Urban Transport in Nepal Issues & Policy Recomedation
Surya Raj Acharya, PhD
President Inst for Dev and Policy Studies (IDPS), Kathmandu
1 Expert Group Meeting on
Planning and Assessment of Urban Transportation Systems 22-23 September 2016, Kathmandu, Nepal
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Contents
• Urban Transport in Nepal: Overview
• Key Issues and Problems
• Characteristic Features of Nepalese Cities
• Strategies and Policy Measures
2
Population in 20 Largest Cities 3
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000Kathman
du*
Lalitpur*
Bhaktapur*
Pokh
ara
Biratnagar
Bharatpur
Birgunj
Butw
al
Dharan
Bhim
da
a
Dhan
gadhi
Janakpur
Hetauda
Itah
ari
Dam
ak
Nepalgunj
Triyuga
Ghorahi
Siddharthan
agar
Lekh
nath
Popula
on,'000
Kathmandu Valley Pop
2.5 mil (3.5 mil incl float.)
Data source: National Census 2011
Kathmandu Valley (Greater Kathmandu)
4
• Country GDP per
capita: US$ 750
• Kathmandu, GRP per
capita US$ 2000?
• Habitable Area: 460
sq Km [899 skm]
• Car ownership rate: 40
per 1000
Characteristic Patterns of urban Development
5
Itahari (Ribbon-type development) Kathmandu Suburb (Haphazard dev)
Vehicle Population in Nepal (as of March 2015)
6
-
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
1,800,000
2,000,000
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Others
Microbus
Tempo
Minibus/MiniTruck
Pickup
Bus
Crane/Dozer/Exczvator/Truck
Tractor/PowerTiller
Car/Jeep/Van
Motorcycle
Data source: Economic Survey
43 % are in
Kathmandu valley
Mode Share in Kathmandu Valley 7
23.1
45.0
9.4
7.3
67.5
47.8
1991
2011
ModeShare(MotorizeTriponly)
Motorcycle Car Bus
DataSource:JICA(2012)Figure4:TrendofmodeshareinKathmandu
Public Transport
mode share
reduced
67.5 47.8 %
Public transport routes and modes Kathmandu Valley
8
• Multiple
modes in a
single route
• Inefficient
road use
• Competition
for passenger
Source: KSUTP
Public Transport Vehicles: Fleet Size 9
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
StandardBus
MiniBus
MicroBus
Tempo
Data Source: KSUTP
Major transport modes in secondary cities
10
• Heavy dependence
on Motorcycles
• Some cities have city
buses but coverage is
poor
• Rapid growth of
Electric Rickshwa
Key problems
1. Haphazard urbanization
2. Congestion
3. Lack of parking facilities
4. Poor quality of public transport services
5. Private operators’ syndicate
6. Increasing domination of motorcycles and cars
7. Pollution
8. Traffic accidents
11
Congestion, poor quality of public transport
service and urban sprawling 12
Peak hour traffic speed:
8-12 Km/h
Serious parking problem in Kathmandu
13
A public open
space for vehicle
parking !
How the situation arrived here?
1. Weak planning control
2. Policy of public transport only by private operators
in 1990s
3. Polluting three wheelers replaced by Electric Three
Wheelers (SAFA TEMPO)
4. Microbuses are allowed as public transport mode
(rapid increase, capacity problem)
5. Weak public transport regulation- relied on self-
regulation by operators
14
Characteristics Features of Nepalese Cities
1. Unplanned/haphazard land development
2. Evolving urban form/structure
3. Mixed use
4. Relatively higher density
5. Public transport mode share still higher but ONLY
captive users
6. Growing dominance of motorcycles
7. Inadequate road infrastructure
15
16
Road Space in Selected Cities
12.013378108Shanghai City Inner Core
133
96
197
168
131
121
72
112
202
Pop. Density
Per/ha
7.348656Jakarta City
7.216225Bangkok City Core
% (city
area)
Km2
14.920134Taipei City Inner Core
18.1114621Tokyo 23-wards
16.496589Inner London (12 boroughs)
25.827105City of Paris
13.380605Seoul City
21.724110Inner Tokyo (8 wards)
25.2210678New York City
Road AreaArea (Km2)
12.013378108Shanghai City Inner Core
133
96
197
168
131
121
72
112
202
Pop. Density
Per/ha
7.348656Jakarta City
7.216225Bangkok City Core
% (city
area)
Km2
14.920134Taipei City Inner Core
18.1114621Tokyo 23-wards
16.496589Inner London (12 boroughs)
25.827105City of Paris
13.380605Seoul City
21.724110Inner Tokyo (8 wards)
25.2210678New York City
Road AreaArea (Km2)
Data source: STREAM Study compilation
837
Developing Asian cities
Source: Morichi S and Surya R Acharya (2013) Transport Development in Asian Megacities: A New Perspective, Springer-Verlag, Berlin
Kathmandu City 50.67 184 3.86 7.29 Data source KTM : Panta and Dangol , 2009
….Consider Urban Dynamics !
