Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia


Project Name: Ulaanbaatar Public Transport Strategy

Duration
May 2024 to November 2024
Client
World Bank
Project Features
Public Transport Strategy and short to medium term Strategic Action Plan for Ulaanbaatar.
Far East Mobility Role
JV partner with AIRI, providing team lead and most of international technical expert positions including team leader. Analytics stage, followed by Public Transport Strategy, and then short to medium term Strategic Plan including priority projects for implementation.
Updated: 26/05/2024

Project Name: TA-6868 MON: Improvement of Urban Mobility in Ulaanbaatar - BRT Planning and Design (55245-001)

Duration
October 2023 to April 2024
Client
Asian Development Bank
Project Features
BRT corridor comparison and recommendation initially focusing on Tolgoit-Sharkhad compared to Peace Avenue but later with Peace Avenue omitted due to the metro project announcement. Initial design and project definition required.
Far East Mobility Role
Corridor comparison followed by design/planning and project definition of the selected BRT corridor alternative.
Updated: 17/11/2023

Project Name: Ulaanbaatar Urban Transport Capacity Development

Duration
January 2016 to May 2017
Client
Asian Development Bank
Project Features
Several people in Far East Mobility’s core team of staff and consultants carried out earlier BRT planning work in Ulaanbaatar in 2011 as part of an ADB-funded project by ITDP. Between 2011 and 2016 excellent progress was made on public transport and bus sector reforms including a new smart card system, operator payments based on time rather than passengers, industry consolidation and limited fleet renewal, new bus stops under contract with JC Decaux, and improved institutional capabilities. However, the BRT planning did not significantly proceed beyond the 2011 Concept Design study.
Far East Mobility Role

Aware of the limitations of the earlier Concept Design study, which had relatively limited data availability and a compressed scope, time frame and budget, the ADB in 2016 contracted Far East Mobility as part of a wider team of individual experts on various urban transport topics to carry out several tasks, primarily related to updating the earlier BRT plans to match the current situation. The earlier Concept Design was thoroughly revised and effectively completely changed, with the revised designs building upon BRT planning and design ‘lessons learned’ by Far East Mobility in many projects over the preceding five years. The stations were re-designed to a much higher capacity level, with improved access and platform placement and high capacity configurations matching the demand conditions of the corridor. The corridors were also substantially revised over the course of the studies in 2016 and 2017, especially as the political attitudes toward implementing BRT in the highest demand but politically sensitive Peace Avenue corridor shifted.

The revised designs and plans drew on additional surveys but especially useful was the smart card data, which was used to provide demand profiles per route and time of day, and also provided bus speed information. This rich store of smart card data greatly reduced the survey requirements.

In addition to the smart card data, the newly established control centre provided traffic videos and data on the signal phases for all signalized intersections.

As well as developing intersection proposals for the BRT corridor, proposed traffic circulation changes in the central area, defining the station types and platforms, and helping determine the BRT corridors to be included in the project, Far East Mobility developed several detailed visualizations of the proposed BRT stations and corridors and made several project presentations at major workshops and meetings.

Updated: 28/12/2020

Project Name: Ulaanbaatar Urban Transport Capacity Development: Traffic Engineering/Safety

Duration
November 2016 to January 2017
Client
Asian Development Bank
Project Features
During the additional work being done to update the earlier BRT Concept Design (see preceding project description) and incorporate the high-profile Peace Avenue corridor it became clear that roadways, intersections and traffic circulation were critically important to the BRT design and needed additional expert input.
Far East Mobility Role

Traffic conditions had changed greatly since the earlier Concept Design study in 2011, with much higher volumes and more severe congestion. In this situation the intersection design and traffic flow configuration was very important, and Far East Mobility provided a Traffic Engineering/Safety Specialist to develop a revised traffic circulation network in the central area which could accommodate BRT while not worsening the mixed traffic conditions.

The Traffic Engineering/Safety Specialist was already familiar with Ulaanbaatar, having worked on the earlier Concept Design study in 2011. As well as the road network circulation changes fairly comprehensively covering the central area (where future phase BRT stations and corridors were also considered, with corridors crossing in the CBD), the expert prepared CAD designs of the roadways, stations and intersections.

Updated: 30/12/2020

More information on the Ulaanbaatar BRT is provided here, and the Ulaanbaatar visuals and renderings are shown in this article. The Ulaanbaatar smart card information is briefly discussed in this article.