Amid complaints about improper execution of the Hubballi Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit System (HD-BRTS), the yet-to-be-formally inaugurated project has won the Union Government’s Best Urban Mass Transit Project Award for 2019.
According to reports, apart from HD-BRTS, 10 metro services and nine BRTS services were in the race for the award.
HD-BRTS commenced trial run on October 2, 2018 and gradually, more Chigari (the official name for the project vehicles) buses were added. From March 2019, a total of 125 Chigari buses are plying on the 28-km dedicated bus corridor between Hubballi and Dharwad.
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According to a release from the Managing Director of HD-BRTS, an eight-member committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs chose HD-BRTS for the award of excellence after considering various parameters.
The management of operations, the use of technology (ITS system), the frequency of bus services, facilities at bus stations and depots and acceptance and popularity of the service were some of the parameters considered while finalising the award, the release said.
In a year’s time, the number of commuters using HD-BRTS has increased from 15,000 to 85,000 passengers per day. HD-BRTS has a four-lane dedicated bus corridor (three lanes within the city limits and four on the outskirts).
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Managing Director of HD-BRTS Rajendra Cholan has in the release said that the award would be presented at a function to be held in Lucknow on November 17.
Although chosen for the award, the implementation of HD-BRTS is fraught with various technical issues and the project is incurring huge losses because of subsidised fares.
There have been repeated complaints of water-logging on the four-lane bus corridor which, consequently, affects the adjoining mixed traffic lanes. And, still, many works related to HD-BRTS have remained incomplete. That is one among the main reasons for the delay in the formal inauguration of the project.