CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

1.2 Davanagere City at a Glance

1.3 Demographics of Davanagere City

1.4 Financing of City Bus Services in Davanagere

1.5 Davanagere City Transport Service

2 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

2.1 Performance Review Methodology

2.2 Evaluation based on Service Level Benchmarks (As specified by the MoUD)

2.3 Evaluation based on various perspectives

3 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

3.1 Performance Evaluation of Public Transportation System for a Medium sized city

4 BUS OPERATION IMPACTS

4.1Passenger Convenience

4.2Impact on the user

5 CONCLUSION

6 REFERENCE
 1.INTRODUTION
1.1 Background

Effective operation of urban bus system is vital for the development of any city. There is a
widespread reliance on public transport, providing mobility within urban areas throughout the
world. However, public prefer to use private vehicles due to the inefficient operation of city bus
service in most of the Indian cities. The private vehicles vying for limited road space along with
buses has resulted in congestion, accidents and vehicular pollution in most of the Indian cities.
The problem of pollution, safety and inefficiency have reached an alarming level in most of the
major cities in India due to the unabated growth of population - both people and motor
vehicles. Thus, there is an immediate need to improve the performance of bus system to retain
the passengers and discourage the use of private vehicles.

Buses can operate over existing roadway facilities with minimum construction cost, offer transit
services at a much lower cost per passenger. Furthermore, buses provide the greatest flexibility
in service routes to meet the current transport demand. Thus, improved performance of urban
bus service could essentially contribute to improved environmental conditions in medium sized
cities by shifting mobility from private modes towards more efficient environmental-friendly
and safer travel modes. However, improvement in City bus system is not an easy task due to
the fact that city bus systems are affected by socio- economic, financial, environmental, and
political factors along with technological factors and physical problems. Performance of a bus
system is affected by several criteria, such as increase in the number of buses, bus stops, and
passengers, and changes along roadways and in land uses. Therefore, the various issues causing
inefficient operation of bus services needs to be identified and also appropriate
techniques/measures should be formulated to resolve these issues.

1.2 Davanagere City at a Glance

Davanagere is considered to be the "Heart of Karnataka". The city is 265 km away from Bangalore city.
Davanagere District is surrounded by Chitradurga, Bellary, Shimoga, Chikmagalur and Haveri
districts. Davanagere city is the administrative headquarters of Davanagere district and the Bangalore-
Pune national highway (NH4) which is the part of the Golden Quadrilateral network passes through
Davanagere. Davanagere became a separate district in 1997 separating from the district of Chitradurga
for Administration conveniences. This city is also famous for tourist places like Kunduvada kere, Batti
Gudda, Eshwara temple at Anekonda, Soole Kere etc.
1.3 Demographics of Davanagere City

Population growth in Davanagere City during 2001 to 2011 is about 19.61% as compared to
15.67% for Karnataka State. The registered vehicular population as per RTO office till May 2012
in the Davangere taluk is 1,45,726 of which 1,22,665 came from motorcycles alone. Private
buses and other Para-transits (auto-rickshaws) were the key mode of travel available in
Davangere city in the absence of the public transport. The Demographic details are as shown in
Table 1.1.

Table 1-1: Demographic Details

Davanagere District Davanagere City

Sl. No. Year
Population Growth (%) Population Growth
(%)
1 1981 1,266,938 32.44% 1,96,481 62.23%
2 1991 1,559,222 23.07% 2,66,082 35.42%
3 2001 1,790,952 14.86% 3,64,528 36.97%
4 2011 1,946,905 8.71% 4,35,128 19.61%
(Source: Census of India)

1.4 Financing of City Bus Services in Davanagere

The city faces certain key challenges with urban mobility especially with the lack of an effective
public transport which is hindering the smooth urban function. As a consequence, the residents
rely on personalized modes and Para-transits. With an unregulated Para-transit the commuter
ends up paying a high price for commute.
In this regard, a proposal for the induction of 20 buses in Davanagere was proposed by
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in September 2010 and sent to
Government of Karnataka (GoK) seeking financial assistance. Considering the need and demand
of the city for a dedicated city service to cater the need of the sprawling urban population in
Davanagere, it was proposed to fund 50% of the sought amount for the rolling stock. The
remaining 50% of the amount was borne by KSRTC. Hence, the funding was done for the
augmentation of the rolling stock through Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), UDD,
Gok, as per the “Scheme of utilisation of State Urban Transport Fund”.
 Figure 1-2: Passengers Carried

Details of total number of commuters over a year are depicted in Figure 1.2.The route details
are shown in Table 1.3.The minimum fare charged is ₹ 6 and maximum fare in a route is ₹ 16 as
per the stages.
The details like kilometers operated, number of stages and fare of the 4 operating routes in Davanagere
 1.5 Davanagere City Transport Service

Davanagere City transport service was initiated on January 2012. Services on three routes were
started at first and gradually increased to four routes by May 2012. Presently, the number of
buses used for operation has increased to 22 from 21 in number due to the addition of one new
route. However, the interference of the Private bus operators and IPT is a reason for less
ridership in the city services.
The bus routes were selected by KSRTC considering the spatial configuration of city along the
key transportation networks and the key nodes of commuter transit. The origin and destination
of the bus routes operating inside the city are as shown in Table 1.2.

