Eight years after it was officially endorsed as a solution to city’s road traffic, the
efforts to set up a network of dedicated green bus corridors are finally gaining momentum.
The planning for the bus corridors or the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), touted as the quickest and the cheapest mass transport solution for traffic woes, was first undertaken by the MMRDA in 2002.
But it has largely remained on paper with the state authorities concentrating on big-ticket projects such as metro, monorail, and the sea links.
But now, steps are now being taken to put BRTS on the road. On Monday, the BEST will roll out a new route connecting north Mumbai to south Mumbai. Three AC buses will ply on the corridor, which will run between Gorai and Colaba. During the morning peak hours, the buses will ply southward, while they will run northward in the evening.
Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam, credited as the man behind the initiation of the new route, said the buses would run on a fast track and will cover the distance in 150 minutes.
Actor Jackie Shroff flagged off the new route on Sunday during a function organised by Nirupam outside the Gorai bus depot. Another BEST route, connecting Gorai to Bandra-Kula Complex, on which five buses will ply, was also launched on the occasion.
The BEST administration had recently launched four other fast-track routes — including those between Mantralaya and Mahim, Mahim and Mira Road (East), Colaba and Sion, and Sion and Cadbury Junction in Thane. General manager OP Gupta announced that there were plans to launch five more fast-track corridors.
Even though these routes are not yet dedicated bus corridors, transport activist see them as a step leading in that direction. “It is certainly a beginning,” transport planner Ashok Datar said.
They are certainly on track. Consulting Engineering Services (CES) India Pvt Ltd, appointed by the MMRDA for a blueprint to plan, design and implement BRTS, recently submitted a report, which said that dedicated bus lanes were possible between Bandra and Dahisar along the Western Express Highway and between Sion and Cadbury Junction along the Eastern Express Highway.
