Ahmedabad is inching closer for the roll out of the Phase-I of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme of the Central government.
While a lot of hope rests on the project which is expected to give a new lease of life to the public transport system in the city, its success would also brighten the prospects of such projects in the country, especially after a plethora of problems faced by by Delhi BRTS. Officially named as 'Janmarg' by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, in January 2007, BRTS is all set to roll out in August.
As the much-awaited public transit system is running trials along its designated routes in the city, chief designer HM Shivanand Swamy, associate director at Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology (CEPT) who has given shape to the project sounds confident that the project will be a runaway success.
Excerpts from an interview with Chitra Unnithan and Vinay Umarji:
1. The ambitious BRTS project is expected to be launched in August. With Delhi BRTS hitting a rough patch, how prepared is the project team for ensuring a smooth run?
BRTS will be launched sometime in August and the trials are running succesfully. We plan to launch the bus on the RTO-Pirana corridor. There are only a few obstacles, which we are working at in order to have a successful launch.
2. How many passengers are you aiming to cater to? Have you set any target revenue to be generated in the next year or two?Public transport can never rely on revenues but we are expecting 4-5 lakh passengers per day in 2010-11. However, we believe the ticketing revenue will come to around Rs 26-27 per km while the cost we incur is about Rs 37-38 per km. The balance will have to be generated through other means like advertising, pay parking, etc.
3. The project cost has been revised from time to time. How much is it now?
The total cost of the project is around Rs 1,000 crore. Of this, cost of the phase one will be Rs 275 crore while that of the second phase will be roughly around Rs 365 crore. We can say that we will be incurring between Rs 8 and Rs 10 crore per km. Part of cost will be the set of 50 buses that we have bought. We are also incurring a cost of Rs 34 per km as payment to the operator.
4. One of the main reasons for strengthening public transport is to decrease dependence of commuters on private vehicles. How confident are you of people leaving their cars at home to hop into BRTS?
The main purpose (of BRTS) is to cater to people who have no other means to travel and cannot afford expensive travel on a daily basis. While we have avoided busy roads, we have made sure that the bus route touches these roads in some way or the other to make it convenient for passengers.
5. Why have you ignored the most-frequented roads of the city (the CBD areas) like Ashram Road and CG Road while selecting the corridors of the bus?
A lot of factors have gone into deciding the corridors for the project. The main criterion was to have routes where the project can be quickly implemented. We also wanted to serve the needs of the people who cannot spend much on commuting. It was also important to see that the bus is in demand in the areas that it runs through.
A reason to not include Ashram Road in the route is that Ahmedabad Metro is being planned. Once the metro comes in, the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS), BRTS, the suburban rail and the metro will function as one system. The feasibility work for metro rail to cover Ashram Road and Maninagar is on.
6. In many areas, owing to lack of proper parking facilities, a lot of vehicle spillover is on the main road. Have you made arrangements for alternate parking facility for such commuters?
Yes. There is a parking arrangement close to the bus stations for the commuters. The first few lines near the bus station would be alloted for autorickshaws after which there will be space alloted for the two-wheelers and cars. Besides, at a later stage if traffic gets unmanageable beyond a point, we will create more flyovers at such places.
7. When are the Rajkot and Surat BRTS expected to be functional?
We have been sanctioned 29 kms for Rajkot and 30 kms for Surat for the BRTS project. While the Rajkot BRTS will be launched in September 2010, the Surat BRTS is also expected to be launched within six months from then, which is around January or February 2011.
