As an integral part of the core research team of Urban Informatics and Transportation group under the supervision of Prof. Debapratim Pandit at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, my responsibility as a Research Associate involved in various capacities to move the project. The project focuses on some crucial aspects like highlighting the importance of user convenience and user comfort specifically in terms of seat availability and onboard congestion levels.

It emphasizes the need to consider these characteristics while designing bus service operations, such as dwell time, waiting time, vehicle capacity, and frequency of service. These variables are critical to recruiting new riders and possibly retaining existing ones in the public transportation system. 

Below are the highlights of the project.

• Determination of the passenger travel demand including a modal split model between public transit and para-transit services.

• Determination of feasible range of service delivery levels for transit services. This essentially has three components: 

a. To determine the feasible LOS ranges for bus transit and para-transit services based on users’ perception,

b. To determine the expected service levels of users across various user groups, and 

c. To determine service levels that provides maximum marginal utility to the service providers.

• Determination of the optimal level of service for public bus transport and para-transit (in terms of fleet size, vehicle capacity, headway, etc.) during peak and off-peak hours. And finally,

• Development of a framework for regulation and implementation.

The project addresses the challenges of "last-mile connectivity" in metropolitan cities. Navigating the final part of one’s journey from major transportation hubs to specific destinations in congested cities is a perennial issue. While para-transit services such as yellow cabs provide significant relief still are not immune to exacerbating pollution and congestion. This research has looked towards the elegance of bicycle-sharing networks as a great alternative that too within the challenging Indian urban context. 

These systems are perfect for reducing pollution along the route as they are the perfect synthesis of mobility and environmental care. They would not only streamline urban travel but also instill a sustainable ethos.

The Department of Architecture and Regional Planning in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, offers to get involve in real-life projects. I had the opportunity to get hands-on experience on one of the projects under the supervision of Prof. Subrata Chattopadhyay during my stay as a doctoral fellow. I had diverse responsibilities including intense working with GIS and AutoCAD for managing base-data, managing the survey team in producing detailed maps and collecting data to feed in GIS. Attending multiple stakeholder meetings, Executive interviews and finally the background research, data analysis, proposals and report preparation for the project. This has given me practical exposure to the challenges of planning in Indian context. I look forward to take-up such large scale planning project with confidence from my experiences.