While the Delhi bus rapid transit system (BRTS) is recovering after running into various problems during its launch and after, a similar system in Ahmedabad rolled out successfully earlier this month, after a series of dry runs.
One reason cited for smooth run of the Ahmedabad BRTS is single ownership from the outset. Run by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-floated Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd (AJL), the BRTS has 29 specially designed buses plying on the 12.5 km stretch from RTO to Chandranagar, the first section, while two more buses are on standby.
Ahmedabad BRTS has been rolled out under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) funded by the central government.
Experts are quick to point out that only a portion of the Ahmedabad project has been launched and it is too early to determine success or failure. While the first phase, spanning 58 km, is expected to be completed by mid-2010, phase two will cover an area of 30 km, will be completed by the end of calendar year 2011.
“Ahmedabad BRTS has been conceived as a comprehensive transport project and not just another road engineering project. It is a complete networking system, with centralised operations managed from a control centre that can monitor live. An automated ticketing system is another key feature of the project,” said Shreya Gadepalli, senior programme director of the New York-based Institute for Transportation and Development Policies that has been working on the project since 2004.
While the central government will fund 35 per cent of the project, 15 per cent is to be funded by state government and the remaining 50 per cent by the municipal corporation. The total project cost is envisaged at about Rs 1,000 crore, of which Rs 600 crore has already been pumped in for Phase-I.
In case of Delhi BRTS, the nodal agency, Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System, came into the picture at a much later stage, after the pilot project was designed.
Initially, there was lack of co-ordination between the traffic police department and the municipal body in Delhi, sources added. According to Geetam Tiwari, Transportation Research & Injury Prevention Programme, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, who has been associated with the Delhi government-funded BRT system since its inception: “It is not right to compare the two projects. Ahmedabad BRT is a greenfield project and a replica of the Bogota, Colombia BRT system. The Delhi BRT was conceptualised to remove traffic congestion on the ring roads, which is a typical problem for Delhi; Ahmedabad does not face the problem of crowded sections on the roads. Also, the Delhi project is large, with 625 routes per day and almost 150 buses in an hour. Compared to that, Ahmedabad BRT has fewer buses, with a bus strip every 10-15 minutes.”
Also, she notes, “Ahmedabad is introducing the system in a place where people are not habituated to use bus transport, while Delhi BRT was brought into an existing system of bus travel. In Delhi, the BRT buses are faster than cars, at a speed of 24-25 km/hour, at a cost of 12-15 crore per km. We also have a continuous segment for cycle tracks. The project is running successfully in Delhi and it would be difficult to say how well the Ahmedabad system would work in the long run, considering there is no innovation in the project.”
One of the recent changes in the Delhi BRT is that buses on new routes will ply on the extreme left instead of the centre. "This is the first such full-fledged BRTS project in the country, because similar projects in Delhi and Pune do not carry systems like control room, IT infrastructure, dedicated buses, etc," said Dilip Mahajan, deputy municipal commissioner, for the Ahmedabad project. Chief designer Shivanand Swamy, associate director at Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology, is expecting 400,000-500,000 passengers in Ahmedabad 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. Part of the 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,” he told Business Standard earlier.
AJL expects to begin earning revenues from advertising and pay parking soon. “We are floating tenders for both advertising and pay parking. After successful bids, we hope to begin earning revenues from them soon,” said U C Padhiya, deputy municipal commissioner.
While most frequented stretches, including major central business district (CBD) areas like Ashram Road and CG Road have been ignored while selecting the corridors for the bus, AJL has its reasons to so do. “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,” said Swamy.
Bus timings are going to be scheduled in such a manner that every four to five minutes, commuters get a bus, said senior AJL officials. Buses will be fitted with CCTV cameras for security purposes.
Besides, BRTS smart cards will be available at all BRTS bus stations for a fee of Rs 25 from October 14 onwards and can be topped up. Facilities like SMS-based services will also be introduced soon. "We will first stabilise our BRTS IT systems to the bus run, which has worked well till now. There are a number of features that will be introduced in the coming days, including SMS-based services," said I P Gautam, municipal commissioner.
Ahmedabad BRTS commuters can even avail real-time updates of buses plying on its corridor, along with information on feeder buses through the website.
