[sustran] Pune First City in India to have BRT System

[Sujit Patwardhan]

4 December 2006



Friends in SUSTRAN,

You will be happy to know that Pune inaugurated its BRT System on 3 December
2006, one day short of two years from the date on which Enrique Penalosa
made a landmark presentation at a public meeting jointly organized by PMC
(Pune Municipal Corporation) and PTTF (Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum)
on 4 December 2004 at the Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Pune.

Pune becomes the first city in India to start BRT, on what still is an
incomplete Pilot corridor of about 12.5 Kilometers. As enthusiastic
supporters of BRT in Pune we have also been concerned about the hasty way in
which projects get implemented without proper attention to detail.
Yesterday's inauguration at the hands of the Union Urban Development
Minister Mr Jaipal Reddy was also an example of this - largely a political
affair with the ruling Congress Party rushing to get the project off the
ground in time to beat the political deadline set by the oncoming elections
to the Local Civic body. Under the election rules no new projects can be
announced after the set date which is about 2 months from the date of
polling.

We are therefore treading cautiously and pressing the authorities to attend
to important components of the project to ensure that by the time the full
corridor becomes operational it will be a big success and win support from
citizens. There are plans for implementing BRT in a phased manner on major
roads stretching over 100 Kms throughout the city.


Dr Geetam Tiwari and Dr Dinesh Mohan from IIT (Indian Institute of
Technology), New Delhi, have played a key role in designing the Pilot
project. Dr Nitin Kareer the Municipal Commissioner also deserves credit for
having initiated the BRT project despite absence of political support.
Although we as a local NGO have ongoing arguments with him and his officers,
we acknowledge that without his backing BRT would have remained merely an
idea discussed at transportation seminars.

In the coming weeks we hope to post photographs and articles on Pune's BRT
and would be happy if you take a look at our web site from time to time.

www.pttf.net


Your comments would be most welcome.


Sujit Patwardhan


From: http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=339828&sid=REG



*Pune becomes the first city in India to have BRT system *



Pune, Dec 03: Pune today become the first city in the country to have the
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, a modern public transport plan to beat
traffic chaos, with Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy
inaugurating the system on a 12.2 km stretch of the total planned distance
of over 100 km.

"The central government has approved Bus Rapid Transit system for Indore,
Pune and Ahmedabad. But Pune has become the first city in the country where
it (BRTs) has become operational and I am happy to flag off the bus," Reddy
said at a function held to mark the occasion.

Reddy, MP Suresh Kalmadi, Mayor Rajini Tribhuvan, Municipal Commissioner
Nitin Kareer, Corporators and members of the public had a ride in the five
Volvo buses procured for the BRTs and that plied during the inaugural run.

Currently, the BRT system would be operational only on a 12.2 km long
Hadapsar-Swargate-Katraj corridor, to be complete within three months at a
cost of Rs 62 crore. More corridors would be added subsequently, covering
all the major arterial roads for an extensive Pune-wide BRT network.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs 500 crore for another 50 km for BRTs and the
fund for the remaining 50 km of BRTs corridor would also be approved without
any delay, the Union Minister said in his speech.

Urbanisation is a byproduct of industrialisation and was inevitable. In the
20th century, the USA and Europe underwent urbanisation which was now taking
place in developing countries like India, Reddy said.




-- 
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Sujit Patwardhan
sujit at vsnl.com
sujitjp at gmail.com

"Yamuna",
ICS Colony,
Ganeshkhind Road,
Pune 411 007
India
Tel: 25537955
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Hon. Secretary:
Parisar
www.parisar.org
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Founder Member:
PTTF
(Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum)
www.pttf.net
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