ABSTRACT
In India and many other developing countries, public transportation is provided by a mix of formal government-run systems and informal paratransit or intermediate public transport systems, services through high-demand routes with various boarding places alighting. IPT such as three-wheelers, tempos, and Tata Magic caters to daily urban travels in Indian cities. They provide an alternate form of transportation without a well-organized municipal bus system. They serve as a feeder to the system when public transport is provided. However, this sector confronts several obstacles and is frequently overlooked by city policy and decision-makers due to its unorganized character. None of India’s recent policy efforts, such as the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) 2006 or the National Urban Renewal Mission, emphasize IPT vehicles and upgrades. When faced with the city bus service and bus rapid transit system, the function of the autorickshaw paratransit system in the fast-growing metropolitan city of Surat in the Indian state of Gujarat is examined. It has been noted that a significant amount is missing to adequately structure this sector from the operators’ and users’ viewpoints. With proper policy and institutional framework, it is efficiently used for last-mile connectivity while dealing with operators’ and users’ infrastructure, social, and economic aspects. According to RTO Surat statistics from March 2022, Surat city has 109820 autorickshaws, 41 active city bus routes with 75673 boarding and alighting passengers each day, and a BRTS network of 12 busy bus routes with 148872 boarding and alighting passengers to commute within municipal corporate limits. According to anticipated land use, degree of growth, and demography, the south zone of Surat municipal corporation was chosen as a zone of influence for this thesis, with a 10 km BRTS line with 20 stations and 18204 total passengers per day to meet the thesis goals; I conducted three different types of surveys. 1) Autorickshaw operators; 2) Autorickshaw passengers; 3) Off-board BRTS survey based on data analysis and literature assessment, on-site observations and pilot surveys to access the paratransit service has recently been conducted to identify system flaws at the stack holder level and make policy and spatial proposals. There are two spatial proposals: 1) Macro-level proposals and 2) micro-level or area-level plans to link people to public transit via IPT.
