The Kandy News Online Edition
January - February 2009
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This supplement is based on a larger study of the Kandy traffic problem that the Asia Foundation (TAF), Colombo commissioned under its Economic Governance Program.

In the last five years or so the traffic conditions in Kandy have deteriorated to a point where travel of a few kilometers ether to or from Kandy town has become a time-consuming and exasperating experience for the motorist and the commuter. The goal of the TAF is to use the report that the study produced as a launching pad to help the Kandy Municipal Council (KMC), Central Provincial Council (CPC), other government agencies such as the Road Development Authority (RDA) and Police as well as the stakeholders in the Kandy community ranging from the business community to transport service providers to collectively address the Kandy traffic problems and find solutions that are broadly acceptable to the citizenry.

The report had inputs from road engineers, traffic experts, economists and management experts. Most important, the study team consulted, among others, various stakeholders including officials of the CPC and KMC, the Kandy business community, school authorities, bus operators, and three-wheeler operators. The goal was to produce a set of practical proposals that had broad consensus to address Kandy traffic problems.

The study would not have been possible without the generous assistance of a whole host of individuals and institutions too numerous to mention here by name. However, a special word of thanks goes to the Governor of the Central Province Hon. Tikiri Kobbakaduwa, Chief Minister of the Central Province Hon. Sarath Ekanayaka and His Worship the Mayor of Kandy L B Aluvihare. Several senior officials in the Police, KMC, CPC, RDA, UDA and other government agencies, leaders of the Kandy business community and the trade chambers and trade associations also assisted the study team. To all of them the authors of the report owe a debt of gratitude.

The Kandy News thanks the Representative of TAF Colombo Mr. Nilan Fernando and his officials, especially Mr. Ranjith Wijekoon for the assistance given to publish this supplement.

Understanding Kandy Traffic Problems

Anybody who travels to Kandy on a normal weekday when schools are open is familiar with the frustrations of the motorists and commuters who encounter slow or stalled traffic and difficulty in parking in town. But we are making a big mistake if we believe that better roads and more car parks alone would produce sustainable solutions to Kandy traffic problems. They will not.

Kandy traffic problems are not pure engineering problems as some mistakenly perceive. To find practical, affordable and sustainable solutions we must also take into account the following facts. Kandy has limited land space. Although the KMC population is only about 150,000 Kandy also serves another 500,000 people who live in adjacent areas. Kandy is a modern and vibrant city. But it is also a UNESCO World Heritage City is of great historical, religious and cultural significance. The challenge is to combine modern development with preservation of its history.

Traffic and transport planners must also take into account the fact that Kandy faces population pressure and a fragile environment. We must avoid air pollution that more cars and buses usually cause. Giving priority to the concerns of private motorist will not be socially equitable when the majority rely on public transport.

Transport and traffic problems have an important political and governance dimension. Setting aside government funds for roads and transport is a political decision. Enforcing road rules by the police and preventing pavement hawkers taking pavement space are tied to good governance.

Most important, without the cooperation of the Kandy community in general and important stakeholders such as the business community, bus operators, and three-wheeler operators and so on it is not possible to implement a viable plan to solve traffic problems. The best example is the failed one-way traffic system between Kandy and Getembe. The people were not consulted before the scheme was implemented. The scheme was abandoned owing to strong public opposition.
The Kandy Traffic Report on which this supplement is based was prepared after consulting key stakeholders. Two public meetings were also held to give an opportunity for members of the public to air their views.

Public and Not Only Government Responsible for Some Shortcomings in Road Network

Within the KMC limits (See Map 1) Kandy there are about 18 km of A grade roads (some are called AB Roads but are counted as “A”) and 14.5 km of B grade roads. These are managed by the Road Development Authority (RDA). There are about 25km of C grade roads that are the managed by the KMC. C grade roads outside the KMC limits come under the Provincial Council.

Typically the public blames the government for the bad state of roads and inadequacies of the road network. The government certainly bears ultimate responsibility. But as pointed out below the public too has to share a part of the blame for bad roads.

However, what we found was that not everything that is wrong in regard to Kandy roads can be blamed on government. There are several things that the public and can do or should not do that have an important bearing on the Kandy road network. One is the use of road space for unauthorised activities. Some private businesses routinely use roadside space illegally as a part of their business space. Vehicle repairs are one obvious example. But there are many other types of business that encroach on road and pedestrian pavement space.

Private builders, middle class house builders are probably the worst culprits, excavate earth from building sites and dump on road sides. These piles of dirt get washed away during the rains and clog the storm water drains. The damage that this practice causes to the roads is obvious.

