A Profile of Road Transport Development in Howrah District, West Bengal, India

Howrah, the sister city of Kolkata displays a continuous transformation of its urban land use pattern since its inception near about 500 years ago. Transport, being the most significant parameter of urban land use change, depending upon which urban structure develops, is of great importance in this context. Howrah city in Howrah district is well known for its National Railway Terminus which brings and accelerates development of this city since 1854. At present Howrah as a primate city of this district exhibits high dominance and centralization of road based mass transport services which helps in the development of the local linkages system. But a strong contrast can be identified in the regional district level where a real paucity of mass transport services creates severe transport problems and high dependency on para transit services. In the multimodal public transport system of Howrah city, the road based mass transport services are dominated by private sector companies with certain degree of public sector intervention. The varying degree of bus services along with auto-rickshaws and trekker services within Howrah district, between Howrah district and Kolkata and between Howrah and other districts of West Bengal expresses the changing pattern of different levels of interaction among the areas. Due to the changing scenario of the transport services in this city in relation to the district scenario, an attempt has been made to analyze the spatial pattern of road based mass transport development with special reference to bus services and para transit services like autorickshaws and trekker services. It is also important to assess how the existing transportation system of Howrah city influences the trafficscape of this region.