MODEL FEEDER AREA, FEEDER BUS ROUTES, LPCs AND SWM-TRANSFER STATION

Identification of the different feeder areas in the city is a pending work. Getting the help of the locals to understand the concepts involved and asking them help to chalk out feeder bus routes for their areas will greatly simplify matters and ensure that the work proceeds quickly. Allow me to 'paste' the write up of the model feeder area [in ROBS, module-2] which I had written earlier to introducing the concept of utilization of bus services for transportation of goods and solid wastes:

CHAPTER VIII: FEEDER BUS SERVICES

Let me first describe the features of a ‘model’ feeder bus service.

Feeder buses have to operate in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions in the area selected.

Figures 10a and 10b, of ROBS-2 shows the details of the feeder bus services in the feeder area selected. The feeder area selected, which may be called as F 1 feeder area, includes the following areas: SR Nagar, Ameerpet, Kundanbagh, Balkampet and Sanatnagar.

Let us first see the route taken by the feeder buses that travel in the anticlockwise direction. This route [Figure 10a] is depicted by the numbers 1 to 42.

The feeder bus starts from the Umesh Chandra statue at Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar junction [1] and proceeds east along the SR Nagar main road. After passing the SR Nagar Police station on its right, the bus turns right at the T-junction ahead to enter the Balkampet Main road [2]. Going southwards it turns right again to enter the road that goes towards Maithrivanam [3]. When it reaches the Maithrivanam junction, it turns left to rejoin the main road [4]. After reaching the Ameerpet crossroads the bus turns left to enter the Sheesh Mahal road [5]. Proceeding along that road [IRR] it turns left to enter the Balkampet main road [6]. At [7] it turns right to enter the road that leads to the Guru Nanak municipal playground junction [8]. Here it turns right and travels along the Dharam Karan road to reach the Sheesh Mahal road [9]. At Lal Bungalow [10] the bus takes the mild right curve to reach Greenlands junction [11] where it turns left. Traveling along the road adjoining the Greenlands flyover it

reaches the sub-flyover road [12] where it turns right and enters the Kundanbagh road. Proceeding along this road it passes the St. Francis College lane and Needs Dhaba on the left and reaches the Methodist Colony. After getting down the down slope after passing Needs Dhaba, the bus turns left to reach the railway tracks, turns right and follows the tracks for some time before taking another right turn to go back to the Kundanbagh road [13, 14, 15]. Emerging from the Kundanbagh road the bus turns left and proceeds towards the Greenlands junction where it takes a U turn [16] and now proceeds straight towards the Begumpet Railway station [17]. Here it turns left and travels along the road adjoining the rail tracks. Upon reaching Vidyuth Towers, the bus turns left [18] and, after passing United Avenue Apartments, it takes the slight right turn and goes straight up to the Dharam Karan road [19]. Here it turns right and proceeds straight till the road takes a left turn at [20]. At this place, the Nature Cure Hospital will be on the right side. The bus then turns right at [21] and even on this road will be passing with the Nature Cure Hospital to its right. [At the distal end of this road there is a small lane on the right which leads one to the Nature Cure Hospital MMTS railway station.] At [22] the feeder bus turns left to join the Balkampet main road at the Yellamma temple crossroads [23]. From here the bus travels to the Fatehnagar flyover upon which it takes a left turn [24] to reach the Sanatnagar main road. The bus soon leaves the Sanatnagar main road at [25] to reach the Sanatnagar bus station. Passing by that station the bus travels straight to reach the Masjid road [26] where it turns right to enter the lane that leads to the southern side of the Sanatnagar playground [27]. Moving around the western side of this ground the bus turns left at [28] to reach the lane that leads to the Sanatnagar main road. {The MSME [micro, small and medium enterprises] is located on the opposite side of the Sanatnagar main road at this junction.} Turning left at this point [29], the bus travels along the main road and turns turn left at the Victory Café [30]. Traveling south in this lane it takes a right turn at [31] to enter the Hindu Public School road. After passing this school on its left, the bus turns right at [32] and rejoins the Sanatnagar main road [33, 34]. Proceeding west it reaches the Erragadda crossroads [35] where it turns left to enter the Erragadda main road. Upon this road, after passing St. Theresa’s hospital the feeder bus enters the lane proximal to the ESI hospital at [36]. As it goes upon this lane it passes to the right of the KLN Yadav Park and at [37] turns left to enter the BK Guda main road. After passing the BK Guda Park the bus turns right at the crossroads [38] to enter the road that leads to the SR Nagar community hall. Traveling a while upon this road, the bus turns right at [39] and enters the lane proximal to the JUST BAKE bakery shop. In this lane, after passing Goutami Dhamam School, the bus turns right at [40] to enter the Percy’s School lane. At the end of this lane the bus turns left at [41] to enter the Kakatiya Junior College lane and rejoins the Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar main road at the Tuberculosis Hospital [42]. Turning left at this place the bus gets back to the starting point [1] …the Umesh Chandra statue and then commences its next cycle of serving the public along the same route.

