Oh, it’s cool! That is what you will most probably be saying when you hop on to a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) bus in January. The Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL) has plans to introduce air-conditioned BRTS buses by January when the winter chill starts fading.
To add to an already impressive level of luxury in a BRTS service, the AJL has placed an order to buy 20 AC buses with the Ashok Leylands. The company was supposed to show a proto-type bus with required floor height and other specifics by November-end but it has reportedly failed to prepare one such bus.
“This has pushed back our plans for the launch of AC buses. There has been a great demand for AC buses as people who usually travel in car are likely to be using the BRTS service. We hope to see a proto-type bus in a week’s time. If that happens, we will receive some of the AC buses by January next year,” said a senior AJL official.
While a section of people in AMC wants the AJL to start the AC bus service as soon as possible, others seem to believe that it may be a little too early to start an AC bus in the winter.
“While we expect to get at least some AC buses by January, we are still pondering over whether commuters will be keen to travel by AC buses during the winter. We don’t want a lukewarm response to our AC bus services initially as it will cause losses,” said another senior official. AJL officials have already said the fare of AC buses would be higher.
The AJL was apparently in a hurry to start AC bus services as there was a high demand for it. Regular commuters had suggested that AC buses would pull more crowd. The AJL, which is mulling the idea to extend the BRTS till Kankaria by mega Kankaria Carnival, also wanted to launch the AC bus service by that time. However, the plan has now been pushed back as the AJL is yet to check out the proto-type bus.
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