The decision to send a team of officials to Europe to study transportation systems in England, France and Sweden will meet its desired objective only if the fundamentals of this trip and the results sought are clear and fit into the larger vision of improving transport infrastructure in Goa.
There can be no disputing that voyages should always be of discovery. But those discoveries must translate into a process for change. No one can or should expect that one trip of a few days by officials of the KTC will revolutionise the transport system of Goa. But what it will hopefully do is open up the minds of those in capacities which require vision and planning, for the government.
However before this team sets off, there needs to be detailed advance planning and a very clear, defined and most importantly documented plan on what the team will seek and the list of people who will help look at specific areas of transportation and infrastructure.
But even before that is done, the government for the sake of transparency must share why England, France and Sweden were picked for this trip. For good reason perhaps. But it is only when the specific goals and objectives are specified that the choice of destinations can be made. Cities, especially those in West and South East Asia who have made far greater leaps in transportation than many European cities themselves and thus that should be taken into account at some stage.
To help the team prepare for their Euro “educative tour”, here are a few thoughts
Transportation needs to be seen as a collective cohesion of modes of transport. Integration is the key word, but in Goa, it is pointless to speak of integration when some of the basic modes of transportation are just not there or function in a completely ad hoc and uncontrolled fashion.
The biggest takeaway that the team should come back with is the realisation that every place they have been to, no one needs private transportation of any kind – a car, a two-wheeler or even a bicycle, though the latter has become the preferred mode of transportation in cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. This is achieved, again through seamless integration of buses, trains, taxis, bicycle rentals, and wherever applicable, the ferry.
Apart from the bus network run by KTC which is patchy and does not penetrate every nook and corner of the state efficiently, our state does not have a rail system to speak of, either on surface or underground for travel within Goa. Goa’s taxi service is controlled completely by the taxi owners unions and as we all know, this lobby has resisted even basic changes like installing digital meters.
They have been in the forefront of stalling all efforts to bring in Radio Taxis.
At this juncture let’s see a few glimpses of the integration brought into transport infrastructure in some cities regarded the best in this.
Munich has the S-Bahn (Suburban trains) and U-Bahn (Subway) systems where lines begin in one corner, travel through the “central corridor” underneath central Munich, and then terminate on the opposite end.
Seoul has a super-effective transport system with trains being the main stay. Most importantly the city transit card works in the buses and taxis and can also be used as a debit card at local convenient stores.
Then there are examples much closer home. Taipei, the capital of Taiwan has a rapid transit system using a contactless payment called Easy Card, which can be read by panels on the buses and in the MRT metro stations. The card is valid on high-speed trains, bicycle rentals, some taxis and even some domestic flights.
Thus the KTC team from Goa does not need to go to Europe to have a look at this. Small nations in Asia, less than a third of India in terms of size and reach are doing wonders
If Goa is serious about bringing perestroika in mobility infrastructure, it must first have a policy of creating different verticals of transport like trains, modern buses, bicycles and an efficient ferry system to use Goa’s backwaters for transportation.
The KTC team going to Europe needs to realise this. KTC is a transport corporation, not a bus corporation and therefore it needs to take the lead on becoming the key force driver of revamping transport efficiency and infrastructure in Goa.
Therefore, the people of Goa need to be watchdogs to ensure this. While it does matter that those travelling abroad on state expense must justify and return to at least lay one brick on the foundation of change, the great test will be to see if they make the state create an integrated transport system, which is commuter friendly and accessible though one contactless card.
When people shun taxis unless really needed and when transportation reaches every nook of Goa, at rates easily affordable by new professionals as well retired pensioners, that is when officials of the state can look back on as many foreign trips without ever having to be defensive about them.