Table 1-2: Details of Bus Route

No. Routes Length (km)

1 Sriramnagar – Karur 13

2 Shamanur – University 16

3 Davangere – Harihara 14

4 Vidyanagara – Davangere University 16

(Source: Davangere KSRTC divisional office)

Table 1-3: Route Details

No Routes Length Bus No ofFare Headwa Peak

Trips/ y hour
(km) Buses (Rs.)
Day (min) (min)
1 Sriramnagar – Karur 13 124 9 8 10 – 15 7–8
2 Shamanur – University 16 100 / 83 7/6 9 10 – 15 7–8
3 Davanagere – Harihara 14 32 2 8 30 – 40 25 – 30
4 Vidyanagara –
16 66 5 9 20 – 30 15 – 20
Davanagere University
(Source: Davanagere KSRTC divisional office)

2 Performance Evaluation Methodology

2.1 Performance Review Methodology
The evaluation assessment was initially done through a standard set of performance
benchmarks named as Service level benchmarks (SLB’s) framed by Ministry of Urban
Development (MoUD), Government of India, which in turn facilitates the development of
Performance improvement plans using information generated by the benchmarking and ensures
a long term sustainability of the Public transport. However, it is seen that the parameters defined
are on a generalized basis and quantifying them on a common scale is not appropriate. Hence a
methodology was proposed to classify the parameters under separate categories and defining
them separately to a Level of Service scale so as to identify the issues related to each separately.
The main benefits of an evaluation framework include:

1. Potential to improve the quality of investment and policy decisions.

2. Help the ‘value for money’ arguments for PT projects.
3. Identify affected groups and impacts.
4. Introduction of new routes and induction of new buses in phased manner.

In addition to this, a Performance Evaluation methodology for the tier II cities Bus Service has
been developed with respect to the city, the operator’s perspective and finally the end users
perspective towards the service.

2.1.1 Evaluation based on Service Level Benchmarks (As specified by the MoUD)

The growing challenges of the urban sector in India requires a sytem which can measure the
performance of urban transport activities and also address the performance monitoring for
internal decision making. With this perspective, Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) framed
a standard set of performance benchmarks which can help Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and other
agencies in identifying performance gaps and suggesting improvements through the sharing of
information and best practices, ultimately resulting in better services to the people.Accordingly
all JNNURM mission cities are advised to undertake the process of service level benchmarking.

The service level benchmarks for the Public transport consists of two categories:
1. Public transport facilities.

2. Sustainability of Public transport.

1. Public transport facilities

i. Presence of organized public transport system in urban area (%).

ii. Extent of supply availability of public transport.
iii. Service coverage of public transport in the city.
 iv. Level of comfort in public transport.
v. % of fleet as per urban bus specification.
vi. Average waiting time for public transport users (mins).

2. Financial Sustainability of public transport

i. Extent of Non-fare Revenue (%).

ii. Staff /bus ratio.
iii. Operating Ratio.

2.1.2 BASED ON VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES EVALUATION

A methodology was proposed to classify the parameters under separate categories and defining
them separately to a Level of Service scale so as to identify the issues related to each separately.

With this perspective, a performance evaluation for the Bus service had been conducted by
Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) to improve the performance standards of the
service. The evaluation criterion was divided into three perspectives i.e., the User, Commuter
and the City. The proposed methodology identifies the key parameters under defined
perspectives and evaluates the contribution of each to the overall performance of the service,
such that it can act as a handy tool by all public transport operators to improve the service.

3 Performance Evaluation
3.1 Performance Evaluation of Public Transportation System for a Medium sized city

There are different performance measurement methods and approaches for evaluating the
performance of a transit system. For a Tier II city like Davanagere the following
method/approach was adopted:

Davangere City Bus Service Evaluation

City Perspective User Perspective Operator Perspective

 The performance evaluation is broadly classified into three perspectives:
1. City Perspective – Measurement obtaining the modal shift and transit coverage area for a
city as a whole.
2. User Perspective – Measurement evaluates the travel characteristics of the users.
3. Operators Perspective – Measurement evaluates the characteristics of the bus operation in
the city.

Data Source

Performance evaluation for the City bus service in Davanagere has been done based on the
Primary data collection through opinion survey and secondary data collected from the KSRTC
divisional office in Davanagere.

1. Primary survey - An opinion survey of bus passengers were collected using a questionnaire
having details like mode of travel, daily trip summary, travel expenses, travel comfort,
reasons for shifting to PT, behavior of bus crew, Bus arrival & departure time at bus stops,
etc.

