''Janmarg'', also known as Ahmedabad BRTS, is a

bus rapid transit system Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

, Gujarat, India. It is operated by Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited, a subsidiary of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and others. It is designed by

CEPT University CEPT University, formerly the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, is an academic institution located near university area in Ahmedabad, India offering undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in areas of natural and dev ...

. 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 Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

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

. 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 Amdavad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) runs the public bus service in the city of Ahmedabad in India.The responsibility of the administration of AMTS comes under the Amdavad Municipal Corporation History Private operators There existed t ...

(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 Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

. 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 Gujarat, Narendra Modi. 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 origin ...

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, Bangalore, Mumbai,

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 Majha r ...

and Bhubaneswar.

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 Municipal Corporation, Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority and Government of Gujarat. AJL introduced

Automated fare collection system An automated fare collection (AFC) system is the collection of components that automate the ticketing system of a public transportation network - an automated version of manual fare collection. An AFC system is usually the basis for integrated tic ...

through smart cards for commuters. It has a mixed fleet of air conditioned and non-air conditioned buses. It has 220

Euro III The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a ser ...

and

Euro IV The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a seri ...

-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 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 The 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference was the 18th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP ...

as a 'lighthouse project' as part of the United Nations 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 * International Award for "Sustainable Transport Award – 2010" at Washington DC, United States. * National Award for "Best Mass Transit Rapid System Project - 2009" from Government of India. * 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

through New Technological Innovations in Janmarg BRTS – 2010" from Government of India. * International Award for Design – "Daring Ambition Award and Knowledge and Research Award – 2011" at 59th UITP World Congress, Dubai. * 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 ex ...

. 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 Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cyl ...

and they are meant to attract more passengers. Dedicated BRTS corridors causes traffic jams at several places especially in

Old Ahmedabad The Historic City of Ahmadabad or Old Ahmedabad, the walled city of Ahmedabad in India, was founded by Ahmad Shah I of the Gujarat Sultanate in 1411. It remained the capital of the state of Gujarat for six centuries and later became the importa ...

. 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 Ambawadi is an area located in Ahmedabad, India. The major landmarks of the area are the Ahmedabad Central Mall, the Ambawadi ''shaak bazaar'' (vegetable market), and the Parimal Garden. Education * Sheth C.N.School * I.I.M. Hospitals * Doctor ...

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