conceived in 1986, the first attempts at bringing about coordination
were initiated in Guwahati. In this city at the eastern end of India, the Greater Guwahati
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Transport Coordination Committee was set up in 1999, under the Chief Secretary of the
State, and thereafter in Delhi, which set up a Delhi Transport Planning Group in 2001, under
the Chief Minister. Unfortunately, the Greater Guwahati Transport Coordination Committee
was able to meet only once and the Delhi Transport Planning Group could not meet. Both
were set up under executive orders of the Government and seem to have lost favor once
the champions who were responsible for having them set up moved out (Agarwal &
Chauhan).
Concretization of the concept took place with the launch of the NUTP in 2006. This laid
down a foundation stone for the need to take coordinated steps in urban transport. With a
recommendation by the NUTP for all million plus cities to set up UMTAs, the State of
Karnataka was the first to set up a State level body by the name of Directorate of Urban
Land Transport (DULT). This was set up in 2007, subsequently, that same year, a city level
body was also formed in Bangalore called the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport
Authority (BMLTA).
Year 2008
The following year (2008) witnessed the city of Hyderabad come forward in setting up the
UMTA for Hyderabad. In the same year, a committee was set up within the Mumbai
Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) which would function as the
UMTA for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
Year 2009
Year 2009 was yet another landmark in urban transport because of a new program launched
by the Government of India under its flagship, Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission
(JnNURM). Under this program, a scheme for sanction of funds was designed for to provide
grants to cities for the purchase of buses. This initiative sought to achieve a dual outcome
(1) help reduce auto industry inventories, and (2) give a boost to public transport in cities
that were facing severe congestion and air pollution. The boost to public transport was
sought to be achieved not only through additions to the bus fleet but also through
leveraging this financial support to secure some much needed reforms in the public bus
transport industry. The objective of these reforms was to drive home the message that
public bus services were no longer required only for those who could not afford anything
else, but had to also serve the needs of those who had other choices. Setting up of a city-
level UMTA for all one million plus cities was one of the mandatory reforms along with few
others. These UMTAs were proposed to be duly backed by legislation to, facilitate
coordinated planning and implementation of projects relating to urban transport and their
integrated management.
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Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
As a result of this scheme there was a surge of UMTAs that were hurriedly set up so as to
fulfil the mandatory reforms condition for seeking grants for purchase of new buses. UMTAs
were set up in Rajasthan and Jharkhand at the State Government level. One other authority
were set up at a regional level to serve the regions of Bhubaneswar and Puri in Odisha
Year 2010
The JnNURM scheme further encouraged cities of Mysore in Karnataka and the capital city
of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. Another State level authority was set up in the same
year for Uttar Pradesh.
Year 2011
The capital city of Kohima in the state of Nagaland was the first in North East India to
conceptualize a UMTA for the urban limits of the capital city. An ordinance was passed in
2011. This however did not get converted into a legislation.
Year 2012
The State Goverenment of Madhya Pradesh recently set up a UMTA for the whole state. In
the same year, two other agencies emphasized the need for urban areas to do coordinated
planning by setting up UMTAs. The 12th Five Year Plan developed by the Planning
Commission of India elaborated the need for a UMTA in urban areas. Another committee
set up by the Government of India titled National Transport Development Policy Committee
(NTDPC) also illustrated the proposed institutional set up for integrated landuse and
transport planning in cities and states in its working group report.
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In the subsequent sections of the report, each of the UMTAs will be discussed in detail
about their roles, functions and performance.
3.3 Summary
In terms of sheer numbers, there have been several cities and states that have come
forward in setting up their UMTAs. Their effectiveness and performance have however been
under the scanner. By making use of the set framework discussed in the previous section of
this part of the report, the performance and effectiveness of the existing UMTAs will be
studied in detail in the subsequent parts of the report.
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PART IV
UMTAs IN INDIA
31
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As indicated in the previous Part of the report, the UMTAs in India have been formulated in
various capacities and various forms and shapes. Quite a few of them show a striking
resemblance with one another owing to a common source of motivation. There are others
formed in the later years that are inspired by certain GoI interventions that were specific to
reforming public transport in cities. The subsequent sections will compare them all based on
their areas of jurisdiction, organization structure, assigned functions and their performance
based on the evaluation framework discussed in the previous part.
Table 1 indicates the area of jurisdiction for the UMTAs for each of the cities/states.
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Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
subject, so does public transport in a lot of cases where STUs are actively operating buses in
cities. Considering that land and public transport are seen to be the two key components of
urban transport, their management and planning remains in the state governments
domains. It is due to this that all UMTAs formed so far in the country (city level/state level)
are headed by executive head of the state (Chief Secretary). Chennai is the only exception
which is currently headed by the Minister, Transport.
Table 1 below indicates the area of jurisdiction of each of the UMTAs and its organization
structure
Table 1 - Area of jurisdiction of each of the UMTAs and its organization structure
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34
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At the bottom most level, operations and their management is more often than not given
away to private or public entities that merely perform the role of operations.
Coming to the Indian UMTAs, the common trend seen in all is that Stretagic Planning related
to a city/states transport is given to the UMTA to carry out. Classic to the case of Indias
urban governance, coordination is said to be the biggest hurdle in integrated planning. The
role of coordination amongst various departments at the city/state level is another task
given to all the UMTAs (with the exception of UTA-UP). Additional key tasks such as ability
to process funds for transport improvement, authority possessing approval powers, project
monitoring and implementation and Service planning are also given to a lot of the UMTAs.
UMTA to carry out the role of regulation however has only been envisioned for Chennai-
UMTA. Due to delay in notification of the CUMTA act, this has however not taken place as
yet. Similarly, management of public transport operations is another role assigned to the
UMTAs that have primarily emerged because of the JnNURM bus funding scheme indicating
UMTA as a mandatory reform. As seen in the table below, UMTA for the state of MP has
been assigned all the listed functions starting from strategic planning to managing
operations. This although exists only on paper.
It may be noted that the functions indicated have been merged, collated and generalized
from amongst a long list of specific functions for each UMTA. They merely indicate the level
of performance expected from the individual UMTAs at the time of their set up. It may
happen that the scope of UMTA in terms of actual functions may be much lesser than
projected or may even exceed the projected functions.
The succeeding section will cover the actual performance of the UMTAs as observed by us at
the time of deeper study of the UMTAs.
Project
Strategic Coordi- Process Approving Monitoring/ Service Manage
Authority Implementation
Regulation
Planning nation Funds Planning Operations
Agency
UMTA-Hyd
Chennai-
UMTA
UMMTA
BMLTA
MCLTA
DULT
UMTA-Raj
UMTA-
Odisha
UMTA-
Jharkhand
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Project
Strategic Coordi- Process Approving Monitoring/ Service Manage
Regulation
Planning nation Funds Authority Implementation Planning Operations
Agency
UTA-UP
UMTA-
MP
The UMTAs that exist in the country today are at various levels of preparedness and
performance. In order to understand and assess their status it is needed to study them
under a fixed performance framework.
Some of the key performance parameters which have been fixed for assessing the UMTAs in
India are listed as under
b) Coordinating Role A brief assessment of the discussion points of the UMTAs will
indicate the kind of issues or agenda items that go up for the meetings. Whether the
issues being discussed are interdepartmental in nature or are merely department issues
can be studied under this parameter.
