BRT in India - Ahmedabad City Honored for Improving Mobility

On Tuesday (January 12th), the city of Ahmedabad, India, was recognized as the winner of the 2010 Sustainable Transport Award for the successful implementation of Janmarg; India’s first full bus rapid transit (BRT) system. See a review of the new BRT system in Ahmedabad by the CAI-Asia Center.

First operational indeed.

Two pilots were implemented in the past. One in Pune and then in Delhi, both of which failed to yield favorable response from the public. In Delhi, after two years of planning and construction, only a section of 5 km road was opened for piloting and immediately dubbed as the “corridor of chaos” (stirring a public furor) and one report claims, it is as good as scrapped.

In Pune, the pilot BRT program failed in 2007 and for all practical purposes has been discontinued.

In India, for a number of cities, the push for integrated urban transport management under the JNNURM funds, and there is a growing interest in BRT, due to its appeal to the local politicians, but it is important to better understand the system for effective and speedy implementation.

Also see "Push for Public Transport".