STAMP or Station Access and Mobility Program is an initiative launched by World Resources Institute (WRI) India in partnership with Toyota Mobility Foundation. Mr Sudeep Methi, Program Head – Transport, WRI India tells us how STAMP is improving last mile transport of goods and people in major cities and how citizens can benefit from it.
What is the purpose/objective of STAMP?
To meet the needs of a rapidly growing urban population, Indian cities have begun investing heavily in rapid transit systems, primarily metro rail. Improving passenger access to this growing network through better connectivity has long been a challenge and will be critical to the success of metros in India.
Until now, the lack of integration between metro and feeder transport modes has been a major factor affecting metro ridership in India. Since metros rarely offer door-to-door service for commuters, providing quality and innovative first- and last-mile connectivity has become increasingly important to attract people to it.
The Station Access and Mobility Program (STAMP) is an initiative aimed at improving access to public transport by addressing the issue of first and last mile connectivity in Indian cities. The program aims to provide safe, convenient and efficient access to public transport for all users, including vulnerable groups, by creating better transport links between metros and surrounding communities.
Stamp City works closely with metro agencies to identify gaps that may affect metro access. It explores innovative solutions to these problems through the STAMP Challenge, which provides financial support to businesses and individuals who can demonstrate how they can improve multimodal integration and connectivity. Apart from the STAMP Challenge, we also conduct surveys and research that help various metro stakeholders identify and address gaps in last-mile connectivity.
Which is in other cities. Worked with STAMP?
STAMP, an initiative launched by Toyota Mobility Foundation and WRI India, is operational in seven cities across India. Launched in Bangalore in 2016, STAMP has deployed in Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and Delhi.
Can you provide some statistics on how STAMP has made a difference in these cities?
After a careful selection process, the winners are given the opportunity to find their solutions in the city. STAMP pilots are usually deployed in and around metro stations for three months. The team uses the data from the pilots to better understand what last-mile solutions work for commuters and transit agencies in that particular city.
Over the course of 5 editions, STAMP has enabled nearly 50,000 last-mile journeys through mobility solutions that were selected through the program to be deployed at metro stations. Our pilots have also saved more than 240,000 passenger minutes as a result of passengers traveling on routes that were platformed by STAMP.
Our research has also shown us that an important factor that determines whether a person uses the Metro or not is the quality of its last-mile services. A number of variables determine the success of a mod, especially its cost, time, safety and reliability. For example, most public transportation users are cost-conscious, and providing them with affordable last-mile options for using the metro will be important. These insights can help metro agencies and last-mile providers deploy more targeted services at metro stations and ultimately increase revenue and ridership.
What is STAMP’s agenda for Delhi?
Our Delhi initiative, launched in September 2022, aims to make public transport safer and more efficient in Delhi and the National Capital Region.
What steps will be taken to achieve the goal?
STAMP is working with Delhi Transport Department and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on two focus areas. The first goal is to deploy a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platform that will allow travelers to plan, book and pay for their trips on a single, integrated platform. Another is to create greater efficiency in last-mile connections in vulnerable areas.
What resources will STAMP leverage to achieve its goals?
“By bridging the gap between the public and private sectors, STAMP takes a truly collaborative approach to making transport more integrated. STAMP creates the space to experiment and further innovate that integrated transport.” ,” notes Madhav Pai, Interim CEO, WRI India.
In Delhi, we are working closely with various transport agencies in the region to resolve our issues. In addition, we have conducted a survey with over 3,000 metro commuters across Delhi to understand how they travel and their concerns. These answers will help shape the kinds of pilots we build in the city.
What is the plan for last mile transportation? Will it be powered by EVs only?
Our learnings from seven cities show that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for last-mile connectivity. There are several factors at play. Our research helps us better identify how these different factors influence travelers to choose a particular last-mile mode.
A detailed understanding of this can help stakeholders, from metro agencies to last-mile service providers, make more informed decisions when prioritizing different solutions. An understanding of transit demand around stations is required to meet a wide variety of passengers.
What kind of new innovations will we see?
TMF’s intention, over the past 6 years, has always been to increase public transport ridership through the best data and human-driven first and last mile solutions. Now that we have reached the final city of our challenge, we recognize the complexity and need for hardware, software, data and financial components to provide the best solutions to support travelers seamlessly. . MaaS and aggregation are an integral part of such solutions.
“While MaaS and aggregation have been implemented globally (and to a limited extent in India), it will be interesting to see how a complete solution will fare in the Indian context. Delhi NCR, which spans the states and is mature enough, there are multiple transit agencies shaping different aspects of its mobility landscape. Bringing various stakeholders on board to create a unified transit platform will help cities get more people using public transport. will help achieve TMF’s vision of providing mobility for all through more options and carbon reduction options,” says Pras Ganesh, Executive Program Director. , Toyota Mobility Foundation.
After Delhi, which city will the stamp work with?
Following our work in seven cities, STAMP is nearing the final stages of its rollout. STAMP will focus on using its learnings to promote research around last-mile connectivity that can be used by any Indian metro agency as it seeks to deepen its transit integration efforts. is being done.