''Janmarg'', also known as Ahmedabad BRTS, is a bus rapid transit system in Ahmedabad,

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, India. It is operated by Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited, a subsidiary of

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation The Amdavad Municipal Corporation, or the AMC, established in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act (1949), is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Ahmedabad. History On 21 April 1831, the ...

and others. It is designed by

CEPT University CEPT University, formerly the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, is an academic institution located near university area in Ahmedabad, India offering undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in areas of natural and de ...

. It was inaugurated in October 2009. The network expanded to by December 2017 with daily ridership of 3,49,000 passengers. BRTS won several nation and international awards for design, implementation and operation. It was rated Silver on BRT Standard in 2013.

History

Ahmedabad has a population of more than 6.3 million and an extended population of 7.2 million. It is the sixth largest city and seventh largest metropolitan area of India. The

bus rapid transport Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

system was created to serve a growing population. In 2005, feasibility study reports were prepared by the state project development agency, Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board, and later by

. The study was headed by H. M. Shivanand Swamy; an economist, urban planner and associate director of CEPT. The project was sanctioned by the

Ministry of Urban Development The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is a ministry of the Government of India with executive authority over the formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to the housing and urban development in Ind ...

under

JNNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was a massive city-modernization scheme launched by the Government of India under the Ministry of Urban Development. It envisaged a total investment of over $20 billion over seven years. ...

program in 2005. Technical procedures were started in 2006. CEPT designed the system after detailed analysis. Based on an analysis of the socio-economic factors, travel demand patterns, road network characteristics, the metro plan and the existing Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) route network, a network of roads covering about 155 kilometres in length was identified for developing the BRTS. The system is named ''Janmarg'', which means ''the people's way'' in

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

. Trial running started in July 2009. The first corridor connecting Pirana to RTO Junction was opened to public on 14 October 2009 by then the Chief Minister of

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

. The second half of the first phase of the BRTS was inaugurated on 25 December 2009. It was extended to

Kankaria Kankaria Lake is the second largest lake in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is located in the south-eastern part of the city, in the Maninagar area. It was completed in 1451 during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II though its origin ...

Lake later, to cater to the eastern part of the city, and from Shivranjani to Iskcon Temple on 15 September 2012. On 28 September 2012, it expanded from Soni ni Chali to Odhav. The network expanded to 89 km by December 2015 at the total cost of 1200 crore. The third phase of the project includes the Shivranjani-APMC, Jashodanagar-Hathijan, Sola-Science City, Narol-Aslali and Akhbarnagar-Gota Crossroads stretches. It was approved in 2013 and is under construction. Dedicated buses for women were introduced in January 2016. In future, BRTS will be integrated with the

Ahmedabad Metro Ahmedabad Metro is a rapid transit system for the cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat state of India. The Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation Limited was established in February 2010 and the long Phase–1 of the project was approved ...

, which is under construction. The

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) is central business district under-construction in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad in Gandhinagar district in Gujarat, India. It is India's first operational greenfield smart city and international f ...

, also under construction, will be accessible through this multimodal mix of rapid transport systems. Several cities are constructing and planning BRTS based on the model of Ahmedabad such as

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, Amritsar and

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...

Routes

, following are the currently operational routes; eleven in both directions and two in circular direction; serving 149 BRTS stations and cabins at extended routes.

Operation

Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL), the parent company which governs BRTS operations in Ahmedabad, was constituted as a Special Purpose Vehicle by

Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority The Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority is a civilian government body responsible for overseeing and sanctioning construction and infrastructure development across the suburbs of the city of Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat in India. The of ...

and

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

. AJL introduced Automated fare collection system through smart cards for commuters. It has a mixed fleet of air conditioned and non-air conditioned buses. It has 220 Euro III and

Euro IV The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a seri ...

-compliant diesel buses. Parts for the buses are provided by

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company, headquartered in Mumbai, India, which is part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses. Formerly known as Tata Eng ...

