Omar Thomas | Monorail system: solution to traffic woes

CAN YOU imagine reducing your travel times in the middle of peak hour traffic by almost a half? Consider that, although there is bumper-to-bumper traffic on the roadways across the Corporate Area, you have the choice to ride on a monorail, zooming past lines of traffic from Portmore to Cross Roads or from Half-Way Tree to Papine in comfort in a matter of minutes?

With the continuous imports of new and used vehicles into the island, as soon as roads are widened, they are clogged up with vehicles, especially during the morning, mid-day and evening peak-traffic periods. Numerous vehicles on the roadways continue to pump noxious fumes into our atmosphere, posing health risks and adding to the depletion of the ozone layer.

IMPROVE TRAVEL TIMES

Implementation of a monorail system would not only improve travel times, but may contribute significantly to the reduction of vehicular emissions that are harmful to our health and the ozone layer. Research has shown that the overall grams of carbon dioxide emissions per passenger-km that are produced by monorails are less than those produced by private automobiles combined in an urban setting. Monorails are a single-track rail system that have been put into place in many different countries as an inventive way to address the problems associated with urban transportation.

At The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, a group of final-year civil engineering students conducted a pilot study on the implementation of a monorail system for the Corporate Area, linking central areas of Portmore to that of downtown Kingston, Cross Roads, Half-Way Tree, Constant Spring and Papine. The idea behind the implementation of the proposed monorail system is for it to be an appendage to a retrofitted existing transportation system. It is not a secret that there are some things that are still wrong with the transportation system in the Corporate Area, and so the first step to an overall improved transportation system is fixing what is currently wrong with the system.

UNIQUE ROUTES

The appendage of the monorail system will provide non-stop commuting service between the terminals at the main central areas. The bus and taxi system would now be able to complement the monorail system by providing the initiating or terminating end of trips to locations that are not necessarily close to the monorail terminals. Furthermore, there would still be many other unique routes that would require the services of buses and taxis.

One of the existing problems with establishing an hourly schedule each day for the current Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses is the unpredictable delays because of relatively high vehicular traffic on the roadways. Consequently, with the uptake of commuters choosing to use a reliable monorail for their daily commute to their respective destinations instead of driving their vehicles, the traffic on the roadways would ease considerably during peak periods, thus accommodating a more realistic scheduling of the JUTC services across the Corporate Area.

The study recommends that parking facilities be provided at the main terminal points, so that people who own a vehicle can have the option to ‘park and ride’. A model was developed to forecast the expected commute on the proposed monorail system based on a survey that was done on 73 adults. A number of factors were taken into consideration when developing the model, including the population in the communities around the terminal locations, the proximity of these communities to the terminal points, and the level of car ownership in the Corporate Area.

The results of the survey showed that 96 per cent of the respondents would consider taking a monorail as part of their daily commute, if their travel time could be reduced by 40 per cent. Furthermore, 85 per cent of respondents indicated that they are willing to pay the same price that they are currently paying for public transportation to use the monorail for commuting, while 15 per cent are willing to pay twice as much. Approximately 2,237,700 person/trips are expected to use the monorail per week at an estimated fare of J$150 per trip.

CONSTRUCTION COST

As it relates to cost, using a typical monorail construction cost of US$100-US$150 million/km, the overall construction cost of the proposed monorail system for the Corporate Area would range from US$2,950 million to US$4,425 million. It was also estimated that the operational and maintenance cost would range from US$38.35 million/year to US$57.525 million/year. From the study, it was estimated that an expected revenue of approximately US$109,100,000 per year could be earned from the monorail system, resulting in break even cost in 38.2 years to 45.6 years.

With the experience of undertaking large infrastructural projects such as Highway 2000 in the country, taking on a monorail project for the Corporate Area is certainly not far-fetched. Although this analysis is still in the pilot stage, it is a step further in fuelling the conversation around the applicability of introducing a monorail system for the Corporate Area, and further supports the need for a more detailed feasibility study. Furthermore, there are added benefits to implementing a monorail system, which include: (i) reduction of travel times, (ii) decreased stress in daily commutes and thus an increase in overall productivity in the nation, (iii) reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, and (iv) improved commuting comfort and reliability to the overall transportation system.

Omar Thomas is a lecturer and deputy dean of outreach, internationalisation and marketing in the Faculty of Engineering at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com