BRTS is a success in Gujarat

Making the Janmarg Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) work in Ahmedabad was not about getting there first, but getting it right. “The concept of BRTS was conceived in Gujarat and its proposal to the Centre was followed by other states who wanted to get there first. We learned from their mistakes,” Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi said. Incidentally, Gujarat has just won an international award for the project’s success. Modi did not comment if Mumbai has turned to it for advice or if Mumbai could accommodate such a project in the first place. “We are successful because we learned from others’ mistakes. We are looking at water transport and metro now to ease congestion,” he said and added that the route, which earlier took 40 minutes, now takes around 11. Ahmedabad is the only city in the country to have successfully implemented BRTS. It has already completed 16.5 kilometre of the total 88 kilometre planned. Once the project is complete, it will touch railway and bus stations, the civil hospital, three industrial estates and six schools. Some 80% of the lanes are wider than 30 metre. The lane width varies from 24-60 metre. Officials said the project in its pilot stage was free and attracted just about 18,000 people a day. But today, it carries more than 35,000 persons. Incidentally, officials said they haven’t seen any reduction in traffic as yet and said a survey showed that there has been a 4-5 minute time reduction in the sector.