A city suffering on account of inadequate public transport has found itself a new lifeline - the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).
A year back, when chief minister Narendra Modi flagged off the new bus service, there were several doubts in people's minds on whether the BRTS would succeed after all - especially considering the fate it met with in cities like Pune and Delhi.
However, a year after it was launched, and after having ferried 1,63,877,46 passengers so far across a city-wide network of 34 km, there remain few doubts today about what the BRTS means to Amdavad.
At the time of its launch, the BRTS provided services only on a 12.5-km stretch from RTO to Pirana, with an average passenger count of 15,759 a day. This was in October 2009. Exactly a year later, the average number of passengers has increased to 82,944 a day (in October 2010). The BRTS' average income has soared from Rs73,693 a day in October last year to Rs4,50,601 a day in October 2010. So far, the AJL has earned around Rs8,51,03,890.
The BRTS started with a fleet of around 12 buses and now has 44, with five reserved for emergencies. This means that in last October, there were around 865 passengers per bus, which has now increased to 1,865 passengers per bus.
Municipal commissioner and chairman of Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL), IP Gautam said that they will soon commence BRTS services extending uptil Naroda, and complete a network of 40 km. "Also, for the first time, we are constructing a double-decker bus stop at Soni ni chaali," Gautam told DNA.
Shivanand Swamy, chief planner of the project and associate director of CEPT, said that they will soon start a smart card system as well as AC bus services with 30 AC buses.
