Transport System Audit of a Hill Resort Town

Synopsis

Submitted by: Chharing Namdol Bodh TP/469

Background and Research Study

In the recent times, it has been observed that the various international organisations and governments across the nations have increasingly realized the importance of the tourism sector. Especially in the case of developing countries, the tourism sector is playing a major role in the economic growth. The World Travel and Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated $121 billion or 6.4% of Indias GDP in 2011. It was responsible for 39.3 million jobs, 7.9% of Indias total employment. The contribution of tourism in Indias GDP is at present lower than what is prevailing in the other similar countries. To tap the full potential of the tourism sector, the national five year plans have witnessed an increased impetus on the development of tourism sector. In the latest offing, Report of the working group on tourism for 12th five year plan, it has been mentioned that in order to transform tourism into an engine of economic growth, there has to be an integrated development of the enabling infrastructure. This enabling infrastructure can be categorized into 4 major categories, i.e. Transport infrastructure, Social and Environmental infrastructure and a collaborating infrastructure at the regional level that coordinates the action of all the different agencies involved in the tourism development sector. The significance of transport as an integral component of the tourism system has been the subject of discussion in the tourism literature since the 1970s (Chew 1987; Lundgren 1973). A lot of studies have been done to establish an interface between tourism and transport, but most of these studies have just established a correlation between the transport and tourism sector. The National Tourism Policy, 2002 of India reflects the need of improvement in the transport sector for the betterment of tourism in the country. With so much focus on transport for improving tourism sector, a question arises in the mind, To what extent does transport play a role in the prosperity of tourism sector? To carry out such an exercise Himachal Pradesh was found to be a suitable case study as it has all the necessary characteristics of an economy with increasing tourism in the state and further potential to establish tourism as a main engine of economic growth. In the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Policy, 2005, it was identified that there is a need to improve the transport sector in the state to facilitate the growth of tourism. Such a thrust by the international,

national and state tourism policies on the transport sector lead to a spurt in H.P. governments action to improve the tourism enabling infrastructure, of which transport is also a part. Lots of studies were carried out to establish new regional tourist circuits and finding the infrastructure gaps across these circuits. But majority of these studies were based on regional or state level. The missing link here was that the development of tourist circuits at regional level and its functionality depended on the tourism-transport interface of the each destination that together formed the circuit. A regional tourist circuit could only be successful if the transport system serving these destinations are strengthened and then a holistic programme of integrating them at ta regional level is carried out. Since, there is no criterion for deciding the optimal provision for transport infrastructure so as to enhance tourism in such a destination, a need was felt to formulate a Transport System Audit checklist that would help in evaluating the readiness of a transport system to act as a catalyst to tourism growth at the destination.

Aim, Objectives and Scope of work

Aim:
To carry out Transport system audit for a hill resort town and formulate a checklist for carrying out Transport System audit in such hill stations.

Objectives:
1. To appreciate the role and importance of transport infrastructure in promotion of tourism. 2. To assess the tourist and transport characteristics of Manali, Himachal Pradesh. 3. To identify the critical areas of concern regarding tourism development w.r.t. transport sector from a tourist point of view. 4. To formulate a Transport System Audit checklist that helps in analyzing the overall performance of the transport system of a hill station. 5. To identify the issues regarding transport system development in a hill resort town.

Scope of work:
1. To carry out a tourist survey for analyzing the basic characteristics of the tourist visiting Manali. 2. To carry out primary survey with various organisations in Manali responsible for the provision of tourism and transport infrastructure. 3. To formulate benchmarks for tourism and transport infrastructure supply by analyzing the same for three states with tourism potential. The chosen states are Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa. 4. To carry out a tourist satisfaction survey for assessing the infrastructure gap from the point of view of tourist. 5. To delineate a primary road network on the basis of link function. 6. To formulate a primary network audit checklist.

7. To prepare a detailed audit checklist that incorporates the essential elements of tourist satisfaction survey, transport and tourism infrastructure of town, and primary network audit. 8. To find out the critical areas of concern regarding transport system for tourism promotion in Manali. 9. To give necessary proposals addressing the issues.

Research Methodology:

Surveys Analytical Findings:

Issues Identified: 1) Airway System: - No commercial flight service available at the Bhuntar airport at present. - Issues that were prevailing when the airport was last operational: Low reliability of flight operation in terms of delays and cancellation. Low number of routes and service providers i.e. limited direct connectivity with the other states. Low occupancy (avg. 25%) of the aircrafts making the flight operations financially unviable. 2) Railway System: - Poor condition of the railway infrastructure. - Train interchange at Pathankot Railway Station - Low railway connectivity of Pathankot with Joginder Nagar railway station and other states of the country. - Non availability of Pre-booking facility for the route operating between Pathankot and Joginder Nagar railway station. - Low ridership of the end to end travellers on the route. - Low public transit connectivity with Manali. 3) Road Transport System: - Poor surface condition of certain stretches of the NH 21 providing interstate connectivity with Manali. - The road network density i.e. Road length (Km) available per 10,000 of host population of Manali agglomeration is lower than the state average. - High deficiency index of the Primary Road Network of Manali. - The vehicle load on the road transport system of Manali increases manifold during peak seasons. - High modal share of car users among the host population as well as the tourist population. - Insufficient supply of the designated parking spaces. - Poor level of point to point connectivity between the tourist hot spots and the town by the means of public transit system. - Insufficient capacity and inappropriate location of the bus terminal for carrying out smooth operation.

