Had my first glimpse of the Pune BRTS (Bus Rapid Transport System) corridor on Satara Road today. The BRTS consists of a dedicated 2-way corridor for high speed buses in the middle of the road. Very cute, very stylish bus stops adorn the corridor. The buses will not be the red boxes we have known in the past - the first set of stylish, low-floored, AC Volvo buses have been delivered to PMT recently, and will adorn the BRTS routes.
Will it work? I hope so! I would love to keep my car away for some time and let someone else drive me. Do we have any option? Well, we could have a Metro and a Light Rail System, but public transport is a must now, in Pune, and in other Indian cities.
Will the public treat the buses with respect? Why not? Will the rest of the traffic respect the BRTS corridor rules? Should be possible - the corridor seems pretty well demarcated, and should be workable in most situations! But if you ask me, I think a Skybus would have been a much better idea (though a hundred times more expensive!).
Go have a look - and if nothing else, appreciate the government's move and the vision that has gone into dreaming of the BRTS, and the speed at which the work is being done!
Yes, India is definitely dreaming big! No stopping now...
Will it work? I hope so! I would love to keep my car away for some time and let someone else drive me. Do we have any option? Well, we could have a Metro and a Light Rail System, but public transport is a must now, in Pune, and in other Indian cities.
Will the public treat the buses with respect? Why not? Will the rest of the traffic respect the BRTS corridor rules? Should be possible - the corridor seems pretty well demarcated, and should be workable in most situations! But if you ask me, I think a Skybus would have been a much better idea (though a hundred times more expensive!).
Go have a look - and if nothing else, appreciate the government's move and the vision that has gone into dreaming of the BRTS, and the speed at which the work is being done!
Yes, India is definitely dreaming big! No stopping now...
9 comments:
I really hope it works!.. I saw the trams in Amsterdam, and couldn't help but thinking about the BRTS at that time.
Though one thing we really really need for the BRTS to work are good big roads - which I find missing in most of the city parts - so not sure how it is going to work inside the city!
Hi..Though the Skybus maybe more expensive than the BRTS... look at the positive aspects of a Skybus:
1) No space required on the roads since it moves at an elevated level
2) No Govt funding required at all, its purely through Private funding unlike the Metro and BRTS
3)More Urban space created.
4)BRTS would require dedicated space on roads and our roads are not broad enough to further leave room for BRTS buses
5) Govt would even earn revenue from Skybus during concesion period and could use the same for development of city roads
6) Pollution free
7)Airconditioned travel at less than auto fares
Infact we have proposed a Skybus for Pune and are discussing with the Govt for approvals
cheers
Siddharth
Hi Sidharth,
Thanks for the comments - pretty interesting! I am a big fan of the skybus actually - I think it would be really sexy, and I do agree to most of your points. See below:
1) No space required on the roads since it moves at an elevated level
Totally agree. I think the BRTS has one big disadvantage - it cuts into the road space, and may not be a viable option in crowded cities and on smaller roads. I heard Mumbai will have BRTS between Thane and Dadar - now that's the right way to do it!
2) No Govt funding required at all, its purely through Private funding unlike the Metro and BRTS
Hmm... well, that really depends on how the project is executed. You could do BRTS and Metro through private enterprise also, and the PMC could well run the skybus!
3)More Urban space created.
yes :)
4)BRTS would require dedicated space on roads and our roads are not broad enough to further leave room for BRTS buses
Agree completely - this will be the one major factor that can seriously undermine the BRTS projects
5) Govt would even earn revenue from Skybus during concesion period and could use the same for development of city roads
Well - as I said, the model of private partnership is really orthogonal to the project itself.
6) Pollution free
Again, I agree! Although I must say, the Volvos would be pretty cool too :)
7)Airconditioned travel at less than auto fares
Again, this is finance - and it's orthogonal to the project itself in some way. Remember, someone has to pay for the exhorbitant cost of putting up the skybus network - and ultimately the consumer will have to pay for it.
By the way, if you ever get the chance, check out the pilot skybus track in Goa :)
Hi.
Infact I am a part of the Skybus Team and am marketing the same to various State Govts. I ave seen the Goa Track quite a few times :-)
Well on the Finance side, as mentioned, the Govt only needs to give a right of way and the entire funding is thru private placements, as in no gap funding required from the Govt at all.
The BOT operator makes his money from the concession agreement that he signs with the Govt for X number of years. While I agree that the Volvos are ultra cool, they finally run of fuel, and if there is a system which would reduce fuel consumption then hey why NOt ??? cheers
Siddharth, I would love to get more involved in this! I am not sure you have the time to send across some more details, but I would really love to know what's happening with the skybus, and how the governments are taking it.
And just one question of our curiosity.. how did you land up on my blog? :)
The sky bus option is a very good one for a City like Pune and also foe a place like Goa.It can be placed along the Margao-Panaji,Panaji Mapusa route for example.A lot of local traffic(2 and 4 wheelers) will reduce on these routes if the sky bus is efficiently made to run here.
I am totally for it.
Yogesh
Passed by the Pune-Satara road yesterday. While most of it is still blocked and under construction, a whole lot of it is ready a little sooner than I expected. And you know what - Looks Absolutely Awesome. Loved the clean broad roads and Bus Stops right in the middle.. Very Very Nice!
At the risk of sounding a bit cynical, I must say hoever, that India's cities do need to focus on a lot of other aspects too. Its great that we're coming up with some awesome infrastructure. But think about it, if going to Mumbai is about visiting shopping malls and theatres alone, then something is wrong some where. Well, maybe Mumbai is not the best example, because I haven't seen a lot of it. But lets take our own Pune - I'm very excited about the flyovers, the expressways, the BRTSs and everything. But I would love to see a few museums, a few parks, a few wild life sanctuaries, beautiful temples and churches and also a few simple places for the local people to hang out, relax.. Know what I mean??
Harsha, you need to check out the Pu La Deshpande Japanese Garden on Sinhagad Road - OK, OK, I know what you mean, and I agree. But I think that will happen too. Think about the potential of developing our river promenades - would be so awesome. Are we far from it? I don't think so - Ahmedabad has a huge success story along the Sabarmati, and Mumbai hopefully is following with the Mithi. Next stop, Mula-Mutha :)
Good to see your post on my blog, Ananya!
As far as Pune BRTS goes, here are some thoughts:
1) Working very well, in my opinion, and much better than I would have expected
a. Buses are still in good condition – public does take care of its assets. Bus-stops are also still in a good condition, though they could have been better
b. Most interestingly, in a city like Pune with it’s terrible traffic sense and discipline, the BRTS lanes are by and large remain free of other non-BRTS traffic. This is completely unexpected, but somehow, the public has accepted dedicated lanes very well, even without serious dividers in place.
c. Buses are heavily used, which means this is definitely a boon to the public
2) One negative of the BRTS is the need to have a dedicated lane, which will not work on some of the more important, but narrower city roads. Pune a number of such roads with high passenger traffic, high volumes, but not enough space for dedicated BRTS lanes. In many cities in India, BRTS buses might need to share space with other traffic on certain stretches, but that should be fine as long as the buses are comfortable and generally given priority/dedicated space where possible.
3) There needs to be good, easily accessible and safe parking at BRTS bus stations, allowing car/bike owners to switch to BRTS easily.
Overall, I would say the BRTS is definitely a success, especially in India conditions, and I see a far greater role for such mass rapid transport systems in India in the near future. At the same time, I do think that options like the Skybus have far more potential, due to its better space utilization
Post a Comment