Uploaded on 2017-06-18 by Prajakta Chaudhari

VISIBLE INFORMATION Information visible from photographs – photographs were taken during early hours of morning; before commencement of rush and office hours • Southern part of the strip selected: o The area is a major commercial area during the day and a socializing place for residents of Aurangabad City in the evenings o The area has major branches of few of the banks operational in Aurangabad City o The area has a number of eating joints – right from road-side ones for a quick bit to coffee shops, delis and mid-range restaurants o The area has a host of mid-range luxury item shops o Majority traffic is that of private vehicles – 4-wheelers and equal number of 2-wheelers o The area has good street lighting infrastructure and has a slight green cover o The area also has a 3-star hotel o Pedestrian activity is visible – even though it is low in the photographs – it increases during the day time and continues to be high during evening rush hours o Unorganized parking is visible • Intersection: o The intersection has a statue of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The intersection is well maintained with adequate lighting facilities o A flyover connects the traffic moving east-west and not intending to take either of the north / south routes – and it moves right around the intersection to keep the look and feel of the grand statue and square intact o The intersection houses one of the most famous sweet shops of Aurangabad City –south-east corner of the intersection o North-east corner of the intersection has a commercial complex – building is very old and not very well maintained – and has a take-away joint on the corner at the interaction o Unorganized parking is visible at south-east and north-east corners of the intersection o Majority traffic is that of private vehicles – 4-wheelers and even higher number of 2-wheelers o There are bill-board structures on buildings around the intersection • Northern part of the strip selected: o The eastern side of the road has a number of shops within a commercial complex – including few take-away joints o The area has good street lighting infrastructure and has a slight green cover Information that is visible but not photographed is as follows – there was too little space to fit all the photographs along with the underlying map • Southern part of the strip selected: o Further south on the road, is the railway station and state-run holiday inn surrounded with tons of informal eating and shopping joints o Parking is unorganized outside railway station premises – it is organized inside railway station premises o There is a major heart-critical care hospital in the south-eastern area o Further south-east is has drama theatre-cum-cultural centre, few private tuition classes and major residential establishment • Intersection: o North-west corner of the intersection has a banquet hall – parking arrangement around the hall is not visible o During major events – especially birthdays of major erstwhile leaders within the state – the statue is decorated and the intersection see gathering of people for celebrating the event – especially during morning and evening rush hours o The intersection is under constant traffic police supervision (during rush and office hours) and has CCTV camera surveillance for remote surveillance and rapid action o Intersection has traffic lights • Northern part of the strip selected: o The eastern side of the road has a number of shops within a commercial complex – including few take-away joints o Further north is another intersection that leads straight to major market area of Aurangabad (further north of the intersection) and is one of the oldest market areas within the city o Prior to the start of market area is a historical monument – Paithan Gate – it has a well done premises for protection and it is open for public to visit – un-ticketed historical monument (Additional information: Aurangabad City is known as the City of Gates – and Paithan Gate is one of the surviving gates in the City of the total number of 52 gates) • Street-lighting infrastructure in this area is adequate INVISIBLE INFORMATION • Parking and public transport: o Study of the following parameters may be conducted:  No. of people visiting the area:  Daily  Occasionally (Aurangabad is the Tourist Capital of the State of Maharashtra – this area is for economy tourists – mostly domestic)  Demographic profile of the people visiting the area  Purpose of travel to the area  Average amount of time spent by visitors in the area  Preferred time / day of visiting the area  Mode of transport opted by visitors to travel to the area  Source of travel while travelling ‘to’ the area:  Location (from which area)  Type of location (home, work, after college, from hotel – in case of temporary stay in the city, adjoining market areas)  Destination of travel while travelling ‘back from’ the area:  Location (from which area)  Type of location (home, work, after college, from hotel – in case of temporary stay in the city, adjoining market areas)  Preferred route of travel o Invisible information that can be derived from study of the above-mentioned parameters:  What type of people travel to the area, for which activity and the amount of time they spend at the area – this will help us understand the profile of visitors to the area  If they commute using own vehicles / use public or hired transport and the time they spend in the area – it will give us an idea about the actual requirement of parking in the area  Analysis of source of travel and destination along with demographic profile, purpose of visit, time / day of visiting the area, average amount of time spent in the area, mode of transport and route of travel will help us understand:  Major areas from where what kind of people travel for what activities (patterns of movement of people within the city to the area) – to determine transportation requirement  If adequate public / hired transport facilities are available  What time of the day and days of week is the area crowded / less crowded  Preference of routes of travel for – to determine traffic management requirements:  Various demographics of visitors  Activities undertaken by visitors  In line with specific time of the day / day of the week  Analysis of preference of routes of travel along with mode of transport and demographic profile of visitors will allow us to understand patterns:  If there is a specific type of mode of transport that is more preferred for a travel route  If there is a specific demographic profile of visitors that uses a particular route • Walkability, footpaths / pedestrian walk-ways: o Study of the following parameters may be conducted:  No. of people visiting the area:  Daily  Occasionally (Aurangabad is the Tourist Capital of the State of Maharashtra – this area is for economy tourists – mostly domestic)  Demographic profile of the people visiting the area  Purpose of travel to the area  Preferred chronology of activities undertaken in the area  Preferred time / day of visiting the area  Type of establishments in the area:  Formal / informal  Eating joint, shopping, ATM, hospital  Location of alighting and on-boarding of mode of transportation  Source of travel while travelling ‘to’ the area:  Location (from which area)  Type of location (home, work, after college, from hotel – in case of temporary stay in the city, adjoining