2. Secondary data collection- A detailed secondary data collection of operational

characteristics of city buses from KSRTC divisional office in Davanagere in a prescribed
format prepared by DULT.
3.1.1.1 Level of Service-City perspective

The performance of any system depends on a set of factors, thus it becomes necessary to study
all the parameters in detail and arrive to a set of indicators that are of prime importance to the
users, operators as well as the city. In order to arrive at a performance benchmarks that can be
commonly understood and used by all stakeholders, a methodology was proposed to classify the
parameters under separate categories and defining them separately to a Level of Service scale
so as to identify the issues related to each separately.
In the proposed Level of Service chart, the parameters related to the City, Users and operators
are categorized and evaluated separately and the measures required to improve the quality and
efficiency of the Bus service are recommended. The Level of Service chart developed is on a
generalized conception and the parameters were carefully selected with reference to their
importance to the Operators, transit planners as well as the commuters. The sole purpose of the
developed chart is to rank the various indicators to a scale which can be easily understood and
evaluated so as to identify the parameters which needs more attention. This type of chart helps
 the Operator to identify the problem in specific and solve them.

3.1.1 User perspective

The User Perspective included the Passenger opinion data base collected through primary survey
(200 samples) conducted on all the local bus stops targeting passengers using public transport
as their mode of travel. A Passenger Opinion survey format was prepared including the details
about trip purpose, earlier mode of travel, travel expenses, average income, vehicle ownership
details, trip details in a day, travel information etc.

3.1.2 Operators perspective

A detailed secondary data collection of operational characteristics of city bus was obtained in a
prescribed format from KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) divisional office,
which served as the database for Operators perspective. A performance monitoring format was
prepared by DULT to carry out the evaluation process on a monthly basis with a view to monitor
the Operators efficiency of the cities.

Performance indicators and Monitoring thereof (up to July-13)

From the secondary data collected, the following parameters were analysed and computed
which are of the prime concern with respect to the Operators point of view. The computation
formulas are shown in Annexure II.

Table 3-3: Performance Indicators

Types of Indicators Jan 2012 to July

2013
1.Breakdowns/1000000 vkm 0
2. Accidents/ 1000000 vkm 0
3. Percent buses departed in time (%) 92
4. Percent buses arrived in time (%) 95
Minor
17.5 min
1. Average Passenger Waiting time
good
2. Condition of vehicle/time
3. No. of buses on route/day 22
4. No. of Scheduled trips cancelled 3742
5. Fatal accidents/100000 vkms 0
Supplementary
1. No. of bus station provided Nil
Economy & profitability
1. Total cost/vkm ₹ 24.83
2. Revenue/cost ratio 0.78
 3. Net profit/km -5.45
4. Working expenses/vkm 28.40
Minor
1. Turnover/Capital Ratio 1.20
2. Working Expenses/ capital 0.24
3. Earning/ vkm ratio 24.83
4. Average gross earning/bus ₹ 4062
5. Passenger earning/vkm 19.07
Supplementary
1. Vehicle kms performed litre of fuel 4.37
2. vkm performed/bus/crew 43
3. Average tyre kilometer 1.20 lakh
Operation Performance
1. Fleet utilization 100%
2. vehicle utilization (effective) 169.0
3. vehicle utilization (Gross) 179.1
4. Average passenger kms/bus/day -
Minor
1. Scheduled kms/day (Avg) 4108.0
2. Operated kms/day (Avg) 3718.7
3. Operated kms/scheduled kms ratio 0.03
4. Revenue kms (Lakhs) 3.71
5. Average number of passenger 786
carried/bus/held/day
6. Dead kms/ Operated kms ratio 0.06
Supplementary
1. Total Fleet strength 22
2. Per cent capital invested/ fleet 14.75 lakhs
3. Number of days operated 578
4. Number of fraud detection checks -
exercised
5. Number of routes operated 4
6. Routes kms operated 59

(Source:- Davanagere KSRTC divisional office)

4 Bus Operation Impacts

4.1 Passenger Convenience

By introducing city bus service the people in Davanagere who have been using IPT/Private
bus service now has another service for their travel. Although there is cost saving, people
tend to use which-ever service comes first reducing the waiting time at the bus-stop.
4.2 Impact on the user

1.The monthly travel expenses of people have been reduced by 12% by shifting to city bus
service thus increasing their personal savings.
2.The total savings in fuel due to the shift, ( assuming a two wheeler will give 40 Kmpl) work
out to be 2500 litres per day, which is very significant saving given that the bus operation
use only about 1000 litres/day of HSD.

5 Conclusion

1. There is a requirement of increasing the Vehicle utilization of the Davanagere City service
also by 10-20%, which in turn has the potential to improve the revenue with the current
rolling stock.
2. City bus service is convenient, cheaper and safer mode of travel where the travel cost of
people has been reduced by 12%.
3. KSRTC needs to provide proper infrastructure facilities in each bus-stop which include bus
timings and bus numbers to help the people using city bus service.
4. The load factor of city bus service is 83.51% which shows that the buses are operating with
good capacity.
5. KSRTC should increase the fleet strength to increase the patronage of existing city bus
services.
6. The maximum spacing of the bus stops should be within 800 m which in turn will encourage
people to use City service on a larger scale.
7. There should be an efficient management of the fleet operation during peak and off peak
hours.
8. Fare box structure should be re-calculated based on Private Bus fare as it is the main
competing mode to the Public Transport system in Davanagere city.
6.REFERENCE

1.http:/www.urbantransport.kar.gov.in/Davanagere%20city%20bus%20services%20evaluation
%20report.pdf.