- The average age of Bus fleet is 6, higher than the state average of 4.8. - The vehicle productivity of 287 Km/Bus/Day of the Kullu Bus Depot is higher than the state average of 168 Km/Bus/Day. - Low number of staff/bus i.e. 2.5 staff/Bus as compared to the state average of 6.7 staff/bus. - Low IPT supply index. - Low fleet utilization of the IPT modes during Lean season. - Low tourist satisfaction in terms of quality of service of Public Transport and the various IPT modes of transport. 4) Traffic Management: - Low number of Traffic police personnel deployment for traffic management purposes. - Lack of traffic regulatory signages at the junctions and the traffic bottlenecks. - Many of the existing signages not designed as per the IRC standards. - Lack of directional signages across the rural areas in and around the agglomeration. - Absence of an established Incident Management System. 5) Other tourism enabling Infrastructure - Inadequate no. of Tourism Information Centres. - Lack of A/V information kiosks across the town. - Absence of any quality based ratings for the tourist accommodation/ Hotels. - Low number of hotels providing adequate parking facilities within their premise.

Recommendations:
Air Transport system: 1. First and foremost essential step to be taken is to restore the flight services at the Bhuntar airport. 2. To address the issue of reliability of flight operations, latest technology of air traffic control, all weather aircraft navigation etc. needs to be put in place. 3. In order to make the flight operations financially viable, low cost carriers should be deployed. Instead of using the conventional 60-120 seating aircraft, Turboprop aircrafts of 25-30 seating capacity should be used.

Rail Transport system: 1. In terms of tourism of Manali, the Kangra Valley Railway is a more important rail head than the one present in Shimla. Considering this importance the Indian Railway has identified Pathankot-Joginder Nagar route to be converted into Broad Gauge and to extend it to Mandi. 2. This shall have a positive impact on tourism in the town and shall also play a vital role in increasing the intrinsic value of transport in the whole tourism experience as the rail line provides an enchanting view of Dhauladhar ranges all the way. 3. Another possibility that can be explored is retaining the narrow gauge rail line and fit it within the new broad gauge rail line. This shall provide twin benefits of mobility and heritage train experience. 4. The facility of pre-booking/ reservation should be started for the Kangra Valley Railway. 5. Once the broad gauge rail is introduced, the number of routes providing direct rail connectivity with other states should be increased.

Road Transport system: 1. The quality of roads providing linkage to Manali should be improved at the identified stretches of NH21. 2. Feasibility study of new road linkages should be carried out to provide tourist and host population with better network of roads for enhanced accessibility and mobility. 3. Regarding high modal Share of car: The high car ownership in the town is a resultant of high dependence of tourists on the Taxis for visiting tourist hot spots. Moreover, the modal split of tourist vehicles that come from other states also show a high share of cars. There is a high need of interventions that can help in modal shift from pvt. to public modes of transport. This can be only achieved by introduction of alternative modes of transport like Ropeway, Tram, Personalised Rapid Transit, Bicycle lift etc. Feasibility studies should be carried out for introduction of such modes of transport. The buses plying in such a resort town should have a design standard that helps in promoting bus transport as a branded product.

4. Enhancing the Primary Road Network. This can be done by: Up gradation/ widening of the roads that are performing higher order function than its intended function. Official bus Stop locations should be demarcated. Traffic bottlenecks with the insufficient road width should be widened. Provision of continuous pedestrian walkways should be made along the primary road network , at least within the town. Provision of NMV lanes should be made along the primary road network leading to all the tourist hot spots, located within the town or outside the town boundary.

Street lighting of appropriate luminance should be installed all along the primary road network and even in the local streets with high concentration of pedestrian movement. In case of market areas along the primary road network, off-street loading/ unloading areas should be provided so as to not hamper the traffic movement. Proper off-street parking facilities to be provided, so as to reduce the magnitude of on-street parking. Proper road markings should be made on the primary road network and signage's should be put up wherever required.

5. Public transport connectivity should be provided on the Primary Network with sufficient and efficient point to point operation between the town and the tourism hot spots. 6. The quality of service by the various public and IPT transport modes needs to be improved in terms of removing over aged vehicles from the fleet, carrying out regular safety checks, proper training of drivers and conductors, code of conduct for the operating staff etc. and usage of latest technologies like battery operated vehicles, CNG based transport for reducing the increasing air pollution. 7. ITS can be implemented to provide real time information about weather, landslides, traffic congestion and parking availability. This can also help in establishing a Incident Management System. 8. There is already a proposal in the Development Plan for relocating the bus terminal to the periphery of the town. 9. Another major proposal in the Development Plan is the construction of a bypass road that shall help in easing the through traffic in the town. 10. The efficiency of traffic management should be improved either by increased deployment of traffic police personnel' or the scope of implementation of ITS should be explored. 11. Directional signage should be put up in and around the neighboring villages to encourage tourist to visit these places in order to tap the rural/ village tourism potential.

12. The A/V tourism information kiosks should be put up at all the strategic locations like, bus terminal, taxi stands, tourist spots etc. 13. The accommodation facilities should be given ratings as per their level of service. 14. A regulation should be put in place that mandates the provision of certain no. of car parkings within the premise of the hotel as per the no. of beds available in the hotel