Illegal acquisition of road reservations for private use has serious negative long-term consequences for road development and expansion. For example, the last few hundred meters of the Getembe-Peradeniya (Gannoruwa) Road cannot be widened under the ongoing road rehabilitation project because private users have acquired state land on various pretexts and the government is not willing to take the political risk to remove them.

Road space being used as storage space for construction material (WGM)	A massive retaining wall on the Mapanawatura Road built violating the minimum distance from road rule

The Table 1 below shows the shows the minimum distance that should be kept between the centre of the road and any building that is constructed along a road. The distance varies depending on the grade of road. This rule is routinely violated everywhere in the country.

Table 1: Minimum Distance from Centre of the Road to Building
Along the Road

Source: RDA, Thoroughfare Ordinance

In the Kandy Traffic Report the authors have urged that there should be an integrated plan for “Greater Kandy” area road development.

Several overhead pedestrian bridges have been built in Kandy in the last one year to protect pedestrians if the one way system is reintroduced. The Kandy Traffic Report points out that the disadvantages of the one way system outweigh the advantages and therefore should not be reintroduced. The report also notes that overhead bridges harm the beauty of the town, a selling point for the tourist industry. Although more expensive to build, pedestrian under-passes are recommended.

The Report strongly recommends development of the following set of “Link Roads” so that more traffic can be diverted from the main access roads such as Kandy-Katugastota Road, SBM and WGM.
1.Mapanawatura Road (Length 2.4 Km, Current width About 4.0 M)
2.From Polgolla To Mahaiyawa Link Via Polgolla Dam and Devy Road
\ (Length 4.5 km, Current width about 4.5 m)
3.Dutugemunu Mawatha (Length 1.7 km, Current width about 7.0 m)
4.Rajapihilla Mawatha (Length 2.5 km, Current width about 5.0 m)
5.Vihara Mawatha (Length 1.5 km, Current width about 3.5 m)
6.Peradeniya-Haloluwa-Katugastota Road (Length 6.0 km, Current width about 7.0 m)
7.Haloluwa-Barigama Road (Length 5.76 km, Current width about 5.0 m)
As a long-term solution the RDA has proposed a network of ring roads (Map 2) which consists of an inner circular road, second inner semi-circular road, and outer semi-circular road. Much of the roadway for all three already exists. What is mainly required is improvement of the roads.

Map 2: Kandy Ring Roads Proposed by the RDA

By-pass Roads and School Relocation Will Help Ease Traffic Congestion
Good bypass roads, relocation of some of the Kandy town schools in the periphery and better public transport are three key components of a viable long term strategy to solve the traffic congestion in Kandy. Inadequate road space, haphazard parking, lack of pavement space for pedestrians that force them to walk on the road obstructing traffic, buses stopping in the middle of the road to pick up and drop off passengers are some of the other factors that contribute to traffic hold ups. These are some of the main observations contained in the Kandy Traffic Study Report that was handed over to the provincial and municipal authorities last month.

The Kandy Traffic Study collected traffic data through three comprehensive surveys. One survey counted all vehicles that came to the town and exited the town on week days. The second survey studied the travel time taken to reach the town from Peradeniya, Katugastota and Nattaranpotha/Lewella and to leave the town. The third survey tried to find out how many vehicles passed through the town without stopping simply on their way to a destination beyond.

The first picture shows the number of cars (one person per car) and road space needed to transport the people standing in front. The second shows the same number of people who can be accommodated in one bus and the road space required.

Graph 1: Kandy Daily Traffic Vehicle Volume Entering the City per Hour
by Main Access Roads – July 2007

Graph 2: Kandy Daily Traffic Vehicle Volume Exiting the City per Hour
by Main Access Roads – July 2007

The following are the main findings of the traffic volume survey:

· The average daily traffic volume (ADT) of all descriptions that enters and exits the city on a normal work day when schools are in session is in the order of about 50,000.

· Much of the traffic flows along three roads, William Gopallawa Mawatha (WGM) and Sirimavo Bandaranaike Mawatha (SBM) and Katugastota Road and much of the traffic congestion is also encountered on these three roads, especially the latter two.

· Entry rush hours: 7.00 a.m. to 8.00 a.m. is the peak hour in the inflow of the total volume of traffic to Kandy. A little over 4,000 vehicles enter the town in this period. The period 8.00 a.m. to 9.00 a.m. is the next highest with about 4,000 vehicles. The 7.00 to 8.00 morning rush hour holds for every road.

· Overall, in respect of traffic that enters the city, 6.00 a.m. to 7.00 a.m., 9.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. are also busy times in terms of the total volume of traffic. In each of these time intervals about 3,000 to 3,300 vehicles enter the city. The 9.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. high and steady traffic volume entering Kandy is mainly attributable to the inflow from Katugastota and Katukele (SBM and WGM.)

