Transport in Kolkata
The transport system of Kolkata is a mix of modern mass rapid transport and the old transport modalities like the rickshaws. Kolkata is connected to the rest of India by the National Highways, the extensive network of the Indian Railways, and also by air. Most traffic to North-East India routes via Kolkata.
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[edit] Railways
Kolkata is well-connected to the rest of India by extensive railway network of the Indian railways. Two divisions of the Indian railways - the Eastern Railway and the South Eastern Railway are headquartered in the city. The two major railway stations of the city are at Howrah and Sealdah. A third terminal called Kolkata has recently been constructed. This station is in North Kolkata and can be reached by a road opposite to the RG Kar Medical College just beyond Shyambazar.
The electrified suburban rail network of the SER and the ER is extensive and stretches far into the neighbouring districts of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly etc.
The Circular Rail encircles the entire city of Kolkata, and is at present being extended. A new railway line off-shoot is under construction that would connect the airport to the lines going to Sealdah.
[edit] Underground Metro railway
Kolkata was the first city in South Asia to have an underground railway system that started operating from 1984. It is considered to have the status of a zonal railway but is not a zone. It is run by the Indian Railways.The Metro is a very well maintained and clean system. The line begins at Dum Dum in the north and continues south through Park Street, Esplanade in the heart of the city till the southern end in Tollygunge. In 2010, the line had been extended southward up to Garia, and this new portion of the Metro is on the surface. There are new metro lines being built to serve other parts of Kolkata, including an east west corridor linking Howrah to Salt Lake Sector 5.
Trains run every 10–15 minutes and at Rs 4-12. It runs from 8 a.m. to 9.45 p.m. from Monday to Saturday and 2 p.m to 9.45 p.m. on Sunday.
[edit] Buses and taxis
Kolkata has an extensive network of government run and privately run buses. The ticketing system is not centralized one and one has to purchase separate tickets for buses, metros, trams and trains.
The bus tickets are simple paper tickets purchased from the bus conductor after you board the bus. Also there are multiple organisations running buses, a private organisation, and multiple government services like CSTC (Calcutta State Transport Corporation), CTC (Calcutta Tramways Company), WBSTC (West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation) etc. There are also various types of privately run buses. The private-owned buses are quite typical of Kolkata and are usually very crowded. The private-owned buses are of two types, the regular ones and the mini-buses. The regular buses are coloured light-blue and yellow. Earlier the rules for building buses were slack and this led to rickety uncomfortable buses. The laws have been tightened up a few years back and the new blue-yellow buses are far more comfortable. The mini-buses are of brown and yellow colour, and contain lesser number of seats. The mini-buses were started in the late seventies as a relief for the office commuters from the overloaded buses by being a sitting-only service,but this has given way to severely overloaded and crowded mini buses.
The government-run buses are run by several authorities like Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC), South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC), West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC) and the Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC). Government buses have no colour code and can be identified only by the appropriate symbol (CSTC or CTC or WBSTC) on their body. Both the name of the place where the bus is going to, as well as the name of the place where its route originated is mentioned on the bus, which makes it hard to identify in which direction the bus is heading. However, usually the conductor will call out the names of the stops to come at each halt, so boarding the right bus is not much of a trouble. If in doubt the conductor or any fellow passenger will help out. The buses will often stop to pick up a passenger who waves at the bus, even if it isn't the designated bus stop.
Recently air-conditioned buses have been introduced by the WBSTC. These buses connects places like the Airport, Santragachi ( a station on the Howrah-Kharagpur railway line) and Tollygunj. The road network in south Kolkata starting from Park Circus, Ballygunge, Gariahat, Gol Park, Dhakuria, Jadavpur all the way to Garia consists mainly of Gariahat Road, Gurusaday Dutta Road, Ballygunge Circular Road, Rashbehari Avenue, and Prince Anwar Shah Road.
Long distance buses starting from Kolkata to various places like Bakkhali, Digha, Siliguri and other cities originate from the central bus depot at Dharmatala. The tickets can be purchased on spot from the counters or from the conductor on the bus. The buses are usually better than the city transport buses, but are usually overcrowded.
[edit] Aircon Bus Routes of Kolkata
The V and VS Series - Operated with Volvo Buses
VS1 - Airport - Esplanade
VS2 - Airport - Howrah Station via Baguihati, Ultadanga, Kankurgachi, Girish Park, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Chitpur Crossing, Howrah Bridge
VS3 - Airport - Taratala via Rajarhat New Town, Sector V, Nicco Park, EM Bypass, Ruby Hospital, Gariahat, Chetla
V1 - Airport - Tollyganj
V2 - Airport - Santragachi
V3 - Newtown - Tollyganj
V9 - Rajarhat New Town - Tollyganj
The MW Series - Operated with Tata Marcopolo Buses
MW1 - Sulekha in Jadavpur - Rajarhat New Town ( Narkelbagan )
MW4 - Barasat - Exide
MW9 - Patuli - Howrah
[edit] K-Series Non-Aircon Bus Routes of Kolkata
K1 - Kolkata Station - New Town
K2 - Dum Dum Station - Ruby Hospital
K3 - Bally Saheb Bagan - Kudghat
K4 - Dakshineswar - Naktala
K5 - Salt Lake - Joka
K6 - Mandirtala (in Howrah District) - Rajabazar
K7 - Bakultala (in Howrah District) - Ruby Hospital
K8 - Basudebpur (Belgharia) - Jadavpur
K9 - Barrackpore - Garia
The metered-cabs are mostly of the brand "Ambassador" manufactured by Hindustan Motors. Once in a while, one or two Maruti Omnis can be seen painted in yellow. Recently, air-conditioned cabs (known as "Blue-Arrow") and maroon cabs ( running on Compressed natural gas) have been introduced. The all-yellow ones have a Bengal permit and the black-yellow (hard to find) ones have a Kolkata city permit. The meters - though digital - are generally out-of-date and there is a conversion chart to refer to while converting the meter-reading to the actual fare. But recently ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services Ltd. has introduced an air-conditioned Radio Taxi service in Kolkata with the name 'Kolkata Cab' with fleets consisting of Indigo Marina only, which has gained popularity among the city dwellers because it has comfortable seats, GPS monitoring, digital tamper-proof meters, receipt printers and lost-and-found facilities. Mega Cabs are also there with the same facilities. Some other prospective Radio Taxis to be rolled in to the city are Easy Cabs and Meru Cabs.