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Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
f) Uncovered domains In the current scenario, several urban transport aspects often
come under multiple agencies. At the same time, there are other aspects which do not
list under any existing organizations purview. It is thus felt that the UMTA apart from
ensuring coordination and overseeing strategic planning; must also take up those
uncovred aspects which do not feature on anyone elses mandate. Issues of integration
planning of landuse transport, multimodal integration, common ticketing, policy
decisions etc. must ideally be immediately taken up by the UMTA.
g) Control over funds - Any investment to be done in urban transport should be routed
through an urban transport fund (UTF). In an ideal scenario, the UMTA should be the
custodian of the UTF. By and large, the UMTA should be the funding agency for urban
transport projects in the city. This would be in compliance with its planning body outfit
and would also ensure the UMTAs muscle power over all other agencies.
h) Authority to enforce decisions This more or less links with the UMTAs legal status.
Incase the UMTA has a legal backing; it automatically gets the authority to question or
summon defiant organizations which fail to respond to UMTAs decisions. Very often, it
also has to do with the organization structure of the UMTA. A political head of state or
department who is also heading the UMTA can have a similar impact as that of the body
having a legal backing.
The framework of analysis so discussed has been utilized for analysing the individual UMTAs
across the country. Each UMTA has been extensively studied by reviewing their organization
structure, functions, powers and meeting minutes. City visits were made to conduct
discussions with senior officials who are associated with the UMTAs of their cities/states.
Opinions were collected about the hurdles in making the UMTAs actively involved in urban
transport planning. Based on this soft assessment, each UMTA has then been analysed as
per the analysis framework discussed in the previous section.
Further details of each UMTAs performance evaluation can be referred to for greater
understanding. The Annexure I of the report details out all the UMTAs individually.
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38
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have been on to form a UMMTA legislation however, little has moved due to
ambiguity over the scope and structure Main body inactive,
of the UMMTA. In the meanwhile, the no control over
suburban rail, poor
core committee has been meeting secretarial backing
actively but its role and jurisdiction and no financial
powers
remains limited to MMRDA and the
various ULBs only. Representation from Act under preparation for an
independant UMMTA,
the MVRC, which operated the meetings being conducted
suburban rail and BEST who are bus regularly by core committee
instead of the main body
operators and other such authorities is
negligible in the core committee
meetings. Ultimately, it remains an executive committee only with little powers to
approve, enforce and ensure compliance of its decisions.
The UMMTA act under preparation will be something to look forward to
nevertheless as it is expected to formalize the UMTA as an independent body
outside the purview of the MMRDA. It is expected that this will then become a
powerful single window authority to take decisions related to urban transport in a
comprehensive manner for the entire MMR.
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Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
large city. With buses being the only means of public transport available, scope for
multimodal integration is also limited to IPT and buses.
The authority has been meeting regularly however its vision and focus is purely
directed towards one single project. It is forseen that the MCLTA will be able to seek
the desired importance in the city by way of implementing the PBS scheme in the
city.
service planning reflect that all those areas that do not feature in any other
organizations task list were given to the UMTA. Despite this, the performance of the
UMTA failed to achieve any of its assigned functions because in 5 years it could only
meet once in 2007. This was the same year when it was formed. With such limited
activity assessment of its performance has been difficult. It still gains an overall
average score due to the focus and enthusiasm witnessed in the very first meeting.
This is a typical case of a Champion who lead an effort but the effort collapsed after
he moved out of office.
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41
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the board.
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Authority
Level Authority Control
Coordinating Technical Monitoring Uncovered to
of to over
Role Competence Role domains enforce
activity Approve Funds
decisions
UMTA-
Hyd
CUMTA
UMMTA
BMLTA
MCLTA
DULT
UMTA-
Raj
UMTA-
Odisha
UTA-UP
UMTA-
Jhr
UMTC-
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
MP
Could be Needs
Good
better attention
4.3 Summary
The areas of jurisdiction vary for several such authorities. A clear pattern emerges between
the authorities set up before the advent of the JnNURM Bus Funding Scheme of 2009. The
authorities formed earlier focussed on metropolitan limits only with the exception of
Rajasthan. The ones formed post 2009 are mostly functional at the regional level or state
level, with the exception of MCLTA in Mysore. At this stage it is difficult to say whether,
having either of them can resolve the issue comprehensively. The relevance of state level
UMTA is observed where the State government has a significant control over most of the
functions being carried out at the city level. States other than Maharashtra and Gujarat do
not have fully empowered ULBs that are incharge of all elements of urban transport. In such
cities, the role of the state government is crucial atleast until the 74th CAA is fully
implemented. City level UMTAS can be considerably more successful in states where the
ULBs are sufficiently empowered to take decisions and enact them. Untill this happens,
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dependence on the state government cannot be ruled out for city level matters. The
relevance of State UMTAs would thus prevail.
The major functions assigned to all the UMTAs are that of strategic planning and overall
coordination only. In some cases such as the MCLTA of Mysore, CUMTA in Chennai,
Hyderabad UMTA, the authorities are seen to be actively engaged in taking up matters
which currently do not list under any other organizations mandate. This makes a strong
case for the relevance of such authorities.
Based on the evaluation performance carried out for all the UMTAs that exist in the country,
it is observed that the State level DULT emerges with a very strong potential of planning and
coordinating urban transport for the state of Karnataka. The performance of Hyderabad
UMTA and CUMTA of Chennai are also noteworthy primarily because of legislative backing
available to both. The usefulness of the legislation for both these authorities is still under a
scanner as they do not completely address the coordination issues with the suburban rail
operators (Indian Railways reporting to the Railway Board, Government of India). In such a
case, one may spectacle the weight that their individual acts carry. An overall positive
picture emerging out of all is that of coordination which can be seen across all authorities.
This is because lack of coordination is a unanimously observed issue. Any single body that
attempts to tackle this must be treated as a welcome change. In an ideal scenario, the
UMTA should purely be a long term planning authority while other sub functions must be
carried out by authorities associated with the government but not purely the government. It
should however be ensured that all stakeholders must be taken on board and the level of
discussions should be long term vision planning only. Discussion of small scale local issues
could be handled by the individual department. Only if these local issues are likely to impact
more than one stakeholder, must they be brought to a UMTA like authority for resolving.
In order to do this, the UMTA needs to be backed by a secretariat with available technical
expertise in it. The UMTA main body must be a decision taking authority only, however its
decisions need to be backed by technically sound analysis and reasoning.
Having control over funds or the power to approve investments in urban transport is
another fiat that has been recognized in some of the UMTAs. However, this has not been
addressed in any. IT is observed that this if achieved, could provide the UMTA a very strong
presence and grounding at the city and even the state level. The authority being comprised
of all department heads could take informed decisions regarding any new investments and
immediately assess their impact over any other departments function or project.
Coordination at this level will play a very crucial role in preventing crores of resources in
carrying out works and then dismantling them over litigation/dispute issues amongst
various departments.
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Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
PART V
WAY FORWARD
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International examples indicate the evolution of such dedicated authorities tirelessly over
decades of structuring and reorganizing the old acts and laws. The authorities once formed
have also transformed and evolved with time. In a lot of such cases it is seen that they have
had humble beginnings and were supported and made stable with the presence of a
stronger national government or provincial governments.
The 11 Indian cases covered include a mix of city level UMTAS and also the State level
UMTAs. There are several other cities in the country that have not been covered in this
report such as the UMTA for national capital, Delhi. These are in their preparatory stage and
the evaluation of their draft acts does not appear to be reasonable.
The Indian cases covered come out with interesting variations and myriad issues. Based on
visits and meetings conducted with stakeholders and decision makers, it emerged that
merely provision of Legislation for such an authority is not enough. What is more urgently
needed is the internal capacity building of such authorities. It was seen in a lot of cases that
despite a good representation from all related departments of the state, the focus of
discussions often ends up revolving around trivial issues of local or area wide importance.
