Mumbai BRTS plans in a month

R Ramana, additional chief (transport and planning) with the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, said the decision on implementing the blueprints of the Mumbai BRTS should be in place by December 2009. Rajendra Aklekar reports...

Though Mumbai has given priorities to other modes of mass transport like developing a metro and monorail, the decision on implementing the blueprints of the Mumbai BRTS should be in place by December 2009.

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"The plans should be finalised and frozen in a month's time after which the actual construction work will begin," R Ramana, additional chief (transport and planning) with the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority said on Tuesday.

A pre-feasibility report submitted by a core-working group of senior transport experts had said that though Mumbai BRTS will follow a global pattern for its maintenance and operations, the project would be customised according to local needs.

A lane on western express highway is being proposed between Dharavi Bus depot and Onkareshwar Park stop near Dahisar and a lane on eastern express highway is being proposed between Wadala in central Mumbai and Cadbury Junction at Thane.

Consultants have been working on the project to identify and finalise the limits of the two proposed corridors, and explore the possibility of extensions, provide complete engineering design of the routes identified and ideal locations of BRTS Stations.

The consultants have also selected the design of BRTS lanes, design of bus stops and features like automatic ticket fare system, passenger information systems and Smart Card Readers.

The BEST undertaking has already bought swank models of buses to run on dedicated lanes, but since the project has been delayed, the buses run in mixed traffic with BRTS simply painted on them.