Authorities take first step towards seamless integration of transport
PUNE: The Pune Mahametro, along with officials of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and others took the first step towards establishing seamless transport integration. A three-day workshop on multi-modal transport integration was organised at Yashada in Baner on Wednesday. Mahametro MD Brijesh Dixit said the plan of seamless integration will require contribution from PMC, PCMC, Railways and other stakeholders.
“Seamless integration is necessary for the benefit of the people. Imagine a scene wherein a person travelling from metro has to catch a train at Pune railway station. So there should be direct connectivity between our metro station and Pune railway station which will help the commuters. Similarly if seamless integration is there with bus rapid transit system (BRTS) it will increase ridership of all public transport facilities,” added Dixit.
He said that in Singapore people have to chose public transport as personal transport is expensive. “In seamless integration we will have to connect the metro with bus stops, railway stations and other places for convenience of the people,” added Dixit.
He said the first stage is about physical integration which inlcudes physical connectivity between transport modes with the help of bridges and so will require contribution of PMC and PCMC.
“The second stage of seamless integration would require communication connectivity. A person travelling in BRTS should be aware of the timings of metro trains. Similarly a person getting down from any railway station should come to know about timing of metro trains which will help him save time and efforts. The third stage of seamless integration would be connecting the traveller with a common mobility card, a single window ticket system which will help the common man use all these transport modes using one card,” added Dixit.
Additional Chief Secretary Praveen Pardeshi said that Swargate will be the biggest multimodal transport hub and the government has taken up the metro project on a war footing.
AGREEMENT SIGNED
A tripartite agreement was signed between Temasek Foundation International-Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) Urban Management, Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited and Pune Municipal Corporation. It was signed by Brijesh Dixit, Managing Director of Maha Metro, Prerna Deshbhratar, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Spl), PMC and Kong Wy Mun, CEO, SCE.