The acts or government orders in most cases do not emphasize on the frequency of
meetings needed by the UMTA. The enthusiasm thus dies down with change in leadership
or championship. The UMTA is in most cases treated as a Government Body/Executive
Committee with little or no permanent staffing. Organizing of meetings and distributing the
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Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
meeting agenda is handled by one or in some cases more than one official. Lack of
manpower for secretarial work for the UMTA stands out as the major hurdle for smooth
functioning of the UMTA.
In order to provide teeth to an organization such as UMTA, the three key elements which
must be addressed are
The future of UMTAs in India appears to be bright, however, steps need to be taken towards
constantly improvising and improving the service levels of the UMTAs. Never the less, it is
more important to realize the potential such authorities hold in ensuring integrated
planning at the urban level. While, strong legal entities may take years to form and gain
shape, efforts must not slow down towards setting up such bodies on account of increased
burden on the government. Coordination is the key to good governance, and the most basic
function of such authorities is to make sure this takes place. Functional composition,
organizational composition may vary from city to city and state to state. There can never be
a single template for all. But making sure that all necessary urban transport functions are
met with must be the key objective for every government.
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ANNEXURES
ANNEXURES
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1 Hyderabad City
a. Overview
Chairman,
Chief Secretary
Member Convenor,
Metropolitan
Commissioner HMDA
b. Assigned Functions
The key functions assigned to the UMTA of Hyderabad deal with Strategic and Service
Planning. It is supposed to plan the transport for the metropolitan region, oversee
implementation of projects, ensure coordination between various departments, process
funds for development and also act as an approving agency. Due to the reason that it falls
within the purview of the HMDA, the UMTA for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region
integrates transport and land use planning. The UMTA refrains from undertaking any of the
regulatory and service delivery functions.
c. Performance Evaluation
Level of activity - Based on analysing the meeting minutes and discussion with stakeholders,
it has emerged that the Hyderabad UMTA has been meeting every year. The frequency of
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meetings however has not been consistent over the years. The furore seems to have been
on a decline after initial 2 years.
Coordinating Role The meetings are headed by the Chief Secretary. The representation
can be seen from almost all departments. The kind of discussions more or less indicates the
fulfilment of coordinating role assigned to the body. Interactions between the Railways
officials and the Stage Government officials are particularly prominent in almost all
meetings. This explains the coming together of a Central Government controlled
organization such as the Railways and the State/City Government in order to iron out local
issues.
Authority to approve Although mandated to play the role of all transport project approval
authority, the UMTA has not been able to address this completely. There has been no
compulsion on the individual organizations to get their transport related plans and projects
get approved by this unified organization.
Technical competence The UMTA clearly lacks necessary technical competence to support
its decision taking powers. The meetings of the board members are organized by ad hoc
staff from the HMDA. The organization remains to be housed inside the HMDA promises
and except for the Chief Engineer level officer and one support staff overseeing the conduct
of the meetings, there is no additional technical strength available for the UMTA. The back
office functioning of the UMTA severely lacks the strength and capacity to review the
agenda for the UMTA meetings and ensuring the compliance of its decisions. The decision to
hire technics
Monitoring role With no formal monitoring section identified within the UMTA, the
compliance of decisions and advisories issued by the UMTA is ensured by way of an action
taken report. At the start of every new meeting, the Member Convenor (The Metropolitan
Commissioner) apprises the Chairman (Chief Secretary) of the action taken report. It is thus
the task of the Member Convenor to oversee compliance and prepare a report for the same.
Due to the reason that the Chief Secretary is the officer of the highest order in the State
Government, the participating departments dont generally overlook the tasks assigned to
them in such meetings.
Uncovered domains By and large the UMTA has been focussing on city level problems.
However, it has also been actively discussing aspects of ticket integration especially
between the suburban rail services (Multi-Modal Transport System-MMTS) and the buses.
Issues of other forms of modal integration, introduction of CNG, introduction of ITS and
Earmarking land for future passenger and freight terminals in the city have also been taken
up. This indicates that the organization is actively covering all such uncovered domains of
urban transport which do not feature in any existing organizations mandate.
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Review of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities in India
Control over funds Hyderabad as on date has not set up any urban transport fund (UTF).
The consideration of setting up of UTF has however featured in the proceedings and
approvals from the State Government are awaited.
The act has made a provision of 0.25% cost of any urban transport of project to be siphoned
off to the UMTA as its resources. This is yet to be implemented.
Authority to enforce decisions The organization is backed by legislation. This ensures that
lack of compliance by any other organization to the UMTA recommendations can have legal
implications. Due to this the authority does have the power to summon departments to
comply with their decisions.
The UMTA however has had issues in imposing its decisions for urban transport with the
Railways. This is because any official responsible for operations in the Hyderabad division is
required to consult the high authorities based in Delhi for advice and approvals. This has
made it difficult for the UMTA despite its legislative backing to tame the urban passenger
services being offered by the Railways in Hyderabad. To summarise, the performance
evaluation report for Hyderabad UMTA based on the analysis framework is given below:
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2 Chennai City
a. Overview
Chennai has a history of organized public transport in the form of bus operating companies
providing urban public transport services from the time of the British Rule. The level of
preparedness and awareness about coordinated urban transport is said to have been
present in Chennai much earlier in the 80s specifically in the Transport Department of the
State Government. Focussed efforts to create an umbrella body for the purpose of strategic
planning and coordinating urban transport activities in the city indeed took off with the
advent of the NUTP. The Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) was
the second such organization in India after Hyderabad which was created via. The CUMTA
act was passed in December 2010 by the Transport Department of the State Government.
This laid the foundation of an independent authority with the Transport Minister as its
Chairperson. However necessary technical support was planned to be offered by the CMDA
which comes under the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The authority has two Vice Chairmen, namely, the Chief Secretary to the Government of
Tamil Nadu and the Vice Chairman of CMDA. Members include Secretaries from associated
departments such as Transport, Finance, Housing and Urban Development, Highways, Home
and Municipal Administration and Water Supply. In addition to these, Commissioner of
Police, Commissioner, Chennai Municipal Corporation and other senior officials from
Railways, CMDA, MTC, Chennai Metro Rail are also members on CUMTA board. One
eminent traffic and transportation expert is also nominated by the Government to be on the
board.
As on date, the CUMTA act has been enacted however the notification is yet to be issued.
This has been the key reason why the meetings of the CUMTA have been irregular. Till now,
only two meetings have taken place, only one under the chairmanship of the minister. The
CUMTA was a well drafted act in terms of the clarity in functions. However, the act has
limitations with regards to the organization structure. While the act has been passed by the
Department of Transport the activities of the body are monitored by the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, through the CMDA. Coordination issues often arise
between the two departments in organizing meetings and maintaining a follow up record of
the meetings and activities. With the Transport Minister as its Chairperson, the main body
of the CUMTA has only met once. The subsequent meeting was held under the
chairmanship of the Chief Secretary who was nominated as the Chairperson of a second
level Executive Committee. This Executive Committee further decided upon setting up sub
committees or working committees to oversee specific tasks. Four working committees
have since been approved (a) Integration of Public Transport Modes (b) Resources
Mobilization and (c) Infrastructure and promotion of Non Motorized Transport (d) Traffic
Management and Road Safety. These committees are mandated to atleast meet once in a
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month. The purpose of the working committees is to address the specific issues at their level
at a regular basis and report to the Executive Committee with their action taken reports.
Due to the reason that the CUMTA act is yet to be notified, the activities of the executive
committee or even the working committees cannot be reported in the public domain.
