Ghaziabad city to get three bus ports under PPP model

UPSRTC officials said that for the purpose of the development of bus ports, they have earmarked seven acres of land at ISBT, Kaushambi; 15 acres at Sahibabad and two acres at the old bus stand

Ghaziabad: Ghaziabad city will soon get three bus ports which will also facilitate as interchange hubs for other mass transport systems. The officials of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) said that the tendering process for the development of bus ports is underway at the state government level and will be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

An aerial view of Kaushambi bus depot in Ghaziabad. (Sakib Ali/ HT)

UPSRTC officials said that for the purpose of the development of bus ports, they have earmarked seven acres of land at ISBT, Kaushambi; 15 acres at Sahibabad and two acres at the old bus stand.

“The bus ports will enhance passengers’ experience at the bus terminals with provisions for shops, restaurants, air-conditioned waiting rooms, hotels, malls and other facilities under one roof. This will also uplift the image of the bus terminals and will also be interchange hubs as they will be close to Metro stations, Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) stations, proposed ropeway stations and other modes of transport,” said AK Singh, UPSRTC regional manager.

“The tendering process for the three bus ports is underway at the state government-level and will be constructed under the PPP model as these require heavy investments. It is expected that once the tenders get awarded, it will take about four-five years to make the bus ports functional. In the meantime, we will also increase the number of buses and revamp our transport system as well,” Singh added.

UPSRTC officials said that they are gradually phasing out diesel buses and focussing on CNG. The agency in October last year had sent a proposal for 200 CNG buses.

“We have been told that 100 CNG buses will be purchased and 75 of them will operate from the ISBT in Kaushambi. The city has already been assigned to get 25 electric buses in phase 1 and 21 of these have already arrived for intra-city operations,” Singh said.

A National Green Tribunal (NGT) order has also recommended CNG buses after a petition was filed by the Kaushambi Apartments’ RWA (Karwa) in 2015 that challenged the operation of diesel buses before the tribunal.

According to officials, of the 500 buses operating from the ISBT, Kaushambi, only 125 are CNG-based while the rest are running on diesel. They added that there is also a proposal to purchase 1,000 diesel buses which will be BSVI compliant (more fuel efficient and less polluting).