New
Highways Cheer Road Users
Road Users’ Satisfaction Survey 2005 on the Completed
Sections of The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ)
The survey was conducted by National Highway
Authority of India (NHAI) in association with Marketing
and Development Research Associates (MDRA), in
order to identify the drivers of satisfaction, measure satisfaction
and to capture expectations of the Indian road users. The
findings revealed some interesting facts.
Road Users Delighted
This is the first time in the country, the road users are
experiencing world-class highways. Earlier, highways were
predominantly two-laned, congested and poorly maintained.
Respondents did not expect to get four-Ianed highways in
such a short span. An overwhelming 96% of respondents think
that the condition of highways has improved.
Overall, 95% of users are satisfied with GQ. On most parameters,
more than 85% of respondents are satisfied. This high satisfaction
can be attributed to the fact of quantum leap in road users
experience and low expectations. This level of satisfaction
could prove to be a challenge to maintain in the long term
as expectations are bound to be higher in the years to come.
Table
1: Road Users Delighted
|
(Figure
in percentage) |
| Attributes |
Main
Users |
Vulnerable
users |
| |
N
= 16802 |
N
= 3014 |
| Overall
condition improved |
96 |
96 |
| Overall
satisfaction |
95 |
92 |
| Free
from congestion |
73 |
65 |
| Quality
of road surface is good |
86 |
89 |
| Positioning
of road signs is good |
81 |
81 |
[Note:
Main users are owners and commuters travelling on
motorised vehicles; vulnerable users are users of
non-motorised vehicles, pedestrians and households/shops
adjecent to highways] |
Road
User's Satisfaction Index (RUSI) - Segment wise
Among the 16 segments covered in the survey, satisfaction
is highest on the Jaipur Bypass-Udaipur segment and lowest
on the Varanasi-Barwa Adda segment. A deeper analysis shows
that Jaipur Bypass-Udaipur segment has scored highest on
four out of seven satisfaction parameters. On the other
hand, Varanasi-Barwa Adda segment has scored lowest on four
satisfaction parameters (value for time and money, safety,
signage and accessibility to settlements). The scores on
Varanasi-Barwa Adda are low because at the time of field
survey, signboards (road signs and warning signs) were not
installed and some stretches were under construction, which
could have negatively influenced the overall perception
of road users.
Table
2: Segment wise Satisfaction Scores
|
(Figure
represent index score) |
| S
No |
Segment |
RUSI |
| 1. |
Jaipur
Bypass - KishanGarh - Chittorgarh - Udaipur |
1.76 |
| 2. |
Udaipur
- Ratanpur - Ahmedabad - Vadodara |
1.85 |
| 3. |
Champawati
- Vishakhapatnam - Rajamundry - Eluru |
1.87 |
| 4. |
Maharashtra
Border - Belgaum - Dharwad - Harihar |
1.93 |
| 5. |
Barakar
- Raniganj - Dankunj - Kolkata |
2.01 |
| 6. |
Kolkata
- Kharagpur - Baleshwar - Chandikhole - Bhuneshwar |
2.01 |
| 7. |
Delhi
- Mathura - Agra - Etawah - Rajpur |
2.03 |
| 8. |
Eluru
- Vijayawada - Kavali - Nellore - Chennai |
2.04 |
| 9. |
Harihar
- Chitradurga - Sira - Tumkur - Banglaore |
2.04 |
| 10. |
Delhi
- Gurgaon - Jaipur Bypass |
2.07 |
| 11. |
Mumbai
- Pune Expressway - Satara - Kagal |
2.10 |
| 12. |
Banglaore
- Hosur - Krishnagiri - Kanchipuram - Chennai |
2.13 |
| 13. |
Vadodara
- Surat - Manor - Mumbai |
2.20 |
| 14. |
Bhuneshwar
- Ganjam - Palasa - Srikakulam - Champawati |
2.26 |
| 15. |
Sikandra
- Kanpur - Fatehpur - Allahabad - Varanasi |
2.31 |
| 16. |
Varanasi
- Sasaram - Aurangabad - Barakata - Barwa Adda |
2.50 |
| |
Overall
GQ |
2.03 |
(Total
sample = 16,802 main users)
|
Note:
This segment-wise satisdaction index is prepared
on the basis of factor analysis. A score of '1'
means 'Highly satisfied ' and '5' means 'Highly
dissatisfied'. |
Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) is the project undertaken by NHAI
to connect four key metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai,
Chennai and Kolkata through a network of world-class highways.
Drivers of Satisfaction
The key drivers of overall satisfaction with highways are:
value for time and money (36%), safety (17%) and signage
(15%). Other factors that have relatively lesser impact
on overall satisfaction score are visual appeal (10%), accessibility
to settlements - towns and villages near highways - (9%),
travel amenities (8%) and taxes - toll taxes and other road
user charges - (4%). However, in future, these factors could
become major drivers of satisfaction, as there is less likelihood
for significant improvement in the first three factors,
which have higher weightage today. The first three factors
in future could become hygiene elements.
Benefits of Improved Highways
The highways on GQ are seen to have delivered several benefits
like reduction in travel time, fuel consumption and maintenance
cost. This perception is more among commercial users like
truckers and tour operators. Respondents have mentioned
that improvement of highways has also resulted in real estate
prices going up. The business of the wayside entrepreneurs
has also increased.
