The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation will conduct a trial run of Bus Rapid Transit System buses in next week. The BRTS will be, formally, launched on March 23 coinciding with Ugadi, Telugu New Year.
When contacted, Municipal Commissioner G. Ravi Babu said that entire infrastructure was ready to kick-start the BRTS. The Corporation will construct a control room near six-lane Bridge on Ryve's canal. The soft issues like intelligent traffic system need to be taken care of. Mounting of GPS, on board ticketing and off board ticketing system would have to be completed, he explained.
The Special Purpose Vehicle is also formed, and the RTC would fix the rates for the BRTS buses. The VMC has readied 40 buses specially designed for the BRTS. Of this, 10 buses are Air Conditioned. An operation plan is being prepared for plying the BRTS buses. The missing link, bridge on Ryve's Canal, is also almost complete.
According to information, the APSRTC would take up the responsibility of providing the Bus Terminal and Bus Depot for the BRTS buses. The RTC would make use of the Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) as Bus Terminal, and Governorpet-II, Vidyadharapuram, and Ibrahimpatnam bus depots for the BRTS fleet, and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) project buses. The first phase of the BRTS project covers a distance of 15.5 km.
The road connecting the G.S. Raju Road and Madhuranagar, which is meant to be an exclusive BRTS corridor, is now ready. The old Satyanarayanapuram railway track has been converted into the BRTS Road.
The BRTS buses, however, ply in mixed traffic in major portion of the BRTS corridor.
