The major cities of Amritsar and Ludhiana are all set to acquire the internationally recognised Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) with Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal giving his nod to replicate this system in Punjab on his ongoing visit to Turkey. According to an official spokesman, the official delegation led by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, which yesterday landed at Istanbul, today conducted an indepth analysis of the Bus Rapid Transit System in Istanbul. Mr. Badal had a long meeting with Istanbul Electricity Tramway and Tunnel’s Chief Mr. Hayri Baracli, a public sector company which was operating BRTS in Istanbul. The company was providing transport services in Istanbul, a city of more than 1 crore people, including trams, ferries, buses and the BRTS. It successfully transports more than 750000 people every day.The representative of company apprised Deputy CM by giving a presentation on how the BRTS was planned, designed, executed and was being run successfully for the last five years. They also informed that more than 450 buses run on this system at an average speed of 35 KMPH. This system has reduced vehicular traffic by four lakh cars in the city as people prefer travelling on these buses which were safer faster and cheaper.
The Deputy CM with the team had a ride on a bus on 52 km long route of BRTS. Mr. Badal said that IETT was also working as a consultant with Lahore Municipal Corporation to help it plan and design BRTS in Lahore.Mr. Badal said that they have studied the possibilities of BRTS for Punjab so that the same could be replicated there. He said that this model of BRTS would be introduced in Amritsar and Ludhiana in its first phase and for a dedicated corridor would be created for plying of these low floor buses and no other vehicle would get an access to this corridor.The Deputy CM said that before leaving for Istanbul, they have also studied the Delhi model, which has failed. He said that they have also studied the shortcomings which were in there in Delhi model leading to its failure. Mr. Badal said that this successful model of Istanbul will be implemented in Amritsar and Ludhiana in next two years.
Mr. Badal along with the delegation also had a meeting with an NGO EMBARQ, which carries out studies on how to make our roads and transportation system safer for pedestrians and cyclists in Punjab. The Deputy CM said that this was a New York based company with offices in Istanbul and Delhi and this company was working in with IETT to make BRTS safer and secure. The company also presented a copy of the study carried out in Istanbul to Mr. Badal.It is pertinent to mention here that Mr. Badal along with a delegation of Punjab Government was in Turkey to study the BRTS and Solid Waste Management System. The team includes Mr. P.S. Aujla, Secretary PWD, Mr. A.Venu Prasad, Secretary Housing, Mr. Ashok Gupta, Secretary Local Bodies, Mr. Anurag Aggarwal, MD PIDB, Mr. Manvesh Singh Sidhu, Chief Administrator PUDA, Mr. Ajoy Kumar Sinha, Chief Administrator GMADA and Mr. Rakesh Verma, Chief Administrator GLADA.