Desaraju Surya
The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) will become operational in Vijayawada city only after February 2009. The Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner P S Pradyumna initially wanted to start a trial run of the system with a few compressed-natural gas-fuelled buses of the APSRTC from November 15 but reality seemed to have dawned on him after he visited Mexico, Brazil and Columbia to study the implementation of BRTS projects in those countries.
Now, the young commissioner wants to first put necessary infrastructure like bus stations, automated ticket vending machines and signalling systems in place before rushing in to kick-start the BRTS operations. Also, the system cannot be operated with the regular buses that currently ply on the city roads and only specially-designed buses will do. Hence, the wait for a few more months for the BRTS operations to be reality becomes inevitable.
The first phase of the BRTS project covers a distance of 15.5 km. The road – which is meant to be an exclusive BRTS corridor – connecting the GS Raju Road and Madhuranagar is not yet ready and it may take about two months for it to take shape.
This is the new road that is being laid following the removal of the Satyanarayanapuram railway track.
The first phase Green Corridor will have 31 bus stops – each at a distance of 500 mts and 17 traffic junctions. The signalling system which is the key to ensuring a smooth ride for BRTS buses is still not in place. Of the 15.5 km Green Corridor, only a 11-km stretch has a clear way for BRTS buses while the balance portion will have mixed traffic.
The Rs 152.64 crore BRTS project, taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), will make Vijayawada the fourth city in the country after Indore, Pune and Ahmedabad and the first in south India to have such a better urban public transport system. BRTS, an environment-friendly and cost-effective urban public transport system, is an alternative between ‘unreliable’ conventional bus transport and the high-cost metro rail. Usually, it is also referred to as the ‘surface metro’ system that has a dedicated right-of-way on prime roads enabling high operating speeds. In Vijayawada, BRTS is being introduced on a pilot basis along the 15.5-km ‘Green Corridor’: from the police control room to the railway station, Satyanarayanapuram, Eluru Road, Ring Road, Benz Circle, Mahatma Gandhi Road and back to PCR. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation plans to introduce exclusive BRTS buses, each costing Rs 40 lakh, in the later stages. Though the state government approved the proposal to form the Vijayawada Metropolitan Transport Authority for operating the BRTS, it hasn’t been put in place.
The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) will become operational in Vijayawada city only after February 2009. The Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner P S Pradyumna initially wanted to start a trial run of the system with a few compressed-natural gas-fuelled buses of the APSRTC from November 15 but reality seemed to have dawned on him after he visited Mexico, Brazil and Columbia to study the implementation of BRTS projects in those countries.
Now, the young commissioner wants to first put necessary infrastructure like bus stations, automated ticket vending machines and signalling systems in place before rushing in to kick-start the BRTS operations. Also, the system cannot be operated with the regular buses that currently ply on the city roads and only specially-designed buses will do. Hence, the wait for a few more months for the BRTS operations to be reality becomes inevitable.
The first phase of the BRTS project covers a distance of 15.5 km. The road – which is meant to be an exclusive BRTS corridor – connecting the GS Raju Road and Madhuranagar is not yet ready and it may take about two months for it to take shape.
This is the new road that is being laid following the removal of the Satyanarayanapuram railway track.
The first phase Green Corridor will have 31 bus stops – each at a distance of 500 mts and 17 traffic junctions. The signalling system which is the key to ensuring a smooth ride for BRTS buses is still not in place. Of the 15.5 km Green Corridor, only a 11-km stretch has a clear way for BRTS buses while the balance portion will have mixed traffic.
The Rs 152.64 crore BRTS project, taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), will make Vijayawada the fourth city in the country after Indore, Pune and Ahmedabad and the first in south India to have such a better urban public transport system. BRTS, an environment-friendly and cost-effective urban public transport system, is an alternative between ‘unreliable’ conventional bus transport and the high-cost metro rail. Usually, it is also referred to as the ‘surface metro’ system that has a dedicated right-of-way on prime roads enabling high operating speeds. In Vijayawada, BRTS is being introduced on a pilot basis along the 15.5-km ‘Green Corridor’: from the police control room to the railway station, Satyanarayanapuram, Eluru Road, Ring Road, Benz Circle, Mahatma Gandhi Road and back to PCR. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation plans to introduce exclusive BRTS buses, each costing Rs 40 lakh, in the later stages. Though the state government approved the proposal to form the Vijayawada Metropolitan Transport Authority for operating the BRTS, it hasn’t been put in place.
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