City to get BRT

City to get BRT
Vijay Times

Its now official, finally! The City will get its first BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) corridor. Yes, the State government has decided to go ahead in making the BRT a reality following a trip to Beijing undetaken by Transport Minister H Cheluvarayaswamy to study the system there.

D Thangaraj, principal secretary, transport department told Vijay Times on Wednesday that the project, to be developed jointly by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), entails developing the entire 38-km stretch between Central Silk Board and Hebbal as a BRT corridor in the first phase.

"A committee headed by the chief secretary has examined the transport angle as part of the overall package to improve infrastructure in the state. It will be a pilot project undertaken by the BDA. When operational, speed of buses will be 30 km per hour as opposed to 14 km at present," indicated Thangaraj.

The funding for the project is likely to be drawn from the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission). The cost per km would be approximately Rs 10 crore if a separate corridor is constructed. Otherwise, it would be one-tenth of the cost if modifications are planned on the existing outer ring road corridor, said the principal secretary. RITES have been asked to prepare a DPR (Detailed Project Report) on the project.

Highly placed sources in the BMTC said the project will have the entire outer ring road as a BRT corridor in phases. The BDA will be entrusted with the task of implementing the core project, while the BMP has been asked to draw plans to connect grid routes to the outer ring road on which buses ply at present, while BMTC would be providing the rolling stock.

"Apart from Volvo buses that will ply on the BRT as in developed nations, we will examine connectivity of all 27 grid routes through regular buses on Lite BRT routes. The ministry of urban development will present the project to the Centre for availing of funds from JNNURM," said the authorities.

Sources also said the transport minister will in a review meeting with RITES on Thursday, discuss the project along with stakeholders from BDA, BMP and BMTC.


lDedicated high-capacity buses on an identified corridor with physical separation from other traffic lanes

l7 to 10 high capacity buses on these corridors

lModern bus stops, bus ticketing and rider information systems

lIntegrated common ticketing system across different modes such as Metro Rail

lAdvanced, high-speed lowfloor Volvo buses with cleaner fuels

lAll feeder services to be coordinated, including movement of pedestrians

lSkywalks and state-of-art bus shelters and bays on BRT

lSignal synchronisation for speed of buses