Howrah Bridge and Vidyasagar Setu are two bridges connecting Kolkata with Howrah over the Ganges. Vivekananda Setu is the third bridge over the river at the northern reach of the city near Dakshineshwar. The fourth one and the newest one is Nivedita Setu. A network of expressways like Kona Expressway which is partially complete, Belghoria Expressway which is under construction, widening of southern stretch of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass are being created to ease up traffic.
Kolkata taxi fares are now available online on http://www.taxiautofare.com. The service also provides a unique fare calculation service that allows users to estimate fares before travelling. Source and Destination can be entered in to get a Google Map route.
[edit] Tram
Kolkata is the only city in India to have a tram network. Trams are under the administration of the Calcutta Tramways Company,a government of West Bengal Undertaking, popularly called CTC. The trams are claimed to slow down other traffic[citation needed], leading to groups who currently voice abolishing the trams[citation needed]. The environment-friendliness and the old charm of the trams attract many people. The tram lines laid in some major roads are being renovated to maintain the tram lines on the same level plane as the rest of the road, thereby smoothening the road. In places, the original central boulevards reserved only for the trams have been removed,the tram-lines are thus brought in the same plane as that of the road.The usable space of the road for vehicle movement has thereby considerably increased[citation needed]. With embedding of tram tracks in the road surface, the over all surface has become smoother, easing the traffic to some extent[citation needed].
With the tracks now running in the centre of the heavy traffic roads,commuters are encountering difficulties in getting to the trams' stops through the traffic and as a result, less number of people are able to use the tram easily[citation needed].Mostly trams are found to be running with many seats vacant even during rush hours.This has also caused reduction of revenue for Calcutta Tram Company. One possible remedy towards difficulty of approachability to the trams could be to relay the tracks on outside left and the right sides of the road, adjacent to the footpaths.However,relaying the track may not be possible now as the modification will need enormous expenditure[citation needed].
[edit] Light Railway
The proposal for a light rail transit system on elevated tracks for Kolkata is being pursued by the Government of West Bengal, but it is still on drawing board.[1]
[edit] Rickshaws and Auto-rickshaws
Rickshaws pulled by men and auto rickshaws are commonplace. Many migrants from Bihar and rural Bengal are involved in Rickshaw pulling. Rickshaws are also on the list of probable abolishments on humanitarian grounds. In southern Kolkata, the rickshaws pulled by men have been replaced by cycle rickshaws. Fares are usually set by the rickshaw unions, and are quite reasonable. These rickshaws usually operate over short distances due to the manual effort involved, and mainly run on narrow lanes where buses and auto-rickshaws don't ply.
Auto-rickshaws have become a very common mode of transport for short distances. They are usually not metered, and are usually shared. There are several routes, and the auto-rickshaws of a particular route ply between two distinct places of that route only. Autorickshaws can accommodate 3 people in the backseat, and one or two passengers in front beside the driver. The fares are usually quite low compared to other metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai, the minimum fare being ₹5.
[edit] Airport
The Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (IATA code:CCU) at Dum Dum (previously known as Dum Dum airport) is the only airport in the city, operating both domestic and international flights. It is a gateway to North-East India, Bangkok, and Bangladesh. The number of people using the airport has consistently increased over the last few years and there are talks to start another airport in the southern suburbs of the city. There is a flying club in Behala. After several years of inactivity it has recently been restored.
[edit] Port and water-transport
Kolkata is also a major port and together with the Haldia dock systems, the Kolkata Port Trust has been amongst top performers in the country. Kolkata Port has regular passenger services to Port Blair from the Netaji Subhas Docks.
Also the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah are connected by local water ferries through the extensive ghats like Fairlie Ghat, Howrah Ghat, Shibpur Ghat, Prinsep Ghat, Cossipore Ghat, etc. Small boats are used for recreational purpose. There are plans to start utilizing the canals running through the city as water-transport network. The first service is scheduled to start from September 2006 - and would cover the Belgachhia-Laketown stretch of Kestopur Canal.
Besides all this mode of transport, like in other Indian cities, walking is very common way to commute between the workplace and nearest railway station or bus stop. Privately owned cars, though less in number and usage compared to other large cities in India, are growing by leaps and bounds and are slowly becoming the transport of choice for a large number of people being helped by the growing economy, higher per capita income and the easy availability of loans from financial institutions.
[edit] References
- ^ "Govt to pursue LRTS despite objections". Kolkata Plus. The Statesman, 17 August 2007. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=22&id=193765&usrsess=1. Retrieved 2008-01-18.[dead link]