. These buses are built by Chartered Speed locally according to specifications. The system runs on Integrated Transportation Management System (IMTS) which includes Advanced Vehicle Tracking System (AVLS), Fleet Management System (FMS), Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS), Passenger Information System (PIS), Passenger announcement (PA), and Vehicle Scheduling and Dispatching (VSD). These technologies are provided by the consortium of Vayam Technologies and

GMV Innovating Solutions GMV, founded in 1984, by Juan José Martinez García. It is a privately owned corporate group with international presence. It has more than 2000 employees. Areas of activity GMV operates mainly in the following sectors: * Aeronautics * Automotiv ...

since 2010. As a part of Intelligent Transit Management System (ITMS), an app based and

QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about th ...

powered ticketing system was introduced in June 2017.

Recognition

Ahmedabad BRTS was rated Silver on BRT Standard in 2013. It was showcased at

2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference was the 18th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP ...

as a 'lighthouse project' as part of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Momentum for Change Initiative.

Awards

* National Award for "Award for Excellence in the category of Best IMTS Project – 2011" from

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

* International Award for "Sustainable Transport Award – 2010" at

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, United States. * National Award for "Best Mass Transit Rapid System Project - 2009" from

. * International Award for "Outstanding Innovations in Public Transportation – 2010" from UITP, Germany * National Award for "Best Innovation Project Towards Improvement in Urban Mobility in the City of Ahmedabad through New Technological Innovations in Janmarg BRTS – 2010" from

. * International Award for Design – "Daring Ambition Award and Knowledge and Research Award – 2011" at 59th UITP World Congress,

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. * UITP India Political Commitment Award at 60th UITP World Congress, Geneva on 27 May 2013 * Markenomy Awards 2013 for " Best Urban Infra Mass Transport Project" from Falcom Media at Mumbai

Criticism

BRTS failed to increase the number of public transport users in Ahmedabad. Before launch of BRTS, in 2009, the number of public transport users (users of AMTS) was 8 to 8.5 lakh. After six years of operation, in January 2016, it is found that the number of public transport users (combined users of BRTS and AMTS) dropped to 7.5 lakh. During the same period, the number of private vehicles in the city increased by 54%, up from 18.2 lakh to 25.10 lakh. Only 18% of the total population of the city uses public transport. In 2011, 42 km network of BRTS had daily average passenger traffic of 1.2 lakh which increased only marginally to 1.32 lakh in 2016 despite expansion of network to 89 km. In 2015, Ahmedabad Jammarg Limited spent 98 crore on operation incurring loss of 35 crore. In 2015, there are 213 buses with AJL. 80% of them are air conditioned diesel buses which has average of 1.5 km per litre of diesel resulting in increase in air pollution. Air conditioned buses can not be run on

CNG Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...

and they are meant to attract more passengers. Dedicated BRTS corridors causes traffic jams at several places especially in

Old Ahmedabad The Historic City of Ahmadabad or Old Ahmedabad, the walled city of Ahmedabad in India, was founded by Ahmad Shah I of the Gujarat Sultanate in 1411. It remained the capital of the state of Gujarat for six centuries and later became the importa ...

. As of June 2017, 186 out of 250 Buses are air conditioned. It incurred loss of in period of 2019 to 2021.

Accidents

Between 2016 and 2019, there were 22 fatal BRTS accidents. On 22 November 2019, two brothers, Nayan Ram and Jayesh Ram were crushed to death by a BRTS incident at Panjarapol cross road, Ambawadi.

Gallery

File:GMDCstation2.JPG, GMDC Station File:GMDCstation1.JPG, GMDC Station Interior File:Ahmedabad BRTS3.jpg, Bus File:Ahm BRTS2.jpg, Bus at station

References

External links

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

Ahmedabad BRTS on Google Map

Gujarat BRTS in Action on TV9
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmedabad BRTS Transport in Ahmedabad Bus rapid transit in India Chief Ministership of Narendra Modi 2009 establishments in Gujarat Transport infrastructure completed in 2009