Key Strategies
1. Coordination between land use and transport
2. Planning an integrated/hierarchical transport
system
3. Investment for infrastructure and facilities
4. Promote Public transport, other sustainable modes
5. Institutional, regulatory reform and safety measures
6. Undertake both short-term and long-term measures
17
Strategies and Policy Measures
Coordination between land-use and transport
• Challenge: Weak planning control
• Opportunity: Evolving urban form
Key policy measures
1. Post-earthquake reconstruction in Kathmandu
Valley to be planned for better urban structure
2. Urban structure plan based on Transit Oriented
Development (TOD)
3. Shaping urban form
• Planning control: difficult
• Infrastructure-led: Possible
18
Strategies and Policy Measures
Planning an integrated/hierarchical transport system
• Challenge: Haphazard urbanization
• Opportunity: New infrastructure investment
Key policy measures
1. Recognizing role of different modes
2. Integrated/hierarchical public transport system
• Metro Rail
• High capacity buses
• Mini buses, tempo (para-transit)
3. Non-motorized modes (walk, bicycle)
19
Strategies and Policy Measures
Investment for infrastructure and facilities
• Challenge: Weak financial return, ROW constraint
• Opportunity: Higher economic return
Key policy measures
1. Invest for Metro Rail in Kathmandu
• Q is not about if, it is about how many lines!
• Too costly? Delaying would be more costly!
• Let’s mix up tech, activism and political issues
• Focus on relevant issues, Feeder FAR, densification etc
2. Expand roads, acquire ROW early
• Allocate space to pedestrian way, transfer facilities
3. Provision of high capacity buses
4. Provision of parking places
20
21
22
Post Earthquake
reconstruction and urban
restructuring in
Kathmandu should include
TOD concept
Kathmandu Metro Rail:
Possible routes
Rail transit with TOD (sub-center development)
• For 200 Km Metro
network, cost =
US$ 14 b
• For a N-W 20 km
line, cost =
US$ 1 b
Strategies and Policy Measures
Promote Public Transport, Other Sustainable Modes
• Challenge: Captive users , road cong, Motor cyl
• Opportunity: High mode share, high density
Key policy measures
1. Introduce exclusive ROW (Metro, BRT, Bus lanes)
2. High quality PT vehicles, make service reliable
3. Better on-board services, AC, Wi-fi, smart card etc
4. Control/regulation on motorcycle use !
5. Promote env friendly vehicles including
22
Strategies and Policy Measures
Institutional, regulatory reform and safety measures
• Challenge: ‘syndicate’ of large no of operators
• Opportunity: Readiness of all stakeholders
Key policy measures
1. Introduce an efficient regulatory mechanism
2. Recognize public transport as an Essential Service
and make provision of public subsidy (if
necessary)
3. Mainstreaming safety measures in infrastructure
building, service operation, and regulation
23
Strategies and Policy Measures
Undertake both short-term and long-term measures
24
Short-term (+)
Short-term (-)
Long-term (+) Long-term (-)
Smart/strategic policies
• Planning, coordination, TOD
• Incentive-based policy/reg
• Control car, MC
• Might be unpopular
Reactive policies
•Normally low-cost solutions
•Privatization, informal transp
•Ad-hoc, ‘superficial’, intuitive
Wrong policies
• Result of vested interest
lobbying efforts, PPP etc
• Wrong deregulation, weak
planning control
Pro-active policies
• May include high capital
investment
• ROW acquisition, MRT
Source: Author’s sketch
©Acharya SR 2011, Institute for
Transport Policy Studies, Tokyo 25
Sumup
Transport System
Urban form
Density, land-use
Urb
an s
truct
ure
Regional spatial development
City-size distribution (balanced urbanization)
Bala
nce
d r
egio
nal develo
pm
ent
Institution, financing, environment Private
mode NMT, Public Transport
Integrated transport
Policy strategies/measures at different hierarchical levels of urban transport system for consistency and synergy
Thank you! 26