Table
3: Benifits Of Improved Highway |
(Figure
in percentage) |
Attributes |
Main
Users |
| Travelling
time declined... |
94 |
| Fuel
consumption declined... |
91 |
| Maintenance
cost declined... |
91 |
Irritants
Despite improvement in highway infrastructure, there are
still some irritants. Improved road condition has resulted
in high speed and rash driving by commercial drivers of
four-wheelers and two-wheelers. This is seen as an irritant
by 82% of respondents. Nearly 75% of respondents are concerned
about pedestrians crossing highways. In spite of NHAI providing
wide road dividers and maintaining different levels of roads
for traffic moving in either direction, headlight beam in
the night is seen as a major irritant.
Causes
of Irritation |
Figures
in Percentage |
| Poor
driving habits |
82 |
| Unauthorised
pedestrian crossing |
75 |
| High
beam of headlights |
71 |
| Wrong
parking |
65 |
| Animal
crossing the roads |
64 |
| Air/noise
pollution |
59 |
| Potholes |
54 |
| Congestion |
49 |
| RTO/police
checking |
49 |
| Red
lights /Intersections |
26 |
Safety Aspects
90% of main users and 79% of vulnerable population feel
safe while travelling on highways. Despite this, safety
has emerged as the most important concern. This could be
because with improvement of highway conditions, respondents
believe that average speed of vehicles is likely to increase
which in turn could result in more accidents & fatalities.
This concern also stems from the poor safety record in the
country. India has 4.2% of the world’s vehicles and 9% of
the world’s road fatalities (Source: International Road
Federation).
An in-depth analysis has brought out that respondents feel
unsafe while travelling on the GQ for the following reasons:
1. |
Driver
behaviour issues (includes bad overtaking,
high speed of traffic, aggressive driving) |
|
2. |
Traffic
issues (includes large volume of traffic,
heavy vehicles and poor traffic management) |
|
3. |
Road
design issues (includes joining/leaving
service lanes, traffic converging into fewer lanes,
insufficient subways/over bridges, sharp turns and
bad signage) |
|
4. |
Policing
issues (includes robbery/theft and prostitutes
on highways) |
Further analysis of driver behavior dimension
shows that 8 different kinds of driver-behaviours are perceived
to contribute to accidents. These are: improper indication
(98%), driving on wrong side (95%), wrong parking (95%),
speeding/rash driving (94%), poor overtaking (93%), high
beam (92%), drunken driving (77%) and driving in wrong lanes
(64%).
Toll Related Aspects
Despite respondents appreciating that there has been significant
improvement in the condition of highways and also associating
with benefits of improved highways, more than 59% of respondents
think that toll charges are high. Only 41 % of respondents
think that the toll charges are either moderate or low.
Nearly 60% of respondents felt that road taxes and toll
charges have actually increased. Only 40% felt that the
road taxes and toll charges have remained same or declined.
However, among those who felt that road taxes and toll charges
have increased, 32% are of the opinion that the increase
in taxes has resulted in better quality of roads.
Need for More Amenities
Now that the basic infrastructural issues to do with highways
have been addressed, the respondents are concerned about
poor access to roadside amenities. NHAI may not be in a
position to provide these services on its own, but it needs
to facilitate provision of these services by local entrepreneurs.
Table
5 : Need For More Amenities |
| Amenities |
%
of respondents who
feel facilities not available |
Place
for cooking food for truck drivers |
73 |
Medical
facilities |
68 |
Public
toilets/bathrooms |
65 |
Overnight
accommodation |
65 |
Water
for cleaning vehicles |
63 |
Parking
facilities |
44 |
Mechanics/toll
car services |
36 |
Drinking
water |
16 |
Food/drinks |
2 |
Pointer For Future
Given the high satisfaction level, expectation is likely
to be higher in future. Therefore, maintaining these ratings
could pose a challenge for NHAI. Given below are certain
inputs for various policy initiatives.
Operation & Maintenance Aspects
| ▪ |
Proper
and periodic maintenance of roads to ensure traffic
worthy condition. |
|
| ▪ |
Emergency
contact information: Information boards highlighting
the numbers of police, health service providers
and NHAI patrol vehicles need to be displayed more
prominently. |
|
| ▪ |
Headlight
beams in the night continue to be an irritant. This
aspect needs further attention in future projects. |
Design Aspects
| ▪ |
More
pedestrian crossings need to be provided in densely
populated areas to facilitate safe road crossing. |
|
| ▪ |
NHAI
could consider controlling access to the highway
in densely populated habitations along highways
so that people do not cross highways in unsafe manner.
This will force them to use pedestrian crossings. |
Toll
| ▪ |
More
transparency: Stakeholders are interested to know
how much toll is being collected, for what purpose
it is being used and for how long it will be collected.
This information could be provided at tollbooths. |
|
| ▪ |
Benefits
of toll: Stakeholders need to be informed and
repeatedly reminded about benefits of toll charges
so that there is greater acceptance and willingness
to pay toll. |
|
| ▪ |
Technology
options like number plate scanners could be considered
depending up on the economics, to plug leakages
in toll. |
Safety aspects
| ▪ |
Increase
awareness: There is need to increase awareness about
various safety aspects through a sustained campaign. |
|
| ▪ |
Effective
enforcement: Merely increasing awareness will not
help. There is a need for effective enforcement. |
|
| ▪ |
Reduce
fatalities: Fatalities could be reduced through
better co-ordination among NHAI, Police and health
service providers. Prominently display emergency
numbers so
that the victims do not lose time during critical
hour. |
Research Design
Road Users’ Satisfaction Index (RUSI) was developed, using
Quantitative and Qualitative research methodologies. Overall,
32 variables affecting road users’ satisfaction were used
to develop the index. A multi stage sampling methodology
was adopted for the survey. This design ensured adequate
spread of sample and proper representation of the universe.
In all 19,816 were personally interviewed. |
| |
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