Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Regarding Modernisation of City Buses on PPP Model

New Delhi, January 16, 2008 -- The Government is taking up Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) as a cost effective solution for providing high quality public transport service in urban areas.

At present, BRTS is being taken up in eight cities, namely, Pune/Pimpri Chinchwad, Ahemdabad, Indore, Bhopal, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Jaipur and Rajkot involving a length of 310 Kms at a total cost of Rs. 2740 crore. Delhi is also implementing BRTS as a State Government funded project. This was announced at the National Consultation on Urban Bus Based Transportation Solutions in New Delhi organized by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers alongwith Ministry of Urban Development and UMTC held on 16th January 2008.

The Secretary Urban Development Shri. Ramachandran, pointed out the need to introduce a modern city bus service in all the 0.5 million plus cities and State Capitals to start with. These modern buses will be sleek and have wider doors and windows with level boarding and alighting. and advance fare collection and vehicle tracking system. The aim would be to exhort the public to shift from personal modes to public transport. Shri Ramachandran said that this has to be done on a PPP model like the system in Indore in Madhya Pradesh. He said that the Government in consultation with SIAM, IIT. Delhi, ARAI, Pune, M/s Urban Mass Transit Company have developed urban bus Specifications which has been sent to the States in October, 2007 for their comments.

Today’s seminar is being organized in the context of the draft bus specifications already circulated. The specifications finalized after today’s deliberations would be the minimum specifications for the urban buses and the State Governments would be at liberty to adopt higher specifications. The draft specifications would also be only recommendatory in nature. Today’s deliberations would also focus on implementation and efficiency issues of BRTS which because of lack of appropriate care during implementation had become an issue in Delhi, the Secretary said.

During this programme, Hon’ble Minister of Transport, Food &
Supplies, Government of NCT of Delhi, Shri Haroon Yusuf, launched the “Bus Rapid Transit” by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System in the presence of Shri S N Sahai, MD &C CEO, DIMTS and Shri Bhure Lal, Chairman, EPCA.

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) which is the apex Industry body represents 38 leading vehicle and vehicular engine manufacturers in India. The automobile sector is a key growth engine of Industry and the Economy.

Source: Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM)

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