City-Bus Route Rationalisation and NMT Plan for Belagavi Using Student-Built GTFS and QGIS

This B.Plan thesis rationalises the city-bus route network of Belagavi and prepares a non-motorised transport (NMT) plan for the streets that lead to its busiest stops. Like many tier-2 cities, Belagavi's city services have grown route by route over decades: several routes overlap along the same central corridors, some newer residential areas have no service within walking distance, and passengers reach stops on streets without continuous footpaths or safe crossings.

The study starts from the ground. The student builds an inventory of stops, rides each selected route with a GPS app to trace alignments and running times, and conducts boarding–alighting counts and a short origin–destination survey on board. The field data is converted into a simple GTFS feed (stops, routes, trips, stop times, shapes) that loads into QGIS, where the network is analysed for coverage (population within walking distance of stops using Census 2011 data), route overlap, route directness and load profiles.

The thesis then proposes a rationalised network — trunk and feeder routes, merged overlapping routes, new services for uncovered areas and revised frequencies — measured against the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Service Level Benchmarks for Urban Transport and the National Urban Transport Policy. An NMT plan follows, based on a walkability audit using IRC:103 pedestrian guidelines, with footpath, crossing and cycle improvements around key stops. Deliverables are a report, map set and street sections for the jury.

Abstract

City-bus networks in Indian tier-2 cities are often a patchwork of historical routes, with heavy overlap in the centre and gaps at the growing edge. Poor walking conditions around stops further reduce bus use. This thesis collects primary data on selected Belagavi city routes, builds a GTFS feed, analyses coverage, overlap, directness and loads in QGIS, and proposes a rationalised route network together with a pedestrian and cycling plan for the main stop catchments.

Introduction

Belagavi is a growing district headquarters with a historic core, cantonment areas, educational institutions and industrial estates. City services are operated by the state road transport corporation; the thesis treats operations data as unavailable and relies on the student's own surveys, which is the realistic situation for most planning students.

Literature review and gap

Route rationalisation is well established in transit planning literature and practice — trunk-and-feeder restructuring, removal of duplicate routes, and frequency-based network design. Indian guidance comes through the National Urban Transport Policy, Comprehensive Mobility Plan toolkits and the Service Level Benchmarks, which define indicators such as coverage, frequency and walkability. Large-city studies often use operator GTFS data, which smaller cities rarely publish. This thesis shows how a planning student can build that data from field surveys and still perform a rigorous network analysis.

Existing vs proposed approach

• Existing: routes added incrementally, heavy overlap on central roads, uncovered new layouts, irregular frequencies, unmarked stops, discontinuous footpaths and unsafe crossings near stops.
• Proposed: a structured network with trunk routes on main corridors and feeders into growing areas, merged duplicate routes, clear frequencies, upgraded stops and a connected pedestrian and cycle network within 500 m of key stops.

Feasibility

• Technical: QGIS and GTFS are open standards and tools; data collection needs a smartphone GPS app and survey sheets.
• Operational: the proposal reuses existing fleet and depots, reallocating buses from overlapping to underserved routes.
• Financial: NMT measures are low-cost street works that can be phased through city budgets.

Belagavi's city-bus network has evolved without periodic restructuring. Several routes run along the same central corridors while newer residential areas on the city's edge lack service within walking distance. Frequencies are irregular, stops are poorly defined, and the streets leading to stops often lack continuous footpaths, shade and safe crossings. As a result, buses carry uneven loads, some routes run nearly empty while others are overcrowded, and residents shift to two-wheelers and shared autos.

Planners and the operator also lack structured data: there is no public GTFS feed or recent route-level ridership study. The problem this thesis addresses is: how can the city's bus routes be rationalised, using primary data collected and structured by the planner, to improve coverage, reduce wasteful overlap and match service to demand, and how should the pedestrian and cycling environment around key stops be improved so that people can reach the buses safely?

In scope

• Eight to twelve city-bus routes serving the core and the growing edge of the city.
• Primary surveys: stop inventory, GPS route tracing, boarding–alighting counts, on-board OD survey, walkability audit.
• GTFS feed of surveyed routes and network analysis in QGIS.
• Route rationalisation proposal and NMT plan for catchments of five to eight key stops.

Out of scope

• Full-city travel-demand modelling (four-stage model).
• Fleet procurement, depot planning and fare policy.
• Detailed engineering drawings of junctions.
• Intercity and mofussil services.

The thesis uses a survey-based quantitative planning method over about 20 weeks.

Methods: primary surveys (inventory, GPS tracing, counts, OD interviews without personal identifiers), GTFS data structuring, GIS network and buffer analysis, descriptive statistics, benchmark comparison and walkability audit scoring.