The Client

The State Transport Authority (STA), Odisha is the state-level statutory authority responsible for regulating, coordinating, and overseeing motor vehicle and public transport activities across the State of Odisha. Its key responsibilities include transport regulation, permit management, enforcement, road safety, transport services, and coordination with Regional Transport Authorities (RTAs) across the State. The STA functions under the Commerce & Transport Department, Government of Odisha.

The Challenge

There was no uniformity in running time, halting time, and the time gap (headway) between buses operating on the same route. This resulted in difficulties in maintaining a systematic and coordinated bus service. Further, the issuance of new permits was also a challenge due to unequal time gaps between buses and the lack of clearly structured routes and timing slots.

The Solution

Route rationalization is a systematic process of organizing and optimizing public transport routes, timings, running times, halting times, and bus headways to ensure a more efficient and coordinated transport service. As a strategic partner of STA, Odisha, Gemini Consulting & Services helped the client in route rationalization by utilizing advanced technologies and data-driven analysis. The insights generated from this analysis helped streamline and improve the overall route rationalization process for the client.

Business Benefits

Route rationalization has considerably improved the public transport system and streamlined permit issuance by creating clearly defined and structured route and timing slots resulting in a 30% increase in permit issuance on newly rationalized routes, without objections from existing operators. This has enabled the introduction of additional bus services, improved service frequency and regularity, reduced waiting time for passengers, and enhanced connectivity and accessibility for the travelling public. Overall, route rationalization has contributed to a more reliable, efficient and passenger-friendly public transport system. So far, eleven routes have been finalized by Gemini Consulting & Services, out of which eight routes have been implemented by the State Transport Authority (STA), Odisha. In addition, draft rationalization proposals for four routes have been published for further processing.