Feeder bus service for Ahmedabad BRTS need of the hour

The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) might have encouraged some Amdavadis to take advantage of public transport but the   inefficient feeder bus services and unavailability of transport to the nearest bus stop has deterred many. That is the reason many Amdavadis owning vehicles have not taken to BRTS despite the skyrocketing fuel prices.

A household study conducted by the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (Cept) for a dissertation states that 38% of private vehicle owners (around 11 lakh) are willing to shift to public transport if they get integrated transport - BRTS and feeder buses from near their doorstep. According to the statistics available public transport contributes to only 12% in modal split usage of type of vehicles for transport.

The study titled 'Integration of Feeder Service with Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS)' by Khelan Modi under the guidance of Prof Shalini Sinha says that out of an estimated 22 lakh vehicles on the roads in Ahmedabad 45% are two-wheelers and 9% are four-wheelers.

The integration of public transport includes the comprehensive planning of services within an urban market for the purposes of facilitating seamless and multi-operator journeys. Passengers interchange when there is either no direct service or  a faster alternative.

This means that if private vehicle owners get public transport from near their homes to take them to nearby BRTS stand in single ticket system, they would like to switch to the public transport as it saves time and money too.