Political issues have resulted in delay of the notification. However, despite these delays
some of the working group committees have been actively meeting and discussing
important issues relating to coordination and critical decision making. These are primarily
driven by the enthusiasm of the respective heads of the working committees.
CUMTA Board
Chairman,
Minister Transport
Divisional Railway
Commissioner of Commissioner, Chennai Transport Member-Secretary, General Manager,
Manager, Chennai
City Municipal Southern Railway,
Police Commissioner CMDA Division, Southern
Corporation, Chennai
Railway, Chennai
Managing Director,
Managing Director, Transport
Metropolitan Transport One eminent traffic and
Chennai Metro Rail
Corporation (Chennai) Commissioner transportation expert
Limited, Chennai
Limited
Executive Committee
Chairman
Chief Secretary
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Chairman
MD, CMRL
Member Member
MD MTC Representative Chennai
City Connect
b. Assigned Functions
The authority has been assigned the key role of coordinating overseeing and monitoring
various traffic and transportation measures in the metropolitan area. The act also quotes
the authoritys responsibility to regulate the operations of public transport systems. This
primarily refers to the service and route planning operations for the public transport
system. The authority is to prepare and regularly update the comprehensive transportation
plan for the planning area in consultation with the CMDA. The act specifically gives the
authority the power to take decisions on matters that would impinge on transport in the
metropolitan area and oversee that no other agency detract from the overall transportation
plan envisioned by the CUMTA. In addition to this, the act also assigns the CUMTA the
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authority to regulate measures for integration of all modes of public transport by means of
routing and scheduling, feeder service planning, common ticketing and support
infrastructure to ensure seamless travel. Determination of fares, making recommendations
to the Central Government in regard to Railways and National Highways wherever
necessary for improving the transport system within its jurisdiction. Management of a road
safety cell, preparation of annual budget for approval from the State Government for
investments needed to implement the transportation plan in Chennai.
Since the CUMTA authority is yet to take shape, most of its functions are currently being
carried out by the respective working committees. These committees have primarily
performed a coordinating role amongst various stakeholder departments in taking quick
decisions in favour of the progress of any particular project or purpose.
c. Performance Evaluation
Level of activity Following detailed analysis of the meeting minutes and discussion with
stakeholders, it has emerged that the CUMTA main body and the executive body has not
been very active. The primary reason associated with this is that the body is yet to be
notified. However, the respective working committees identified in the lone Executive
Committee meeting have since been active and meet frequently for resolving their
respective domain issues.
Coordinating Role The meetings of the working committees are chaired by the respective
committee chairpersons. Two of the working committees that have been actively meeting
and discussing their domain issues have been performing the coordinating role very well.
Issues with one single department regarding any particular project are openly discussed in
presence of all others and decisions are taken immediately as far as possible to iron them
out.
Authority to approve The CUMTA act gives adequate powers to the authority to approve
transport related projects and plans. Formal activity is yet to take place due to absence of
the notification of the act. Once done, the CUMTA will become a powerful unified authority
to independently give approvals for projects and proposals.
Monitoring role There is no formal monitoring section identified within the CUMTA.
Compliance of decisions within each working committee is ensured by verbally enquiring
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Uncovered domains The four working committees of the CUMTA have been formed to
cover aspects that are generally left uncovered by any other department. Out of these, two
of the committees working towards Multimodal Integration and NMT promotion have been
actively engaged in exploring options of integrating all modes, promoting NMT and
attending to policy changes for the needful. Some of the decisions taken with regards to
these have been noteworthy and would not have been addressed otherwise.
Control over funds The CUMTA act has not made any provision for the authority to have a
regular source of revenue for its functioning. It is wholly dependent on the State
Governments corpus grant. This has not been set up as yet. A Resource Generation
working committee was thus formed in order to identify and develop a resource generation
scheme for the CUMTA and justify the need for corpus grant. The committee is more of less
redundant with no activity noted since its formation.
Authority to enforce decisions The CUMTA act will ensure powers to the authority to
enforce its decisions. Some hurdles are however foreseen regarding decisions related to the
MMTS and suburban rail services. As the State and Central Govt JV responsible for MMTS is
answerable to the Railway Board at the Centre. The impact of these hurdles is however yet
to be realized as no formal decision has been taken against the service enhancement of this
mode of transport falling under the Indian Railways.
As a summary, the performance evaluation report for CUMTA based on the analysis
framework is given below:
Evaluation Framework Good Could be Needs Remarks
better attention
Level of activity CUMTA board has met only once
however, Working Committees
actively meet
Coordinating Role Yes to a great extent
Authority to Approve No such activity as act is awaiting
notification
Technical Competence Being managed by CMDA staff
however, recruitment is planned
Monitoring Role Being managed without any
formal structure
Uncovered domains These are being addressed
Control over Funds The authority currently has no
resources
Authority to enforce Partly. Enforcement of decisions
decisions may not be possible on MMTS
and Suburban rail services being
offered by Indian Railways.
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3 Bangalore City
a. Overview
Bangalore city again has several organizations working towards urban transport and land
affairs such as the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA),
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the Bangalore Metro Rail
Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore
Development Authority (BDA) Traffic police, railways, Office of Commissioner (Transport &
Road safety) etc. The realization for creation of an integrated authority for urban transport
was felt at a rather early stage as compared to other cities in the country. This was marked
with the creation of the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) through
a Government Order dated March 2007. The mandate given to BMLTA was to function as an
umbrella organisation to co-ordinate planning and implementation of urban transport
programmes and projects and provide an integrated management structure. All land
transport systems (excluding railways) in BMR shall be brought under the purview of the
BMLTA. The chief Secretary was nominated as the Chairperson for the BMLTA. Members
from all important departments and heads of associated bodies were included in the list of
members in the BMLTA board.
Chairman,
Chief Secretary GoK
Member Convener,
Commissioner, DULT
Member,
Member, Member, Member, Principal Secretary, Member, Member,
Managing Director Managing Director Infrastructure Managing Director, Principal Secretary,
Commissiner BMRDA
KSRTC BMRCL Development BMTC PWD, GoK
Department GoK
Member,
Member, Member,
Commissioner of
Commissioner, BBMP Police, Bangalore Commissioner, BDA
City Police
This government order was revisited in September 2007 and commissioner DULT was made
member secretary of the BMLTA it was pronounced that the DULT must function as the
secretariat for BMLTA.
b. Assigned Functions
The primary function assigned to the BMLTA was that of coordination. Specific functions
were as follows:
The focus of the BMLTA discussions have been relatively comprehensive covering subjects
like Comprehensive Traffic & Transport Plan Bangalore, multilevel car parks, external
development charges and infrastructure charges, parking policy, inter modal bus terminal,
traffic and transit management centre, commuter rail system, bus frequency, bus priority
lane and bus bays, NMT and traffic management measures etc. The nature of intervention
by BMLTA span from multimodal integration like Bangalore metro and feeder route
integration, multi modal transit hubs being taken up at end terminals i.e Byappanahalli,
Hesarghatta etc. Other interventions include issues relating to Grade separators, access to
the Traffic and transit management centres e.g Kengeri, and issues relating to traffic impact
assessment relating to transit infrastructure.
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c. Performance Evaluation
A Despite its activeness, the BMLTA has faced hurdles in its functioning in regards to having
a control over the kind of issues brought up by other departments. Despote absence of any
legal authority that the BMLTA has, the authority has managed to remain actively involved
in ensuring coordination and fulfil some of its desired functions because of the presence of a
very stable secretariat which also has ample technical strength.
