Tbilisi City Hall has signed the Grant Agreement with EBRD. With help of the grant, international tender winning French company “Sistra” will design detailed plan of bus network restructuration for the City Hall.
The Mayor of Tbilisi Mr. Kakha Kaladze and EBRD Director for Caucasus, Belarus and Moldova Mr. Bruno Balvanera signed the Grant Agreement.
Based on conducted study, “Sistra” will develop multicomponent program with its timetable. It will become one of the main documents for public transport development in the Capital. Within 15 months after signing the agreement, the company should present complete document to the City Hall.
Before developing the program, the company will work on bus network restructuration. It will study bus and microbus routes and propose new network design. This process would also include specifics of Tbilisi Metro work.
“By signing the Grant Agreement with EBRD, we are starting very important project. This is restructuration plan for bus network, which will be developed by French company “Sistra”. In the scope of the Agreement, a study will be conducted in the nearest future, which will produce important document for the City’s public transport development. Thus, residents of the capital will be able to enjoy comfortable, fast and safe public transport orientated on the commuters and the city needs” – stated Mr. Kaladze.
The Mayor rendered his gratitude to the EU partners for supporting the City Government in implementation of important projects.
“One of our main priorities is to improve public transport in the Capital, because decongestion of the traffic and improvement of environmental conditions is directly linked with these improvements. During next few years, the City’s bus fleet will be fully updated. This year, the Municipality has plans to procure 100 additional new buses” – commented the Mayor.
As the result of signed Agreement with EBRD, the operations of TTC would also be improved. Planned measures will include safety and gender related issues.
“The study by French company “Sistra” will identify current needs for public transport’s improvement. During next few months, “Sistra will also survey public transport users. It will establish starting and finishing points of the commuters’ journeys; it will map the routes and assess their efficiency and effectiveness. After this, the company will present its recommendations and proposals for needed changes, updates and new routes for the City’s transport network” – commented Mr. Balvanera.
During the ceremony, Deputy head of EU Delegation to Georgia Mr. Carlo Natale confirmed EU support for Tbilisi Municipality.
“Tbilisi Municipality Government fully comprehends what needs to be done for private transport orientated system to be replaced with public transport system. The EU will assist Tbilisi Municipality in implementation of relevant measures. With support of our partner EBRD, we will be able to restructure bus network and optimize public transport route network to improve the service in Tbilisi. I would like to encourage Tbilisi Government to implement transport reform in the shortest possible time, which in it self would improve living and environmental conditions in the Capital” – stated Mr. Natale.
In the scope of the Agreement, “Sistra” should propose each route with consideration of existing maps, number of buses running on each route, bus stop timetables, transfer areas, walking distances and other relevant factors.
At the same time, “Sistra” will provide transport model – specialized program, which would be used during development of the City’s transport network. It should provide modeling of transport movement based on streets’ network and other details related to passenger transportation. The program would also be effective tool to determine transport movement capacity and public transport services for individual areas while planning new construction sites.
Currently, 530 buses are providing services on 101 established routes in the City. This arrangement does not fully satisfy existing needs. Tbilisi City Hall has plans to procure additional 700 new buses during next four years. 100 units from this number will be acquired in 2018. Based on “Sistra’s” recommendations, the City Hall will know – what size and how many buses are needed for Tbilisi. This information will be taken into consideration during procurement process.
Tbilisi City Hall also has plans to procure new trains and train coaches for the Metro. As the result, the City Hall would be able to satisfy growing demand for municipal public transport.
Overall cost of the project amounts to 800 000 EUR, where 500 000 EUR is the EU grant and 300 000 EUR will be funded by the Municipality. The Agreement will be implemented by EBRD. Tbilisi City Assembly has already approved the Grand Agreement.