· The major exit rush hour is 5.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. with nearly 4,000 vehicles leaving the city. This is closely followed by 2.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. with around 3,800 vehicles. This pattern holds for all the exit points.

· Morning 7.00 to 8.00 is a minor rush hour for traffic leaving Kandy. All the exit points share this feature.

· In general starting about 11.00 a.m. there is a steady outflow of traffic from the city until 7.00 p.m. This pattern is also generally true for all exit points subject to the rush hours mentioned above.

· Buses are only 11% of the total traffic volume although a bus does occupy about twice or a little more of the road space that an average car or van occupies. Three-wheelers (TWs) account for 22% of the traffic volume. A TW occupy slightly less space than a car.

· A large percentage of the vans that come to Kandy are for transport of school children.

· Lorries and container trucks that account for about 10% of the total traffic in Kandy enter the Kandy city during the hours of 6.00 a.m. and 7.00 p.m. more or less in the same pattern that other vehicles do. At present there is no regulation of such traffic.

· Consultation with various categories of stakeholder revealed that there is a great deal of public and official attention and focus on the “problems” that buses create in respect of congestion. Complaints against undisciplined bus drivers and congestion in the main bus stations have merit. But our traffic counts indicate that buses account for only about 11% of the total traffic but they transport two-thirds of the commuters.

· In contrast cars and vans that account for roughly about 40% of the road traffic in Kandy account for only about 25% of the commuters.

· These numbers suggest that the viable long term solution to Kandy traffic congestion must give priority to the development of public transport.

· Three-wheelers account for about 25% of the traffic overall and for 2% to 3% of total passenger traffic.

· Bicycles are not a popular mode of transport in Kandy.

TRAVEL TIME

In general in the morning (7.00 a.m. to 9.00 a.m.) and afternoon (2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.) rush hours, as one would expect, traffic speed slows down.

There is significant variation in travel time and speed depending on the road. Between Getembe and Kandy WGM has a reasonably smooth flow of traffic overall with the slowest average speed of around 21km per hour during rush hours and 40km per hour during non-rush hours. This is quite reasonable speed for urban traffic.

In sharp contrast along SBM over the same two points the rush hour speed between 2.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. averages 7km per hour travelling in to the town and about 11km per hour travelling out of town. Travel speed between Katugastota and Kandy averages about 8km per hour in the mid afternoon rush hours. In the Nattaranpota and Lewella to Kandy city traffic the main problem is the last 1.5km. mainly around the Kandy Lake where the average speed drops to about 10km per hour in the afternoon rush hours. The frustration of the average motorist largely stems from these slow traffic flows.

We calculate that the traffic delays in Kandy cost the community anywhere between Rs 500,000 and Rs 1,000,000 per work day in terms of income forgone due to lost time. This excludes wasted fuel and environmental damage caused by carbon emission that will increase the cost. The annual cost arising from very slow traffic is likely to be in the order of several hundred million rupees.

PASSING THROUGH TOWN

In the study the researchers found that overall about 25% to 30% of the traffic pass through the city without stopping. This obviously adds to the traffic congestion and can be reduced if by-pass roads are developed. For example, only 4% of the traffic going to Katugastota passes through the city without stopping. That is mainly because there is a bypass for traffic between Peradeniya and Katugastota.

PROPOSAL TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOW

Rapid Rail Transit: Peradeniya-Katugastota
The main long term equitable and viable solution to the Kandy traffic problem lies in encouraging and developing a sound public transport system. Provision for private transport is of secondary importance.

Improvements in the quality of the existing road network, increase in its capacity by expanding the road network and improvements in parking arrangements will also help ease traffic flows. However, it is important to note that better roads and more parking space create more demand ultimately leading to more congestion and further demand for even more roads and more parking. Thus public transport is the most viable solution to urban traffic problems. The other viable long term solution is to stop building and expanding schools and other public service centres in the town and relocate them in the periphery.

The Kandy Traffic Report advises against reintroducing the one way system between Getembe and Kandy town.

It strongly recommends that the government should introduce a rapid transit railway between Peradeniya Junction and Katugastota using the current single track and available technology. In the long term the service can be improved with a second track and also high speed trains.

Short-Term Proposals

• The one-way system on SBM and WGM must not be reintroduced.

• Enforce road rules (buses stopping outside bus halts, jay walking etc) through better policing.

• Strict regulation of pavement hawkers and construction of informal “petti kada” outlets and enforcement of construction regulations by RDA, UDA and KMC along roads.

• Streamline the operations of the three major city bus stations

• Redesigning and relocation of bus halts after a detailed study

• Open Malabar Street (and Anaagarika Dharmapala Mawatha - Lake Round) at least for peak hour traffic (morning 7 to 9 one way to the city and afternoon 1.0 to 6.00 one way from the city is a possibility. Stopping of vehicles in the security zone can be strictly prohibited) with strengthened security for the Maligawa.