Level of activity BMLTA has been meeting regularly and a total of 8 meetings in the last 6
years. This means an average of 1.3 meetings per year. The frequency of meetings has
declined since its year of inception however there appears to be consistencu in the
subsequent years. The sub groups on the other hand are far more active and keep meeting
regularly. BMLTA is the only organization in the country that maintains its website and
updates it with the meeting proceedings on a regular basis.
Coordinating Role The focus of the BMLTA discussions have been relatively
comprehensive covering subjects like Comprehensive Traffic & Transport Plan Bangalore,
multilevel car parks, external development charges and infrastructure charges, parking
policy, inter modal bus terminal, traffic and transit management centre, commuter rail
system, bus frequency, bus priority lane and bus bays, NMT and traffic management
measures etc. The nature of intervention by BMLTA span from multimodal integration like
Bangalore metro and feeder route integration, multi modal transit hubs being taken up at
end terminals i.e Byappanahalli, Hesarghatta etc. Other interventions include issues relating
to Grade separators, access to the Traffic and transit management centres e.g Kengeri, and
issues relating to traffic impact assessment relating to transit infrastructure.
Technical competence With the modification in the government order which had set up
the BMLTA, it was indicated that the DULT would become the secretariat for BMLTA. The
DULT is a state level technical directorate for urban transport with sufficient technical
strength and is headed by a commissioner who is of the rank of a principal secretary of
state. This arrangement has been working satisfactorily towards the functional delivery of
the BMLTA.
Monitoring role There is no formal monitoring role given to the BMLTA. Compliance of
decisions within each working committee is ensured by cross examining the previous
meeting minutes and making verbal enquiries.
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Control over funds The BMLTA currently being an empowered committee has no control
over funds. The act for providing legislative backing to the BMLTA is still under
consideration. Once done, it is envisaged that BMLTA will become the single authority
overseeing fund disbursement for various urban transport works. Untill that happens,
BMLTA will have to continue working as a coordination committee only.
Authority to enforce decisions With no legal backing, the BMLTA has no authority to
enforce its decisions.
As a summary, the performance evaluation report for BMLTA based on the analysis
framework is given below:
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4. Mysore City
a. Overview
The Government of Karnataka finally set up the Mysore City Land Transport Authority
(MCLTA) in 2012, after several alterations to act as a unified transport authority for Mysore
metropolitan region. The MCLTA was formulated to function as an umbrella organization to
coordinate planning and implementation of Urban Transport Projects in its area of
jurisdiction. In light of the fact that DULT is the nodal agency for the subject of Urban
Transport at the state level, it was deemed necessary to constitute the MCLTA under the
purview of the DULT. The Commissioner DULT thus heads the MCLTA. The district
administration incharge who is the Deputy Commissioner of Mysore district is the Member
Secretary on the MCLTA board. Representatives from all major transport related
departments at the city level are members in the board. The MCLTA also has representation
from the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation.(KUDIC)
which is the key infrastructure finance organization of the state. .
State Government with no autonomy in city affairs
Chairman,
Secretary, Urban
Development, GoK
Member,
Member, Member, Member
Member Commissioner, Mysore Member,
Commissioner, Mysore CEO, Zilla Parishad, Joint Director, Town
Director, DULT Urban Development Commissioner of Police
City Corporation Mysore Mber Planning, Mysore
Authority
Member,
Member Member, Member, Member, Regional Member,
Deputy Commissioner Operational Manager,
Superintendent Divisional Controller, Divisional Engineer, Representative of
of Transport, RTO South Western Railways
Engineer, PWD Mysore KSRTC, Mysore Division KRDCL, Mysore KUIDFC , Mysore
Mysore Division
Member Member,
Member, Member, Member,
Divisional Officer, Member,
Divisional Officer, Representative, Mysore Nominated Expert 1 Deputy Commissioner,
Department of Forest, Nominated Expert 1
KSPCB, Mysore Airport Mysore District
Ecology & Environment
b. Assigned Functions
The key functions assigned to the MCLTA deal with Strategic and Service Planning alongside
ensuring coordination amongst various departments. It is supposed to prepare master plans
for transport infrastructure based on Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation study,
oversee implementation of CTTS and all the transportation projects, appraise &
recommend transportation & infrastructure projects related assistance, initiate action for a
regulatory framework. It is also mandated to take up issues of common ticketing system.
According to the Government Order for MCLTA, it is clearly mentioned that all urban
transport related projects like roads, flyovers, underpasses etc. need to be cleared by the
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MCLTA before being taken to KUDIC for funding. Overall the functions deal with very
limited yet distinct set of objectives that are expected to be achieved through the MCLTA
c. Performance Evaluation
The MCLTA is a relatively new organization set up in Mysore. The city has a population of
just about a million. This limits its urban transport issues significantly in comparison to any
other large city. With buses being the only means of public transport available, scope for
multimodal integration is also limited to IPT and buses. It will thus be unfair to look at
MCLTA with the same perspective as Bangalore or any other large city in its surrodundings.
We have however made an attempt to evaluate its performance given as under.
Level of activity - The MCLTA has been meeting almost every month since its date for
inception in May 2012 upto December 2012. Except for the first meeting, which was headed
by the Chairman (Commissioner DULT), all other meetings have been chaired by the Deputy
Commissioner who is the Member Secretary on MCLTA board.
Coordinating Role Except for the first meeting which was headed by the Commissioner
DULT, all the subsequent meetings were chaired by the Deputy Commissioner. This could
be one of the reasons that while the first meeting of the MCLTA aimed at coordination
issues and discussing all urban transport matters, the subsequent meetings were only
focussed on one particular project and its implementation (Public bicycle sharing scheme) .
Authority to approve The functions of MCLTA government order outline the need for
MCLTAs approval for all urban transport projects prior to approaching KUIDFC for funding.
None of the proceedings indicate that the MCLTA has played any role in approving any such
project.
Technical competence The MCLTA does not have any strength available with it locally.
Involvement of the DULT technical staff has been crucial in providing necessary technical
competence to the MCLTA. It is however visualized that there is a dire need of building local
strength for the MCLTA to smoothly carry out its functions.
Monitoring role The MCLTA board has been somewhat performing its monitoring role by
overseeing the progress of the Bicycle Sharing Scheme development work. Other than this,
it has not covered any other aspect of urban transport in the city.
Uncovered domains The first meeting conducted by the authority listed out the issues to
be tackled down like improvement of junctions, shifting of railway goods yard, levying of
infrastructure cess, implementation of parking policy, bus priority lanes, installing
surveillance cameras, construction of RUB/ROB, bus bays shifting of bus shelters. However,
in the subsequent meetings it has only been actively involved in overseeing planning and
implementation of the PBS scheme for Mysore. This is being seen as the showcase task for
the MCLTA which will give it the needed visibility in Mysore.
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Control over funds Mysore has recently created an Urban Transport Fund (UTF) which is
being controlled by the state level body, DULT. Departments in future could explore the
possibility of mobilising funds for their projects through the DULT via MCLTA .
