Client Situation

Our client is the metro operator in the capital city of an emerging economy. In addition to the expansion of the network, the client invests in the upgrade of existing multimodal hubs. Through the upgrade programme the client intends to enhance the integration of the various transport modes converging at the metro stations and to improve the last mile connectivity.

In the course of this initiative, M-Prime was asked to present its concept for the redesign of one of the most significant multimodal hubs of the city with a focus on streamlining operations.

The way to problem solving

We initiated the redesign of the hub with the study of the existing functionality, identification of strengths and weaknesses and by setting clear requirements. The key steps for the plan development included:

• Analysis of the ‘as is’ design of the hub to identify key issues with respect to traffic and pedestrian flows, design of transport facilities such as load zones, parking and waiting areas and adequacy of available spaces at these facilities
• Scoping the transport integration and other hub requirements based on the operations of all modes at the hub, such as public buses, feeder buses, private cars, auto rickshaws, motorcycles and bicycles
• Development of design principles based on local design guidelines and international best practices, including separation of public and private modes, priority to high capacity and active transport modes, comfortable walking distances to public transport modes, convenient walking distances to private transport modes, minimizing traffic conflicts, and reducing the impact on the surrounding road network
• Redesign of the hub that included the plan of vehicle and pedestrian flows and functional design of facilities such as bus load zones, auto rickshaw ranks, kiss-and-ride areas and parking areas for cars, motorcycles and bicycles.

Impact

Our work resulted in the development of a revised design for the multimodal hub of the capital city that improved transport operations and delivered higher service levels to the passengers using the metro station and the other facilities. The most significant outcomes of our detailed study are:

• Design solution to separate public transport and private transport modes and create vehicles flows with minimum conflicts
• Provision of designated spaces (load zones, waiting areas, parking areas and queuing areas) for all modes to meet the expected demand
• Design solution to limit the use of the hub as a thoroughfare by traffic not related to hub operations
• Recommendation for dedicated auto rickshaw load zones
• Design of convenient and comfortable pedestrian pathways among transport modes.

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