Higher FSI along metro rail corridor unlikely to increase ridership: study

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

The growth of population is reducing in the Chennai city while the peripheral areas are registering higher growth rate and the increase in Floor Space Index along the metro rail corridor may not lead to increase in commuters taking to Chennai Metro Rail, according to an interim report.

The interim report ‘Densification along the Chennai Metro Rail Corridors in Chennai Metropolitan Area’, that was discussed recently here, stressed on the need to examine other factors which could boost the metro rail ridership.

Interestingly, the report comes in the wake of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority studying the possibility of additional floor space index within 500 metres of the metro corridor.

A high level meeting of top officials from various departments, which was held last month to discuss the interim report, were also informed that 80 per cent of the secondary data has been collected and household survey has been completed in 12,000 households.

During the meeting, officials felt the report contained only facts on demography, traffic and transportation, water supply and lacked analytical perspective and suggested the need to incorporate it in the next report, sources said.

The consultant was also called upon to study the relationship between ridership in metro rail and densification in the international models.

The study being conducted by L&T Ramboll will also review the master plan of Chennai Metropolitan Area besides comprehensive traffic and transportation study (CTTS) and other relevant studies. 

It would also carry out classified traffic volume surveys during morning or evening peak periods at the approach intersections of various stations along CMRL corridors to prepare traffic projections for various phases and scenarios besides formulating a strategy for densification of corridors.