Analyzing Modal Shift of Commuters Due to Proposed BRTS – Amritsar

Abstract

With an exponential increase in traffic over the past years, majority of the developing cities are introduced to MRTS and BRTS operated by public sector which aimsat reducing the travel time and cost of travel. With these operations, there will be considerable reduction in amount of emissions from vehicles and sound pollution. As a matter of fact, the public transport helps in achieving reduced fuel consumption and carbon emissions. But the major concern opting public transport is the accessibility, frequency of transport, lack of maintenance, socio-economic characters etc., which effect the modal shift. Therefore, by introducing the new mode of transport, we cannot estimate the success of new infrastructure as the modal shift towards the new mode may not happen. But, today, BRTS is increasingly utilized by cities looking at cost – effective transit solutions and environmental concerns. The present study aims at estimating the modal shift to BRTS. Amritsar was chosen to be the study area with a proposed BRTS, owing to its tourism attraction leading to the major share in transportation by auto rickshaws resulting in traffic congestion. This study aims at calculating the possible modal shift to the proposed novel transportation system taking into consideration the commuters desire towards shift as well as their limitations. It was observed that there was a nominal increase in the modal shift and almost 1/3^rd of the assumed factors in mode section played an important role. However, improving ridership with pull factor strategies and transit improvement could be proposed as approaches towards improving the modal shift.