Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans: First Diagnosis Results Before Preparing Sustainable Mobility Scenarios for Abbottabad, Mingora and Peshawar Cities

Share Diagnosis Main Results

Since September 2021, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (Pakistan) has engaged in the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) within three cities: Peshawar, the provincial capital city, Mingora and Abbottabad.[1] Under the umbrella of MobiliseYourCity, those SUMPs are jointly supervised by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and locally elaborated by the international consultant consortium Systra / Exponent (respectively from France and Pakistan).

Last week, between October 10 and October 12, the international consultant consortium presented the diagnosis results related to urban mobility in each Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cities. These meetings were an opportunity to share the first findings to key stakeholders such as the Secretary of the provincial Transport Mass Transit Department (TMTD), the respective Deputy Commissioners for Abbottabad and Mingora, as well as representatives of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Urban Mobility Authority (KPUMA) and of the TransPeshwar (i.e. Peshawar’s BRT operator).

Based on collected quantitative and qualitative mobility data, the completion of the diagnosis phase represents a major step forward in the SUMP elaboration process. This deep mobility analysis allows to build a shared vision of urban mobility state of play by highlighting current patterns, trend evolution and upcoming challenges within the city. The diagnosis enables stakeholders to pave the way towards common targets while enabling them to identify and discuss potential resources to tackle mobility issues.

Main MobiliseYourCity implementing partners involved in those SUMPs (i.e AFD and ADB) also took part in the diagnosis presentations which enabled preliminary discussions on identified priority projects for each city. For example, stakeholders exchanged on potential road network improvements and local bus reorganisation in Abbottabad and Mingora or the Bus Rapid Transit extension in Peshawar.

Street scene in Peshawar. Road intersection improvement would be considered in the SUMPs scenarios elaboration. Source: Systra/Exponent.

Understand Mobility Patterns

By adopting a comprehensive approach and conducting several strategic surveys (traffic counting, household surveys, etc.) the international consultant consortium provided a sharp profile of each city’s modal split. The surveys highlighted that in the three cities, walking is the predominant transportation mode (above 50% of the modal share) while motorized trips account for 36 to 45%. Among motorized modes, public transports (including minibus, school buses, as well as BRT in the case of Peshawar) have a share range that can evolve from 36% (Peshawar) to 60% (Abbottabad, Mingora). Apart from identifying cities’ modal splits, the diagnosis revealed a high mobility rate with 2.5 trips per person and per day in Peshawar and Abbottabad, while this rate falls to 2.1 in the case of Mingora even if it remains very high. Another interesting aspect of mobility patterns is the identification of the spatial mobility flows at the scale of each city. In the case of Peshawar and Mingora, these flows are following an inner-outer pattern, while in the case of Abbottabad the main road axis (RN No.35) is channelling all the urban traffic.

Result of the Household survey conducted between March and April 2022 in Abbottabad. A total of 980 households were surveyed across 13 macrozones corresponding to a total of 4,390 individuals in this city. Source: Systra/Exponent

SUMP as a Process Implying Concertation Between Involved Stakeholders

While each city diagnosis is under adaptation and approval based on stakeholders’ remarks and requests, the three Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s cities’ SUMPs are entering a new phase. During the coming months, stakeholders will discuss mobility scenarios and common goals towards more sustainable mobility with the support of the international consulting consortium. Based on three main parameters (i.e Population and Urban Growth, Road Network, Public Transport Network), the Consultants will elaborate different mobility models and scenarios that will be budgeted and evaluated considering the expected impacts.

Based on the SUMP elaboration timeline, final SUMPs for each city shall be submitted by the second quarter of 2023. In parallel, local stakeholders will continue to discuss with MobiliseYourCity implementing partners, AFD and ADB on potential priority projects that could be implemented after SUMPs’ formal approbation.

Meeting at the TransPeshawar office with TMTD and KPUMA representatives, ADB and AFD officers as well as Exponent and Systra consultants. Source: Exponent.

[1] Find more details about the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa SUMPs here (https://www.mobiliseyourcity.net/node/785)