market areas)  Destination of travel while travelling ‘back from’ the area:  Location (from which area)  Type of location (home, work, after college, from hotel – in case of temporary stay in the city, adjoining market areas) o Invisible information that can be derived from study of the above-mentioned parameters:  Study of above parameter will help us in tracking the movement inside the area – this will help understand if there are any patterns in movement of the visitors specially aligned to a demographic profile – this will help chart requirements for pedestrian walk-ways  Study of source of travel and destination of travel along with location of alighting and on-boarding of mode of transportation will help us understand if pedestrians cross the intersection frequently – this will help chart requirements for a sub-way (sky-walk is impossible on account of the flyover at the intersection)  Study of source of travel and destination of travel along with purpose of visit and preferred chronology of activities will help us understand: • If visitors travel from adjoining areas and how they travel (if they are using motor vehicles even for short distances) • What of type of pedestrian walk-ways required in which sections of the city and for what volume of people  Study of purpose of visit and preferred chronology of activities along with type of establishment will help us understanding if any restricting can be done in the area with respect to informal establishment to improve movement of visitors in the area KNOWLEDGE DERVIED FROM INVISIBLE INFORMATION AND CONTRIBUTION TO PLANNING Topic chosen: Parking and public transport Brief back-ground * : Aurangabad City is a 400 year old city that has growing with much delayed efforts of planning. Bird’s eye view of Aurangabad City is that there is major residential population within the city area and all industrial activities being undertaken on the outskirts. Aurangabad is the Tourism Capital of the State of Maharashtra and is also informally known as the “Beer Capital of India”. Aurangabad is also the largest of the handful major cities in the region, a major cultural centre within the State of Maharashtra and a major industrial and educational hub in the region. Irrespective of the major movement that takes place from within the city to the outskirts for resident and tourist population, public transport is extremely poor within the city – there are only 39 buses for a city with an area of 170 kms and even those are in poor condition. The fleet of auto rick-shaws that ply along major routes are not very commuter-friendly and service-oriented – commuters use them because they have no choice – I personally avoid them. OLA is the only private taxi operator in the area – but their services are also not to the mark – I use it out of compulsion because I am deputed here for a short period and hence I have not planned to get a vehicle from Mumbai which is 350 kms away and there are not car rent facilities available. Private tour operators do maintain a fleet of cars, but they are generally utilized for tourists only. Majority of the residents of the city tend have their own vehicles. Aurangabad City does not have a formalized Parking Policy and parking overall is unorganized. Pay-and-park is an almost unknown phenomenon in majority of the city. Another detail mentioned by a state government officer is that there is a major impact of this mess on unorganized parking and means of transport – it just kills the first impression of the city. Knowledge that can be derived from the invisible information for contributing to planning: • Parking requirement within the area can be determined: o Specific locations within the area where parking can be planned –  Temporary: along the road – around facilities where visitors spend very little time  Formal : along the road – as it is a relatively wide road, if any premises is available for some benefits in exchange o Identify parking locations with respect to type of vehicle o A separate paid multi-storied parking facility – there are empty commercial plots on the south-west side of the intersection o Option of PPP model of operations can be explored for building such an elaborate system for parking – if there is a relatively large demographic of visitors with means to spend and willingness to spend for quality service, such an operations can be planned (local self-governing body does not have requisite adequate funds for implementation of an elaborate parking system) • Requirement for planning routes for accessing the area can be assessed and plans cab be charted for: o Permanent changes in route (one-ways) for traffic based on volume of traffic o Changes in traffic by time of day / day of week or year • Plan for public transport from major areas from where visitors travel to the areas and feeder-system to the public transport areas from where visitors start their journey or end their journey to the major public transport hubs – from where visitors will board / alight public transport to visit to / travel back from the area • Plan for localized public transport within the area for visitors who do not prefer to walk through the area – on account of its expanse • Price points for availing the public transport facilities can be determined from the study of demographic of visitors, purpose of visit and their current mode of transportation • Kind of facilities that need to planned for bringing about the change – amount of and kind of technology that can be implemented – and change management required to be undertaken for driving adoption of technology and acceptance to the changes implemented – programs that ought to be undertaken – can be determined by studying demographic information of visitors visiting the area • Impact of organized parking and availability of adequate parking facilities on tourism and other commercial activities can be determined and further development of the area can be planned Few points on walkability, footpaths / pedestrian walk-ways that can be derived from the invisible data and can contribute to planning: • Design for walk-ways can be prepared in line with requirement of movement of pedestrians • Plan for sub-ways can be charted for pedestrians crossing over roads with major vehicular traffic • Designated pick-up and drop locations for public and private taxi / hired transport can be identified • Locations for Alighting / boarding facilities at sub-way pedestrian and walk-ways for differently abled based on pick-up and drop locations of public and private taxi / hired transport can be determined and facilities can be planned for * I have been posted to Aurangabad City for undertaken technology-led transformation of the City to make it Smart and Safe Aurangabad City. All the additional information and perspective is a result of the detailed study and survey of this city – that includes this area too. I have tried being to the point and very focussed and mention every detail required – but in case, something is missing, it is on account of me having missed on putting in some back-ground information – in such a case, I would be more than happy to explain the point ** The language may not be apt for delivering an assignment. But I have tried my best to stick to the assignment style of writing as I am zoned through the day working on multiple deliverables of differing nature and those with an extreme formal style of writing