The Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL) had envisaged that the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) will fetch Rs1.20 lakh a day after completing two months, i.e., by mid December. But they achieved the target on the 33rd day itself. The BRTS earned Rs1.20 lakh on Monday, thanks to the autorickshaw strike.
While the BRTS earned its highest ever income after the launch by ferrying as many as 27,683 passengers, the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) also earned Rs41 lakh on Monday, as against its daily average income of Rs29 lakh.
Autorickshaw drivers called for a strike to protest increase in CNG prices, on Monday. Although the BRTS is operational only on the 12.5 km stretch from RTO to Chandranagar, absence of autorickshaws on roads led to an increase of around 6,000 passengers in a day.
Earlier, it was only during the free trail runs that the AJL registered 20,000 passengers a day. But last week on November 9, BRTS registered 20,093 passengers, recording its average daily income at around Rs97,077.
Municipal Commissioner IP Gautam said it is good that people have accepted and approved of the BRTS. “We would like more people to commute through the BRTS; we have the capacity to ferry even 30,000 passengers a day,” added Gautam.
While the BRTS had rolled 18 buses on the stretch running from RTO to Pirana and had an addition of two buses in case of an emergency, the AMTS had put extra buses and also extended its services till late at night.“We had run extra buses in Geeta Mandir and Kalupur railway station areas so that passengers who reach Ahmedabad late at night do not suffer,” said deputy municipal commissioner of AMTS, MS Patel.
Since the official launch of the BRTS (from the day commuters needed to pay for ticket), the AJL has recorded an average daily income of Rs80,000 from around 16,000 passengers. However, from the day it started charging for the trips, the number of passengers dipped to around 10,000, while the income also slumped to Rs50,000.
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