New Ahmedabad buses not to be plastered with adverts

Soon the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport System (AMTS) buses you commute in will be clean and free of advertisements.

Like the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), the 400 feeder buses managed by the AMTS will be clean -- at least from outside.
AMTS bosses have decided not to paint advertisements on the buses. They say, there are two reasons for it.

First, AMTS income is nominal from advertisements on the bus and secondly, maintenance of the buses becomes a problem after the advertisements are removed. The AMC has purchased 400 buses from the JNNURM funds under the urban transport project. The buses will be used as BRTS feeder buses but maintained by the AMTS. 

"We have selected red and orange colour for the new feeder buses. The bus looks very attractive and we don't want to spoil its beauty. Anyways, income through advertisements on the AMTS buses is very nominal and once these advertisements are removed, maintaining the bus colour becomes a problem," said chairman of AMTS committee Pravin Patel.

While plans to manage 400 feeder buses are afoot, the arrival of the buses has once again been delayed. "We had sent a team of four people from AMTS and AJL to inspect quality of buses especially after the incident of a bus catching fire in Delhi because we have opted for the same model. Our team has come back after inspecting the bus and we have put forward some suggestions to avoid any such incident for passengers' safety," added Patel.
He said around 150 bus should come by this month-end and the remaining by the end of April.