The country’s first BRTS remains incomplete

More than two years ago, Pune’s Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was inaugurated with political fanfare. The Rs 62-crore project is far from complete. A first in the country at that time—December 2006—the pilot project on the 16.5km Katraj-Swargate-Hadapsar route was started hastily, two months before the civic general elections. Traffic experts termed it a “dedicated bus service’’ and not a BRTS. The project lacked necessities, such as pedestrian ways and cycle tracks, not to mention proper bus-stops, off-board ticketing and systems to monitor bus movement. Accidents, many fatal, occurred due to the unchecked movement of pedestrians. As the carriage width of the road was reduced due to reserving lanes for buses, the movement of other vehicles slowed down. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), which has since then decided to complete the pilot BRTS in all aspects, stretched deadlines twice, but has still not completed it. The fresh deadline is March 31. At a PMC general body meeting, municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi admitted that there were problems. “No provisions were made for underpasses and pedestrian crossings,’’ Pardeshi said. After the pilot project, the corporation has plans to implement the BRTS on at least 11 roads. Incidentally, in neigbhouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, the municipal corporation has started work on a BRTS on a 13km stretch from Nigdi to Dapodi. The corporation is going slow on the project as it does not want to repeat the mistakes of Pune.