The long-awaited utilisation of the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) finally became a reality on Saturday when Vijayawada Urban Transport Company Limited, a special purpose vehicle created to operate BRTS buses, launched trial run of the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses on this stretch.
The authorities intend to operate eight buses on the 3.5-km stretch and charge a minimum fare of Rs.7 towards ticket cost.
Addressing a gathering after the formal inaugural, Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal said that in the wake of growing vehicular traffic on city roads, the BRTS was introduced to regulate traffic.
Informing that works on the project were yet to be completed, he said that the pending road extension would be taken up in phases, taking into confidence the local residents.
Convenient travel
The MP said that since the project was aimed at providing convenient travel, people must make use of the facility.
Municipal Commissioner Mohammed Azeem admitted that though works were launched over five years ago, there were loopholes that caused a delay. “But we are committed to plug the loopholes.
Errors happened because this is our first attempt. We are learning by trial and error method and are confident of completing the project in the next couple of years,” he added.
The cost of each of the eight buses pressed into service on this stretch is Rs.50 lakh.
The buses will operate in two directions – city terminal – railway station --- city terminal and city terminal --- MG Road --- city terminal.
The buses in the first direction will start at the city bus terminal and traverse through railway station, D.K. Reddy Road, Meesala Raja Rao Bridge, BRTS Road, Padavala Revu Junction, Ramavarappadu Ring, Benz Circle and Mahatma Gandhi Road before returning to the city terminal.
In the opposite direction, the buses will start at the city terminal and will pass through Mahatma Gandhi Road, Benz Circle, Ramavarappadu Ring, Padavala Revu Junction, BRTS Road, Meesala Raja Rao Bridge, C.K. Reddy Road and Railway Station before returning to the City Terminal.
Vijayawada MLAs Malladi Vishnu, Vellampalli Srinivas and Yalamanchili Ravi, Krishna District Collector Budhaprakash M. Jyothi who is also chairman of the Vijayawada Urban Transport Company Limited, RTC Executive Director (Vijayawada zone) M. Surya Prakash, Regional Manager Gopinadh Reddy, and Deputy Chief Traffic Manager Nagendra Prasad were also present.
