This story is from July 23, 2015

Easy mobility for Surtis by yearend

Two housewives Neelam and Parul Desai, residents of Vesu area in the city, have no other option but to pay Rs 100 to an autorickshaw, for one way trip to Bhagal, their shopping destination.
Easy mobility for Surtis by yearend
SURAT: Two housewives Neelam and Parul Desai, residents of Vesu area in the city, have no other option but to pay Rs 100 to an autorickshaw, for one way trip to Bhagal, their shopping destination.
All that is likely to change in a few months time with the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) floating tenders for the purchase of 200 city buses in the first phase. With an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore, the civic body is planning to roll out the city bus services from December 2015.

This is likely to provide major relief to the Surat residents who have to rely on autos which charge them heavily. The city buses are likely to reduce the fare by around 30% for travelers who will be able to travel on a single fare and single ticket.
These buses would connect BRTS at interchange stations and will function mainly as feeder route buses in the congested areas of the city. In total, 600 new bus stops will also be built for full-scale connectivity in the city.
Under the comprehensive mass transport (mobility) plan prepared by Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University (Cept), 95% of households would be covered under the plan with availability of a bus stop within 500 meters of their homes. Under this plan, apart from 7 major BRTS routes ( Two operational and other five to begin latest by Diwali ) , 23 routes for city buses have been decided. Also, 18 interchange stations would come up along with two terminals located at Chowk Bazar and Railway station.

The civic body will buy 550, mostly mini buses, in three phases for the purpose of working as feeder buses. All the new buses that are being purchased would be right side buses.
H M Shivanand Swamy, of Cept said, “For the first phase, initial routes have been identified and people will be able to crisscross the different parts of the city on single fare, single ticket using city bus and BRTS services.”
“We are focusing on passenger Information system (PIS). Unlike past, buses would be bought by SMC and given to contractors to operate and there will be series of penalties for norms violations,” said Milind Torwane, municipal commissioner, Surat. “The first aim of public transport is to provide efficient transport service to the people and earning profit next,” he added.
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About the Author
Himanshu Bhatt

Himanshu Bhatt is assistant editor at The Times of India, Surat. He reports on a range of issues including Surat Municipal Corporation, the district collector's office, business and politics. His special interests are in covering politics and sports. His hobbies include reading, listening to old Hindi film songs and classical Carnatic music. He likes reading up history of the 19th and 20th century, especially World War II.

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