''Janmarg'', also known as Ahmedabad BRTS, is a bus rapid transit system in Ahmedabad,

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

, India. It is operated by Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited, a subsidiary of

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation The Amdavad Municipal Corporation, or the AMC, established in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act (1949), is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Ahmedabad. History On 21 April 1831, the ...

and others. It is designed by CEPT University. It was inaugurated in October 2009. The network expanded to by December 2017 with daily ridership of 3,49,000 passengers. BRTS won several nation and international awards for design, implementation and operation. It was rated Silver on

BRT Standard The BRT Standard is an evaluation tool for bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors around the world, based on international best practices. The Standard establishes a common definition for BRT and identifies BRT best practices, as well as functioning a ...

in 2013.

History

Ahmedabad has a population of more than 6.3 million and an extended population of 7.2 million. It is the sixth largest city and seventh largest metropolitan area of India. The bus rapid transport system was created to serve a growing population. In 2005, feasibility study reports were prepared by the state project development agency, Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board, and later by CEPT University. The study was headed by H. M. Shivanand Swamy; an economist, urban planner and associate director of CEPT. The project was sanctioned by the Ministry of Urban Development under JNNURM program in 2005. Technical procedures were started in 2006. CEPT designed the system after detailed analysis. Based on an analysis of the socio-economic factors, travel demand patterns, road network characteristics, the metro plan and the existing Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) route network, a network of roads covering about 155 kilometres in length was identified for developing the BRTS. The system is named ''Janmarg'', which means ''the people's way'' in Gujarati. Trial running started in July 2009. The first corridor connecting Pirana to RTO Junction was opened to public on 14 October 2009 by then the Chief Minister of

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

. The second half of the first phase of the BRTS was inaugurated on 25 December 2009. It was extended to

Kankaria Kankaria Lake is the second largest lake in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is located in the south-eastern part of the city, in the Maninagar area. It was completed in 1451 during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II though its origi ...

Lake later, to cater to the eastern part of the city, and from Shivranjani to Iskcon Temple on 15 September 2012. On 28 September 2012, it expanded from Soni ni Chali to Odhav. The network expanded to 89 km by December 2015 at the total cost of 1200 crore. The third phase of the project includes the Shivranjani-APMC, Jashodanagar-Hathijan, Sola-Science City, Narol-Aslali and Akhbarnagar-Gota Crossroads stretches. It was approved in 2013 and is under construction. Dedicated buses for women were introduced in January 2016. In future, BRTS will be integrated with the Ahmedabad Metro, which is under construction. The

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) is central business district under-construction in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad in Gandhinagar district in Gujarat, India. It is India's first operational greenfield smart city and internationa ...

, also under construction, will be accessible through this multimodal mix of rapid transport systems. Several cities are constructing and planning BRTS based on the model of Ahmedabad such as

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Maj ...

and

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango tr ...

Routes

, following are the currently operational routes; eleven in both directions and two in circular direction; serving 149 BRTS stations and cabins at extended routes.

Operation

Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL), the parent company which governs BRTS operations in Ahmedabad, was constituted as a Special Purpose Vehicle by

, Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority and Government of Gujarat. AJL introduced Automated fare collection system through smart cards for commuters. It has a mixed fleet of air conditioned and non-air conditioned buses. It has 220 Euro III and Euro IV-compliant diesel buses. Parts for the buses are provided by Tata Motors. These buses are built by Chartered Speed locally according to specifications. The system runs on Integrated Transportation Management System (IMTS) which includes Advanced Vehicle Tracking System (AVLS), Fleet Management System (FMS), Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS), Passenger Information System (PIS), Passenger announcement (PA), and Vehicle Scheduling and Dispatching (VSD). These technologies are provided by the consortium of Vayam Technologies and GMV Innovating Solutions since 2010. As a part of Intelligent Transit Management System (ITMS), an app based and

QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of Barcode#Matrix (2D) barcodes, matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso#Denso Wave, Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optic ...

powered ticketing system was introduced in June 2017.

Recognition

Ahmedabad BRTS was rated Silver on

in 2013. It was showcased at 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference as a 'lighthouse project' as part of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Secretary General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

's Momentum for Change Initiative.

Awards

* National Award for "Award for Excellence in the category of Best IMTS Project – 2011" from

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

* International Award for "Sustainable Transport Award – 2010" at

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, United States. * National Award for "Best Mass Transit Rapid System Project - 2009" from

. * International Award for "Outstanding Innovations in Public Transportation – 2010" from UITP, Germany * National Award for "Best Innovation Project Towards Improvement in Urban Mobility in the City of Ahmedabad through New Technological Innovations in Janmarg BRTS – 2010" from

. * International Award for Design – "Daring Ambition Award and Knowledge and Research Award – 2011" at 59th UITP World Congress,

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...

. * UITP India Political Commitment Award at 60th UITP World Congress, Geneva on 27 May 2013 * Markenomy Awards 2013 for " Best Urban Infra Mass Transport Project" from Falcom Media at Mumbai

Criticism

BRTS failed to increase the number of public transport users in Ahmedabad. Before launch of BRTS, in 2009, the number of public transport users (users of AMTS) was 8 to 8.5

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ...

. After six years of operation, in January 2016, it is found that the number of public transport users (combined users of BRTS and AMTS) dropped to 7.5 lakh. During the same period, the number of private vehicles in the city increased by 54%, up from 18.2 lakh to 25.10 lakh. Only 18% of the total population of the city uses public transport. In 2011, 42 km network of BRTS had daily average passenger traffic of 1.2 lakh which increased only marginally to 1.32 lakh in 2016 despite expansion of network to 89 km. In 2015, Ahmedabad Jammarg Limited spent 98 crore on operation incurring loss of 35 crore. In 2015, there are 213 buses with AJL. 80% of them are air conditioned diesel buses which has average of 1.5 km per litre of diesel resulting in increase in air pollution. Air conditioned buses can not be run on CNG and they are meant to attract more passengers. Dedicated BRTS corridors causes traffic jams at several places especially in Old Ahmedabad. As of June 2017, 186 out of 250 Buses are air conditioned. It incurred loss of in period of 2019 to 2021.

Accidents

Between 2016 and 2019, there were 22 fatal BRTS accidents. On 22 November 2019, two brothers, Nayan Ram and Jayesh Ram were crushed to death by a BRTS incident at Panjarapol cross road, Ambawadi.

Gallery

File:GMDCstation2.JPG, GMDC Station File:GMDCstation1.JPG, GMDC Station Interior File:Ahmedabad BRTS3.jpg, Bus File:Ahm BRTS2.jpg, Bus at station

References

External links

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

Ahmedabad BRTS on Google Map

Gujarat BRTS in Action on TV9
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmedabad BRTS Transport in Ahmedabad Bus rapid transit in India Chief Ministership of Narendra Modi 2009 establishments in Gujarat Transport infrastructure completed in 2009