To summarise, the performance evaluation report for Mysore UMTA based on the analysis
framework is given below:
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Chairman,
Chief Secretary
Member Member
Member, Member, Member,
General Manager, General Manager, Metropolitan Commissioner, Police
Konkan Railway) Central Railway Commissioner, MCGM Commissioner,
MMRDA Mumbai
Member, Member,
Transport Member, Member Member
MD, MTDC
Commissioner, VC & MD, CIDCO VC & MD, MSRDC GM, BEST
Mumbai
Member, Member,
Representative of Member, Member
Joint
Chatrapati Shivaji Transport Expert Transport Engineer Commissioner,
International Airport MMRDA
Company
b. Assigned Functions
The UMMTA has been visualized to act as a regional coordinating authority for Metropolitan
area. The authority is incharge of the field of urban transport in the MMR so as to undertake
strategic planning, service coordination and monitor implementation of various traffic and
transportation projects undertaken by functional departments & functional agencies. It is
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made responsible for prescribing the Comprehensive Transport Plan for MMR, integration
of services, operations and ticketing, carry out transport related studies, build capacity of all
stakeholders, and perform any special function assigned by the Metropolitan Planning
Committee.
c. Performance Evaluation
The UMMTA main body has not been very active. The Core committee thus formed was
established to be more actively meeting and discussing issues of urban transport in the
MMR. The secretarial support to the UMTA is provided by the MMRDA. Efforts have been
on to form a UMMTA legislation however, little has moved due to ambiguity over the scope
and structure of the UMMTA. Whether the authority should be a part of MMRDA or should
it be an external and independent authority headed by someone from outside MMRDA. The
status as on date is that a draft legislation has been prepared for the UMMTA to be an
outside authority. This draft legislation is currently under review by at the State
Government level.
An attempt is being made to review its performance till date in the analysis done as under
Level of activity The Main body of the UMMTA headed by the Chief Secretary could meet
thrice in four years uptill 2011. For this reason another core committee was set up in 2010
which has been meeting successively (five times from 2010 2012). This indicates that
necessary steps have been taken to battle the hurdle of organizing regular meetings of the
Main committee. By setting up a of a smaller scale core committee, it was ensured that the
objectives of the UMMTA are somehow met and there is no blockade to its delivery of
functions.
Coordinating Role The UMMTA has been performing a coordinating role to quite an
extent. Representation from all surrounding ULBs has ensured local area level problems that
are brought to the notice of the Chairperson. Issues of bus routes, integrated ticketing
across all operators have surfaced in the discussions of the core committee. The UMMTA
however has not been able to interact much with the MVRC who are large operators of the
region incharge for the suburban rail system.
Authority to approve The core committee is a subsidiary committee of the UMMTA. Other
than a few decisions for which the MMRDA is responsible, the UMMTA does not have any
formal authority to approve transport related investments
Technical competence The UMMTA core committee is being provided technical support by
the MMRDA. This is currently being done by two officials with technical background. This is
largely inadequate considering the scope of work assigned to the authority.
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Monitoring role Within its scope of work, the UMMTA core committee has somewhat
managed to perform a monitoring role over the limited projects and tasks it oversees.
Railways and other related projects do not feature under the authority;s purview.
Uncovered domains Coordination issues amongst the various ULBs that make up the MMR
are being addressed. However, there are several large operators in the region such as the
Indian Railways in the form of MVRC and BEST which are independently planning and
operating their services. The UMMTA has not been able to completely take up all those
aspects which do not list under any other organizations mandate.
Control over funds The authority is merely an executive committee hance it has no control
over funds.
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b. Assigned Functions
Documentation
The following functions have been specialist
One of the key functions of the DULT is to take up Comprehensive Traffic and
Transportation Studies (CTTS) for six cities, excluding Bangalore. The need for integrating
land-use planning and transportation is seen as a major thrust for the DULT.
In addition, DULT acts as a secretariat to the BMLTA and also provides technical expertise to
the MCLTA of Mysore.
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c. Performance Evaluation
The DULT acts like a typical government department of the state. Earlier housed inside the
Secretariar, the office has been relocated to a larger professional office space inside a
commercial complex project of the BMTC. Evaluation of its performance is as under:
Level of activity With a permanent office space and staff functioning in the organization, it
is difficult to assess its level of activity based on meetings frequency. It will be apt to
consider its level of activity as good based on factual situation.
Coordinating Role The role of coordination can be associated with DULT on the grounds
that it is constantly involved with other city level UMTAs in the state such as the MCLTA of
Mysore and BMLTA of Bangalore. Within the state of Karnataka, the DULT is responsible for
getting studies done for smaller areas of the state. Level of coordination with the smaller
cities is thus significant.
Authority to approve DULTs authority to approve it currently limited to the smaller cities
of the state other than Mysore and Bangalore. This is so because both these cities already
have formulated their respective UMTAs. For the smaller cities, it is the DULTs prerogative
to get studies carried out, approve projects and process funds.
Monitoring role Within its scope of work, the DULT has been actively monitoring the
progress and development of its projects and studies and necessary compliance by
respective departments in cities other than
Uncovered domains Planning for smaller towns of the state, providing assistance to
Mysore city in implementing PBS scheme can be noted as examples of addressing
uncovered domains in the states urban transport scenario.
Control over funds The organization is the window agency for multilateral funding
agencies that are interested in providing funds for development in the state. In addition the
DULT is developing a stronghold on control of funds for small scale projects in other urban
areas of the state.
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The UTA structure for the state of UP was devised as per the mandatory reform given in the
JnNURM bus funding scheme. A state level body was constituted in 2009 on an executive
order under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP).
This was set up under the Urban Development Department, GoUP. The prime objective of
the authority was to oversee, plan and prepare policies in respect to urban transport in its
seven JnNURM mission cities namely, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Mathura, Meerut, Allahabad
and Varanasi. Due to change of Government at the State Level soon after formation of the
UTA, little attention could be given towards operationalizing it completely. The new
government has assumed power for over an year and is yet to make the organization
functional.
The focus of the UTA in UP has primarily been towards public transport which currently
consists of buses. The organization structure so designed for the UTA was inadvertently
directing towards making bus operations possible on a PPP basis. This was because the
existing State Transport Undertaking (UPSRTC) had been running in loses in operating city
bus services. The state level UTA is headed by the Chief Secretary and consists of senior
officers from related departments. In addition to other senior officials from relevant
departments, the order makes a provision of appointing staff for the UTA on a contractual
basis. The executive order also emphasises the need for creation of city specific Special
Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) under joint ownership between the respective Development
Authorities of each of the 7 cities and the city divisions of the UPSRTC. These SPVs are
headed by the Divisional Commissioners in charge of the divisions which contain each of the
seven cities. This indicates a two tier structure where the State UTA becomes the
overarching authority to which the seven SPVs from cities report to. Such a structure is not
explicitly outlined in the executive order but becomes apparent by way of functioning.
The Order and the meetings that have followed have envisaged setting up of a state level
and city level urban transport fund. Some sources for each of the two levels of UTF have
been identified however no subsequent order or in principal approval has been given for
formation of the UTF. The UTA at the city level is primarily an administrative committee that
is supposed to meet in order to take policy level decisions for the state at large. No specific
source of funding has been identified for meeting its administrative expenses. In case of the
city level SPV, involvement of a competent private operator is envisioned who could
become the SPVs strategic partner in collaborating with SPV to operate buses.
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Chairman,
Chief Secretary,
GoUP
Chairperson,
Divisional
Member
Commissioner of
Secretary
Respective Divisions
Special Secretary,
GoUP
Senior Official,
Transport
Urban Planning
Commissioner, Chief Engineer /
Cell, Urban
Transport nominated Traffic Engineer
Development
Department, Engineer, PWD
Department,
GoUP
GoUP
b. Assigned Functions
The functions with the state level UTA are primarily focussed towards policy making. In
order to deliver such policy level functions, the State UTA is entitled to conduct studies. This
could include studies for demand assessment for public transport so that decisions
regarding the system selection, service and standard planning can be taken by the UTA. The
authority also needs to make investment assessment for all the cities under its purview
regarding roads, footpaths, corridor planning, parking, traffic engineering measures etc.