It should be observed that this anticlockwise feeder bus route serves mostly the interior locations of the feeder area. Hence it would be apt to call the feeder buses going along the anticlockwise route as inner feeder buses.

Inner feeder buses may be given a light blue external color for identification purposes.

Let me now describe the route to be followed by feeder buses which proceed in the clockwise direction in the service of the public in F-1. Kindly study ROBS-2, fig 10b to follow the description below:

These feeder buses start out from the Sanatnagar bus terminus and proceed towards the Sanatnagar main road where they turn right [1] to reach the Fatehnagar flyover. Upon this tri-road flyover, at [2], they take a left turn and travel straight along the Fatehnagar main road to reach the Balanagar main road [NH 9]. At this junction [3], they turn left to reach the Balanagar crossroads where they turn left [4]. Going along this road they take two left turns [5 & 6] and join the Fatehnagar main road at [7].

[The road just proximal to [6] has a causeway that runs on the bed of a nala that goes to the Hussein Sagar. During the rainy seasons, flooding may render this stretch of road non-motor able. Construction of a bridge over the nala at this place is necessary.]

At the Fatehnagar main road [7] the feeder buses take a right turn and reach the Fatehnagar flyover once again. They travel straight upon this flyover to reach the Yellamma temple crossroads where they turn left at [8] and reach the Nature Cure Hospital bus stop at [9] after doing a right turn. Proceeding to the right of the Nature Cure Hospital, the buses turn left at [10] and turn right at [11] to reach the Dharam Karan road. After passing to the left of Challa Hospital the buses turn left to enter the lane proximal to the Ameerpet High School at [12]. They proceed straight upon this lane to reach the road adjoining the rail tracks at [13]. Turning right they travel towards the Greenlands/Begumpet flyover at [14]. Here they turn right and passing beneath the flyover they reach the Greenlands junction [15] where they do the right turn to reach Lal Bungalow [16]. Here they take the mild left curve and, proceeding to the left of Sheesh Mahal theatre, they reach the Ameerpet crossroads [17]. Turning right at the Ameerpet crossroads the feeder buses proceed straight along the main road passing through the Saradhi Studio crossroads, SR Nagar crossroads and Erragadda crossroads. Passing along the left side of the Bharatnagar flyover the buses reach the Bharatnagar MMTS station [18] and then do the U-turn to come back to the Erragadda crossroads. Here they turn left [19] to enter the Sanatnagar main road and go along this road till they reach [20] the Sanatnagar terminus…their starting point. This cycle gets repeated.

Feeder buses operating in the clockwise direction do so mainly in the outer boundaries of the feeder area and hence may be also called as outer feeder buses.

Giving outer feeder buses a dark green color helps for ready identification.

Smaller sized buses should be planned for such feeder areas where the population density is high and the lanes very narrow. In all other areas it is considered best to have higher capacity buses [44-seater] which can effectively meet the transportation needs of the commuters during peak hours.

Wherever possible, the roads/lanes upon the route taken by the feeder bus in the interiors of the feeder area are made one-way.

All the roads/lanes traversed by the feeder bus in the interiors of the feeder area are to be declared to be under ‘no parking’ category for personal vehicles.

All the feeder bus roads/lanes are carefully maintained, freed from pot holes and ditches. Crudely constructed speed breakers are demolished and vehicle-friendly speed breakers of international specifications alone are constructed wherever needed.

Good street lighting is to be provided upon the feeder route. Fused bulbs are immediately replaced.

Traffic regulations upon the feeder bus routes should be in favor of the feeder buses. Upon 2-way roads feeder buses have the right of way. At smaller intersections located in the interiors of the feeder area, feeder buses are given priority.

[While on this matter, I feel it pertinent to point out two needful traffic regulatory measures which need to be implemented upon the tri-road Fatehnagar flyover. Traffic coming up upon the flyover from Fatehnagar and Sanatnagar should be denied taking a right turn upon the flyover. This measure will greatly reduce the traffic congestion being regularly witnessed at this flyover at the present moment of time. Banning movement of cyclerikshaws upon this flyover during peak hours should also be considered.]

Sounding of horns is prohibited upon feeder roads/lanes.

