Ahmedabad BRTS

Conceptualised on the model of the hugely successful Transmilenio of Bogota and the BRTS of Curitiba, Brazil, the BRTS in Ahmedabad is the “first full BRTS” being built in India.

An initiative of the Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board in collaboration with the AMC and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority, BRTS was set up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission as a Special Purpose Vehicle called Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd (AJL). It is expected to be around 89 km long and would involve an investment of Rs 500 crore.The autonomous body is headed by the Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad and has on its board various members of AMC, AUDA, City Traffic Police and the Government of India.

One of the main reasons for the failure of the Delhi BRT was that it did not take the people along with it. We are advertising every other day and offering free rides to passengers during the trial period to ensure that the people of the city understand the concept and go along with us. After all, BRTS is a new concept and people have to be made aware of it for it to be successful,

Unlike the Delhi and Pune BRT, which have received a bad name and are seen as failures, the Ahmedabad BRT is being projected as being shielded from failure by its various stakeholders.

BRTS is a dedicated, closed system in which no other transport will be allowed to ply. In fact, people walking across it will be treated as trespassers and fined. Around 100 ex-Army men have been recruited to patrol the BRTS area. When only BRTS buses ply on the stretch in the middle of the road, adherence to schedules will be possible and buses can arrive promptly, at a frequency of every three to five minute

For ITES functions, Khaizen Engineering has been selected to handle ticketing and customer information management at the bus stations

A tender will soon be floated to get a private partner on board for parking facilities along the BRT stretch for 650 autorickshaws, 3,500 two-wheelers and 250 four-wheelers

An advertising tender and one for housekeeping will also be put out soon, he added. Foot-overbridges with escalators will be built, and plans are on to lease out space on top of the foot-overbridges to coffee shops or jewellery retailers. Trial runs of the buses have been going on for the past month, though they are in no hurry to start operations.

All the best BRTS a public-govt initiative.