The city specific SPV on the other hand is the primary agency for bus operations. Need for
assimilating all necessary infrastructure such as land for depots and terminals, bus stops etc
and making fare revisions would be undertaken by the SPV. The orders issued do not
indicate any specific reporting structure of the city level SPV to the State UTA.
c. Performance Evaluation
Due to lack of any formal structure and working parameters for the UTA in the executive
order, there is a complete lack of clarity in the administrations vision of the authority. There
have only been two meetings held so far which have focussed on the issue of bus operations
and operationalizing the SPVs at the city level. The administration is grappling with issues of
finding suitable strategic partners or private operators to invest in the SPV and operate
city bus services. As this tussle goes on, the UPSRTC is continuing to operate buses in all
seven cities under heavy loses due to lack of any strategic route and service planning
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exercise. The UTFs at the state and city level are yet to be created hence there is no financial
backing for carrying out any urban transport related exercise. The state is continuing to
pump resources for sustaining the city divisions of the UPSRTC. Due to absence of any
responsible authority for implementing the plans and proposals prepared by consultants,
any urban transport planning taking place in UP appears to be a futile effort.
Level of activity The UTA has not been active and has met only twice since its year of
formation in 2009.
Coordinating Role The focus of both the meetings have primarily been towards bus
operations and engaging private operators to activate the city SPVs
Authority to approve The UTA is primarily a committee of senior officials, some decisions
have been taken regarding engagement of private operators and consultants for the same.
No specific activity indicates its authority to approve projects or investments.
Monitoring role No activity of the UTA indicates any monitoring role. Compliance to the
meeting discussions have been negligible as they were focused towards a single agenda of
bus operations
Uncovered domains Other than taking some decisions regarding the routes for buses and
the issue of rationalizing those, there is no other notable decision taken in the meetings.
Control over funds The UTA has no direct control over funds. However, recommendations
by the UMTA do stand a chance to be taken up in the higher departments of the state
government for funding approval.
Authority to enforce decisions the UTA does not have any authority within itself to make
sure that its decisions are compiled to.
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The UMTA for Jharkhand state was set up in order to fulfil the mandatory reform of the
JnNURM Bus Funding Scheme of 2009. The UMTA was set up on an executive order in July
2010. The committee was set up at the state level for the three cities of Jharkhand namely
Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur. The UMTA is chaired by the Chief Secretary of the State
and its members include Secretaries from Road Development, Transport, Finance and Urban
Development Departments. Other than these, the members also include the CEO of the SPV
(JTDC Ltd), respective District Collectors, the Mayors from all the three cities representing
the people from their respective municipalities and one nominated expert in the field of
urban transport.
Chairman,
Chief Secretary
b. Assigned Functions
The UMTA of Jharkhands prime objectives are to oversee and formulate plans for ensuring
effective public transport in the three cities and their surrounding areas. It also aims at
ensuring coordination and resolving differences between state agencies. It is meant to
oversee implementation of transport related plans and proposals. Identification of financing
opportunities for investments in urban transport for the three cities is another key function
assigned to the UMTA. In addition the UMTA has also been assigned the task of taking
decisions on the utilization of funds under a UTF that would require to be set up.
c. Performance Parameters
The UMTA for Jharkhand remains to be a committee which was formed as a result of the
mandatory reform under the JnNURM Bus funding scheme. Evaluation of its performance
since its year of inception is given below
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Level of activity The UMTA committee has met only twice in four years
Coordinating Role The focus of both the meetings have primarily been towards bus
operations and engaging private operators to activate the city SPVs. Coordination amongst
the three cities for their respective city bus operations can however be seen.
Authority to approve Primarily being a committee of senior officials, some decisions have
been taken regarding engagement of private operators and consultants for the same. No
specific activity indicates its authority to approve projects or investments.
Technical competence The UMTA does not have a secretariat. Some technical support is
offered due to the presence of a representative from its consulting firms. However, his role
remains marginal at the meeting.
Monitoring role No activity of the UTA indicates any monitoring role. Compliance to the
meeting discussions have been negligible as they were focused towards a single agenda of
bus operations
Uncovered domains Other than taking some decisions regarding the routes for buses and
the issue of rationalizing those, there is no other notable decision taken in the meetings.
Authority to enforce decisions The UMTA has no authority to enforce its decisions.
To summarise, the performance evaluation report for UMTA of Jharkhand has a striking
similarity with the UMTA formed in the state of UP. Its report card is as under:
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With regard to the NUTP 2006 provisions, Rajasthan Government formed UMTA with an
executive order at state level in 2007. This is a state level body chaired by the Chief Minister
of State while the Transport Minister and the Minister Urban Development, Housing, and
Local Self Government act as Vice Chairman on UMTA board. The Chief Secretary and other
Secretaries from relevant departments (such as Finance & Planning, Urban Governance,
Local Self Government) along with Additional Inspector General Police, The Chief Town
Planner are members in the board. The board also constitutes two representatives from
Industrial Association / Chambers of Commerce (FICCI, CII) and two expert professionals /
Professors from the field of urban development and transport.
Due to the UMTA turning out to be such a high level body, a later declaration set up an
Executive Council for the UMTA headed by the Chief Secretary.
Chairman,
Chief Minister
Vice Chair,
Minister Urban Vice Chair,
Development,
Minister Transport
Housing & Local Self
Government
Member Convener
Secretary Local Self
Government
Member,
Member, Chief Member, Chief
Member, Member, Secretary
Member, Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary, Urban
Additional Chief Chairman, Commissioner,
Secretary and Planning Governance
Secretary JHERICO Transport
Department Department
Department
Member, Member,
Member, Member, Chief representatives # 1 representatives # 2
Additional from Industrial from Industrial Member, Expert # Member, Expert #
Inspector General, Town Planner, 1 in UT 2 in UT
Association / Association /
Police (Traffic) Rajasthan Chambers of Chambers of
Commerce (FICCI, CII) Commerce (FICCI, CII)
b. Assigned Functions
The functions assigned to the UMTA for Rajasthan are largely Strategic Planning and Policy
making. Emphasis has been given to integrated landuse and transport planning for the cities
of Rajasthan. In addition to this, it setting up of standards, tariff policy, rules and regulations
for urban transport are also functions of the UMTA. Modal integration and Service planning
for public transport is another clear task assigned to the body.
c. Performance Evaluation
UMTA Rajasthan started at a strong footing back in 2007. It thus becomes one of the
foremost unified transport planning bodies in the country. The functions assigned to it
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reflect the vision of policy makers in making integrated landuse transport planning a reality
in the cities of Rajasthan. Emphasis on modal integration and service planning reflect that all
those areas that do not feature in any other organizations task list were given to the UMTA.
Despite this, the performance of the UMTA failed to achieve any of its assigned functions
because in 5 years it could only meet once in 2007. This was the same year when it was
formed. With such limited activity assessment of its performance becomes difficult.
However the same has been attempted as under.
Level of activity The UMTA committee has met only once in five years
Coordinating Role The only meeting held in 2007 covered all long term planning issues for
cities of Jaipur. This meeting was chaired by the Minister Transport.
Authority to approve Being a high level body, the UMTA is a powerful authority to
approve transport related projects and plans in the state
Technical competence The body does not have secretarial office which comprises of
technical staff
Monitoring role The body observes a monitoring format of ensuring compliance with its
decisions. This can be seen in some of the circulars issued after the first meeting. Although,
there were no subsequent meetings thus the practice did not sustain.
Uncovered domains Other than taking some decisions regarding the routes for buses and
the issue of rationalizing those, there is no other notable decision taken in the meetings.
Control over funds there is no mention in the UMTAs mandate of any form of control
over funds.
