BRTS Corridor – Surat Has The Largest BRTS Network

Table of Contents

The largest BRTS network

Gujarat CM inaugurated a new 5.08 km Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) route from Kumbhariya to Kadodara in Surat City.
Surat has a 102 km BRTS corridor.
About 1.35 lakh commuters travel daily in 166 BRTS buses.
Electric buses on the Surat BRTS corridor soon.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a high-quality bus-based transit system that delivers fast, comfortable, and cost-effective services at metro-level capacities.
It does this through the provision of dedicated lanes, with bus-ways and iconic stations typically aligned to the center of the road, off-board fare collection, and fast and frequent operations.

BRT corridors result in a faster trip for passengers and make travelling on transit more reliable and more convenient.
A BRT corridor is a section of road or contiguous roads served by a bus route or multiple bus routes with a minimum length of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) that has dedicated bus lanes.

Latin America has the most cities with BRT systems
Brazil with 21 cities
Jakarta is considered as the largest BRT network in the world with 251.2 kilometres of corridors

There are five essential features that define BRT.
Dedicated Right-of-Way
- Bus-only lanes make for faster travel and ensure that buses are never delayed due to mixed traffic congestion.

Busway Alignment
- Center of roadway or bus-only corridor keeps buses away from the busy curb-side where cars are parking, standing, and turning.
Off-board Fare Collection
- Fare payment at the station, instead of on the bus, eliminates the delay caused by passengers waiting to pay on board.

Intersection Treatments
- Prohibiting turns for traffic across the bus lane reduces delays caused to buses by turning traffic.
- Prohibiting such turns is the most important measure for moving buses through intersections.
Platform-level Boarding
- The station should be at level with the bus for quick and easy boarding.
- This also makes it fully accessible for wheelchairs, disabled passengers, strollers and carts with minimal delays.

Because BRT contains features similar to a light rail or metro system, it is much more reliable, convenient and faster than regular bus services.
With the right features, BRT is able to avoid the causes of delay that typically slow regular bus services, like being stuck in traffic and queuing to pay on board.

Before BRT – Bogotá used 2,700 conventional buses providing transportation to 1.6 million passengers daily
After BRT – In 2013 TransMilenio transported 1.9 million passengers using only 630 BRT buses, a fleet less than a quarter in size of the old fleet
The smaller fleet circulates at twice the speed, with a huge reduction in air pollution.

Transportation is the fastest-growing source of global climate emissions and the largest single source of black carbon, which is particularly damaging to respiratory health, from gas and diesel engines.
Shifting from single-occupancy private cars to high-capacity transport corridors would drastically cut emissions, eliminate traffic congestion, better connect low-income communities to the opportunities and resources they need.
When done right, BRT enables cities to devote less space to cars, while moving more people at a relatively low cost, and with faster implementation than rail.
As the world’s populations move to cities at faster rates, the demand for sustainable transportation will only increase.
Hubli Dharwad BRTS – Rs. 44 crores per kilomete

Phase-II of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Scheme
Department of Heavy Industry , Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
FAME India is a part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan.
Main thrust of FAME is to encourage electric vehicles by providing subsidies.
The FAME India Scheme is aimed at incentivising all vehicle segments.
The scheme covers Hybrid & Electric technologies like Mild Hybrid, Strong Hybrid, Plug in Hybrid & Battery Electric Vehicles.