Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (Cumta) has invited tenders for a two-month study to map Chennai Metro users’ travel patterns and plan feeder bus routes around all 41 operational Phase I stations, in a move aimed at improving last-mile connectivity and expanding metro ridership.
The study will use anonymised mobile phone location data to track journeys before passengers enter the metro and after they leave it. Cumta plans to identify gaps in existing connectivity, understand local travel demand and prepare origin-destination matrices for the catchment areas of the stations.
The exercise will cover areas extending up to 5km by road around each station. These areas will be divided into traffic analysis zones of about 0.5 sq km so that travel patterns can be examined at a more local level. The appointed consultant will use anonymised GPS traces from smartphone applications or mobile networks covering a minimum three-month period.
A Cumta official said the data sample would need to represent around 10-15% of the target population. The study will identify trip origins and destinations, peak and off-peak movements and trip lengths. It will also compare overall travel demand around the stations with actual ridership on Chennai Metro Rail Limited’s network.
“We want to understand the share of trips being captured by CMRL and the travel demand that exists around stations but may not be translating into metro trips,” the official said.
The data is intended to support the planning of a pilot last-mile connectivity programme that Cumta and the Metropolitan Transport Corporation have identified for 12 metro stations. The proposed pilot includes 150 buses with a 5m length and 70 buses with a 7m length, with operations expected to begin by the middle of next year. The buses are planned to serve areas within a 5km radius of the stations, and fares are expected to be around ₹20-25.
“But we need to plan their routes. Apart from serving existing commuters, we need new ones to opt for public transport. So planning is needed to take metro to doorsteps,” said I Jeyakumar, member secretary, Cumta.
Chennai Metro’s Phase I network spans 54km across the Blue and Green lines and carries more than 3.5 lakh passengers a day. The proposed study is designed to show where potential passengers live and travel, rather than relying only on existing boarding figures at stations.
Cumta also plans to provide a web-based platform for one year. The platform will include heat maps and desire-line diagrams showing travel movements across the study areas. The tendered study and the subsequent data platform will form the basis for planning feeder routes around Chennai’s operational metro stations.
