Pune's BRTS still not fully operational

As Pune’s pilot Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on the Katraj-Swargate-Hadapsar route completes three years of its formal launch, questions still remain about when the project will become fully operational. While the Pune Municipal Corporation claims that the basic infrastructure work is 98 per cent complete, questions pertaining to plying of good quality buses, increase in frequency, levelboarding facilities, off-board ticketing system, traffic enforcement and overall promotional branding of the system remain unanswered. Inaugurated with much fanfare on December 3, 2006, by Jaipal Reddy, the then Union minister for urban development, the project was publicised as the country’s first BRTS. The project was apparently launched with an eye on municipal elections, which were held in February the next year. Initially, only a small stretch of 6.5 km on the Swargate-Katraj road was opened, which experts called as a dedicated bus lane service and not BRTS. With numerous shortcomings and lack of traffic enforcements, the project came under flak from citizens and experts alike. The PMC, which was forced to take a review of the works, decided to include footpaths and cycle tracks as part of the BRTS, and also extended it from Swargate to Hadapsar, a distance of 10 km. From the initial expenditure of Rs 62 crore, the total expenditure incurred on the project so far has now reached Rs 120 crore. After several extensions in deadlines, the PMC now claims that the basic infrastructure work of constructing dedicated lanes, footpaths, cycle tracks, and bus shelters has been completed. “The work is 98 per cent complete. There are at least seven to eight locations where work could not be completed because of court cases,’’ PMC’s additional engineer and traffic planner Shriniwas Bonala said. Regular maintenance works are now in progress, he added. Bonala claimed that the BRTS has improved over the years because the travelling speed of buses as well as other vehicles had increased. The number of passengers travelling by buses has increased from 2.6 lakh to over 3.65 lakh, he said. Similarly, the accident rate, too, has decreased, he added. Parking facilities have been developed, while all bus shelters have information display boards. The implementation of BRTS, he said, was not an easy job. “Unlike in some other cities where BRTS lanes and infrastructure was newly-developed, here, the facility had to be developed on the busy route without diverting traffic,” he said. The entire road has now been concretised with proper direction boards, he added. On the lack of traffic enforcement, resulting in many private vehicles entering the dedicated lanes, Bonala said the traffic police have issued a notification banning entry of private vehicles on the lanes. He said a proposal of putting to use surveillance cameras on the BRTS to take action against erring motorists was in the offing. The proposal would soon be placed before the general body for approval. Asked why the PMC was not undertaking any promotional activity for branding of the BRTS as was initially planned, Bonala said although it could not be done, overall, the people using the facility are happy. About lack of enough buses and other facilities such as off-board ticketing system, Bonala said only the PMPML authorities could provide the answers. Incidentally, the PMPML in March this year had increased the fares of the air-conditioned buses which had been specifically procured for BRTS. With the passenger response dropping drastically, the PMPML was forced to bring down the fares. The PMPML had justified the increase in fares by saying that the increased maintenance cost of the buses was the reason behind the fare hike.Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to take out a horse-cart morcha on Thursday morning to demand that the BRTS should be completed in all aspects as early as possible.