• Review bus routes and redefine them to improve the efficiency of the service and also ease traffic flows.

• At least three lanes if not four should be constructed on WGM. Three lanes can be constructed without too much outlay but a fourth lane would require both considerable funds and time.

Medium-Term and Long-Term Proposals

• Freeze or reduce growth of school population expansion in the city schools

• Relocate some of the schools in the city and those located along the main access roads

• Establish multiple primary schools in the periphery for each of the “leading” Kandy schools

• Develop infrastructure for cyclists

• Relocate the Kandy South Depot on SBM. This is mainly a large bus park and bus repair shop that is occupying valuable urban land. The SLTB also could benefit by capitalizing the property.

• Making Kandy city or at least parts of it a pedestrian precinct. Already the sacred area surrounding the Dalada Maligawa has become one such. The upper portion of Colombo Street is also suitable for a pedestrian mall. In the long term Dalada Veediya too can be considered.

• In the case of Katugastota Road the main bottleneck is the bridge. When the new bridge is available the traffic back up should ease. However, some of the proposals that are contained in this report are applicable to Katugastota traffic as well.

• Relocate some of the long-distance bus services to the periphery with shuttle services to the city. This proposed relocation can be integrated with the new bus services that we propose linked to the Kandy urban transit railway service.

• Integrate transportation and traffic planning and development with broader sustainable economic and social development under a “Greater Kandy” Plan.

• Establish a Kandy Transit Authority with overall responsibility for Kandy public transport.

Enough Parking Spaces but Poor Management Denies Full Use

Every motorist who comes to Kandy town has a complaint about parking. If you are one of them, you may be surprised to learn that overall, Kandy town has more or less enough parking spaces to meet the current demand even at peak hours. The main problem is poor management that causes some available facilities, especially the new multi-storey KMC car park, to be under-utilized.
Table 1 shows the estimate that this study made for demand for parking in Kandy on a normal working day.

Table 1: Demand for Parking within Kandy Town by Time Interval

Source: Research Study

We estimate that the total number of cars, vans, three-wheelers and motor cycles (buses are excluded) competing for parking spaces (car equivalents) on a normal working day starts at around 1,100 to 1,200 at 8 a.m. and rises rapidly to around 3,000 by 9.00 a.m. The demand peaks around 12.00 noon at about 3,200 and remains steady at that level until about 2.00 p.m. and then declines. Thus at current levels of demand about 3,200 to 3.500 parking spaces are required in Kandy for vehicles excluding buses.

The study estimated that there are about 3,200 parking spaces in the city. This includes the KMC car park (862), street parking inside the Central Business District (1,100), street parking outside CBD (700) and parking in government agencies (500). This suggests that there is a very rough balance between demand and supply at peak time. But for reasons explained below there still is a “shortage” of parking spaces in the city.

The KMC car park is grossly under-utilised with parking on an average work day varying from a low of about 150 to 200 in the late afternoon to a high of about 300 to 350 in late morning to early afternoon. This is a large part of the explanation for congestion on the streets and shortage of parking from about 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. on Kandy streets.

The short term solution is to reduce the demand for street parking and increase the demand for KMC car park parking.

THREE-WHEELERS
There is systematic registration of three-wheelers (TWs) in Kandy. The Kandy Traffic Study has estimated that there are about 1,500 to 2,000 TWs operating from within the KMC limits. These exclude those that visit Kandy city from outside the KMC area.

TW drivers and operators complain of lack of adequate parking facilities and in some cases of police harassment. The public, especially motorists, complain of haphazard TW parking and undisciplined driving on the part of TWs.

This report recommends the following:

1. Compulsory registration with KMC of all TWs that operate within the KMC area

2. An annual registration fee to be levied by KMC from TWs

3. TWs to be provided with proper parking facilities.

4. A cap on the entry of new TWs for operation in Kandy city and in the KMC area. The current laissez faire policy has resulted in an over-supply of TWs.

BUSES

The three major bus parks/stations – Goods Shed, Clock Tower and Bogambara – can accommodate about 400 buses at any given time and serve about 66 destinations. All three are congested and make a significant contribution to traffic congestion, over-crowding and pollution. The situation is made worse by the fact that informal vendors have set up shop in all three locations to cater to the commuter shopping needs. The operations of these bus stations must be streamlined and vendors must be regulated to create more space for buses. Redesigning bus routes to make Kandy town a drop off and pick up point without having to park buses would help. A bus park can be established in “Beheth Kotuwa” in Getambe (or on land adjacent to Gopallawa Mawatha in Bowala- Heerassagala) to accommodate buses idling between trips