Authority to enforce decisions The UMTA has no authority to enforce its decisions due to
absence of any legal backing. Never the less, due to the presence of the Minister who are
supposed to chair the meetings. The decisions of the UMTA gain importance inadvertently
due the Chief Minister and other Ministers heading it.
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The UMTA for Bhubaneswar and Puri was set up in November 2009 as a hurried step to
implement the mandatory reform under the JnNURM Bus funding scheme. The area of
jurisdiction was selected as Bhubaneswar and Puri only as these were the only two cities of
the state which qualified as eligible mission cities as per the JnNURM scheme.
The body is headed by the Chief Secretary and has heads of various state departments as its
members. The list of members also includes city officials from the respective Municipalities,
Transport office, Police, and development authorities.
Chairman,
Chief Secretary
Member, Member
Member, Member, Member
VC, Puri Konark Exec Officer, Puri
Vice Chaiman, BDA Commissioner, BMC MD, OSRTC Dev Auth Municipality
Member, Member,
Member,
Representative, DGP. CEO, City Transport
SP, Bhubaneswar
Services Ltd
b. Assigned Functions
The main functions assigned to the UMTA are that of Statetegic planning which involve
formulating policies and plans for improvement of transport in the twin cities and their
surrounding areas. Also included is identification and providing approvals for investment
needs in the region. Resolving differences between state agencies connected with transport
in the twin cities indicates a distinct coordinating role given to the UMTA. The UMTA has
also been identified as the able authority to take decisions on the utilization of funds
available under the UTF that was to set up.
c. Performance Parameters
The UMTA was set up quite early in 2009 for Bhubaneswar and Puri. However, it merely
remained a body paper for the subsequent 2 years. It ultimately held its first meeting in Mid
2011. The discussions revolved towards preparation of a comprehensive mobility plan for
the region and there were presentations organized by consultants regarding a mass rapid
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system for Bhubaneswar city. Some crucial decisions regarding identification of an agency to
prepare the plans were also taken in this meeting.
Level of activity Considering that the body has met only once in the four years, the level of
activity for the UMTA for Bhuneswar and Puri cannot be rated high.
Coordinating Role Despite one single meeting, the focus more or less was towards overall
improvement of mobility in the region and not just bus operations.
Authority to approve The UMTA is a committee of senior officials, some decisions have
been taken regarding finalizing consultants for preparation of plans. However, no significant
decision was taken which would indicate its authority to approve.
Monitoring role No activity of the UMTA indicates its monitoring role as there were no
more meetings held.
Uncovered domains The body indicates its inclination towards stretagic planning for its
twin cities and policy making. However it is difficult to make an assessment due to the
reason that no subsequent meetings were held.
Authority to enforce decisions The UMTA has no authority to enforce its decisions.
Except for coordination and focussing on long range planning issues in its lone meeting
held, the UMTA for Bhubaneswar and Puri cannot be classified as an active body. Its
performance report is as under:
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The JnNURM Bus funding scheme included setting up of UMTA as a mandatory reform for all
million pluc cities seeking grants from the Central Government for buses for urban
transport. The UDD, GoMP played a crucial role in coordinating with the Central
Government for disbursement of the grant amount to each of its four cities. It designed a
structured layout for the State level -
coordinating urban transport Unified
Metropolitan
planning in all its cities. A State Transport
Council
(UMTC)
level body was formulated on the
basis of this on an Executive Order
in the year 2012. Governing body Executive body State level -
S-UMTC (G) S-UMTC (E) Technical cell
There is also a provision for composition of a State level technical cell. This would be a
professional body having professional staff which would consist of transport and urban
planners, engineers, finance advisor, IT and traffic advisor and would have a designated
administration and human resource personal.
In case of the city level, each of the C-UMTCs are supposed to be chaired by the respective
Divisional Commissioners and has all concerned department heads as Members.
Creation of an Urban Transport Fund was also envisoned for the state of MP which is again
two tiered. The S-UMTC and C-UMTC would be custodian of the respective S-UTF and C-UTF.
The sources of funds identified for the UTF at both State and City levels were central grants,
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The State has currently been able to form the S-UMTC however, it has been unable to
formulate the C-UMTCs so far.
b. Assigned Functions
The functions assigned to this two tier structure was also distributed in such a way that the
S-UMTC largely undertakes strategic planning functions, policy formulation, review and
monitoring of projects, management of the urban transport fund, undertake landuse
transport integration policies and undertake over all service level benchmarking for cities.
Overseeing the functioning of the C-UMTC is also one of the principal tasks assigned to the
S-UMTC.
The state level technical cell has been assigned the responsibility of providing support to the
S-UMTC in preparation & evaluation of EOI/RFP/DPR etc. Carry out review and give its
recommendations for different projects and offer technical guidance and consultancy to the
S-UMTC
The C-UMTC on the other hand undertakes more of city level/project specific tasks along
with ensuring coordination between different departments at the city level. The detailed list
of functions assigned to C-UMTC is as follows:
The performance evaluation of the S-UMTC cannor be carried out because the body has not
met even once till date. The reasons for this being that S-UMTC is seen as a higher order
machinery which would start function only after the C-UMTC become activated and send up
issues to be tackled and addressed by the State level body (S-UMTC). The C-UMTCs on the
other hand are yet to be formulated. The reason for this delay is that the C-UMTCs are
supposed to be formed as a subset of the respective MPCs of the individual metropolitan
areas in the state. Creation of MPC for each metropolitan area as per the 74th CAA has to be
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done via legislation which may be a time consuming process. Once the MPCs are In place,
then with another legislation the C-UMTC could be formed.
The state clearly has taken a bottom up approach for the UMTC to function. While this is an
apposite approach even as per the NTDPC and HPEC recommendations, it may involve
complete restructuring of the governance structure in the state. Besides, significant roles
currently with the transport department of the state may be taken away and handed over
to the C-UMTC and S-UMTC. While the future of this kind of an approach for MP remains
unclear. It will be relevant to study the progress of this case.
As on date, no meetings have held so far for the S-UMTC, conducting a performance
evaluation for the S-UMTC for MP thus stands irrelevant.
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List of Acronyms
12th FYP 12th Five Year Plan
74th CAA 74th Constitution Amendment Act
BBMP - Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
BDA - Bangalore Development Authority
BMLTA - Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority
BMR Bangalore Metropolitan Region
BMRCL - Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd
BMRDA - Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority
BMTC - Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation
BOT - Build-Operate-Transfer
BRT Bus Rapid Transit
CAAS - Changi Airport Authority Singapore
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CPWD - Central Public Works Department
CSTC - Calcutta State Transport Corporation
CTC - Calcutta Tramways Corporation
CTTS - Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation study
CUMTA Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority
DULT - Directorate of Urban Land Transport
GoI Government of India
GoM Government of Maharashtra
HMDA - Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority
HMR - Hyderabad Metropolitan Region
HPEC High Powered Executive Committee
JnNURM Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission
JTDC Jaipur Tourism Development Corporation
KUDIC - Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation
LAMATA - Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority
LASTMA - Lagos State Traffic Management Authority
LTA Land Transport Authority
MCLTA Mysore City Land Transport Authority
MORTH - Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
MP Madhya Pradesh
MPA - Marine Port Authority
MoT - Ministry of Transport
MMRDA - Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority
MMTS - Multi-Modal Transport System
MRTC - Mass Rapid Transit Corporation
NBSTC North Bengal State Transport Corporation
NHAI - National Highways Authority of India
NTDPC - National Transport Development Policy Committee
NUTP - National Urban Transport Policy
OPTILE - Organisation Profesionnelle des Transports dIle de France
PBS Public Bucycle Sharing Scheme
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