Traffic speeds should not exceed 20 kmph.

CONNECTIVITY WITH NEIGHBORING FEEDER AREAS:

Where road connectivity between adjacent feeder areas is denied by the presence of rail tracks and lack of level crossings and where flyovers are the only means of road-interconnectivity between the neighboring feeder areas, the outer feeder buses should be sent upon the flyovers to have a brief point of contact with the neighboring feeder area and then return back to their own feeder area.

The F 1 feeder area detailed above has three flyovers that get the road traffic over the rail tracks: Greenlands/Begumpet flyover, Fatehnagar flyover and the Bharatnagar flyover. The F 1 outer feeder buses are however not sent over all these three flyovers but over only one of them: the Fatehnagar flyover. At the two other flyovers, the outer feeder buses from the adjacent feeder areas should be given the task of providing interconnectivity. Outer feeder buses from the Begumpet feeder area should come over the Begumpet flyover and return after having a point of contact in Ameerpet. Likewise, outer feeder buses from the Bharatnagar area should come over the Bharatnagar flyover and return after a point of contact in Erragadda. In feeder areas where the over-rail road flyovers are more than the available adjoining feeder areas, outer feeder buses need to ply over two or more flyovers as the need be.

Planning for the bus stops has to be done keeping the commuters’ convenience in mind. As many bus stops as needed should be provided. Commuters should be able to walk ‘walk able’ distances to get to their bus stops. Inconveniently located bus stops or insufficient numbers of bus stops should not be inhibiting factors for patronage of bus services.

Upon the peripheral boundary of the feeder area, existing bus stops continue as usual. Additional bus stops need to be provided if felt desirable or upon request of the public.

Inter-connectivity between feeder bus services and bus services being run upon RTR and IRRs have to be ensured. Bringing feeder bus services and their bus stops in close proximity with RTR-IRR bus stops/bays will ensure that the feeder area is connected to the rest of the city. Under ROBS, a very high level of connectivity between all parts of the city will be achieved by the feeder, RTR and IRR buses.

Interconnectivity between feeder bus services and rail services has to be provided wherever possible.

Attention is to be given to the Sanatnagar bus terminus. Presently buses from many bus terminals in the city have Sanatnagar as one of their terminating points and many buses pass through this terminus. Under ROBS, only F 1 buses, outer and inner, would be using the services of this place. Available space can be built up to provide maintenance and repairs for the buses, refreshment and toilet facilities for the bus drivers and office space for administrative purposes.

During peak hours feeder buses run non-stop. During the slack hours of the day bus drivers are allowed to have rest at this Sanatnagar terminus where parking of buses will not pose a problem. During nights, buses are not to be totally withdrawn but a minimum level of services has to be extended to the public. Service is 24x7.

With this I feel I should come to the conclusion of this chapter upon feeder bus services. The details of the feeder areas to be developed all over the city needs a lot of time and I feel it should be dealt with in a separate module. I want to make one final observation before closing this chapter. Present day emphasis is upon speed [rapid transit]. This speed is desirable upon the RTR and IRR roads. The heavy flow of traffic upon arterial roads may be likened to the flow of blood in the arteries pumped out forcefully from one’s heart. The speed of blood flow is high so as to reach the target organ on time. Once within the organ, the blood velocity slows down greatly at the capillary level where exchange of gases and liquids take place between the blood and the tissues. The slow flow of blood in the capillaries may be likened to the slow speeds of feeder buses. More importance is given for picking up and dropping of commuters at or near to their originating or destination points. Authorities concerned with providing public transport services need to give as much importance to ‘slow’ feeder services as they give to ‘rapid’ services. Concentrating merely upon ‘rapid’ services results in an imperfect public transportation and will have poor public patronage of the bus services as a consequence.

The above write up belongs to my article ROBS, module 2.

I have not mentioned the role of the feeder bus in this aspect of transporting of solid wastes. One relevant point which remained unmentioned in Troff's document needs to be mentioned: use of the luggage carriers affixed to the bus' top [see last two lines on page 9 of TROFF]. the luggage carriers atop buses could be utilized to transport 'commercial dry waste' i.e. plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, metal etc. from the LPCs [local processing centers] to the end-users directly...a role being shown to be played by the 'other vehicles' in our LPC figure. This adds to the bus' revenue, decreases the numbers of smaller vehicles upon the roads, [reduction in traffic congestion and air pollution levels], enables end-users of commercial waste to get their 'raw materials' at lower transportation costs.

Large sized plastic bags of different colors for identification purposes have to be deployed: this will allow for efficient movement of the goods and also be of an aesthetic value.