7 KM IN 40 MINS

Encroachment along BRTS corridor plays havoc in trial run; Mayor Thakore calls for urgent measures
By Hemington James

Posted On Saturday, July 04, 2009 (Courtesy: Ahmedabad Mirror)

On Friday, BRTS conducted a day-long trial run. Its buses covered...Time AMTS buses take to cover the same distance: 20 mins

The first day-long trial run of Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) was anything but rapid. The trial run, involving six buses and 34 drivers, was divided into three phases (6 am to 8 am, 1 pm to 4 pm, 8 pm to 9.30 pm).In each phase, the buses plied between Chandranagar in Paldi and GMDC, GujaratUniversity. It took the BRTS buses almost 40 minutes to cover the 7-km distance on all three occasions. This performance would make a snail look faster. An AMTS bus would cover this distance in less than 20 minutes.This correspondent rode a BRTS bus between 1 pm and 4 pm along with Mayor Kanaji Thakore. After the journey, a highly dissatisfied Mayor was seen grumbling away before BRTS officials.Later, speaking to Ahmedabad Mirror, Thakore said, “I’ll have a meeting with the BRTS top brass. I don’t want to say much at this stage, but certainly, the performance must improve. This won’t do.”

THE PROBLEM

It was very obvious that not much planning had gone into staging the trial run. The BRTS buses barely covered a few hundred metres when they encountered vehicles parked in the special corridor created for them.The drivers had to get off their buses to move the vehicles out of the path. At many junctions, construction work on the pathway was on, further hampering the travel speed.Also, vehicles kept coming in the buses’ way, something the authorities had not accounted for. That created a lot of delay in the journey.

THE EXPLANATION

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) commissioner IP Gautam said Friday’s trial run was actually a practice session for the drivers.He said, “The idea was to make it tough for the drivers to see how they adapt. There will be teething problems, which we always expected. We want the system to be accurate.”The BRTS chairman, Utpal Padiya, urged patience. He said, “It will take us further one month to put things on track. It’s important for the drivers to learn to absorb pressure. On Friday, they got a first-hand experience of dealing with pressure.” Shivanand Swamy, chief designer, BRTS told Ahmedabad Mirror that the drivers were deliberately going slow during the trial run. “We don’t want any accidents during the trails,” he said.

SUPPORTIVE AMTS

The AMTS boss was not in the mood to rub it in after BRTS flop show on Friday. In fact, he was more than encouraging. Pravin Patel, chairman, AMTS, told Ahmedabad Mirror, “It will be unfair to criticise BRTS. It was just a training programme for the drivers. Also, the BRTS corridor is still not ready, therefore the delay during Friday’s run. Every new system in the world goes through such problems.”

THE BRTS BUSES

The BRTS buses are almost a replica of the coaches we see at the airports. Each BRTS bus can seat 35 passengers and accommodate another 50.Fitted with GPRS navigation system, the sleek buses have automated doors, controlled by the driver. The buses are a boon for passengers with dodgy knees, as gap between the bus steps and the platform is barely 12 inches.