BRTS JANMARG AHMEDABAD from devansh on Vimeo.
The International Association for Public Transport (UITP) awarded the PT x 2 (“public transport times two”) award to the Centre of Excellence in Urban Transport (CoE) at CEPT University, the knowledge partner behind Ahmedabad’s bus rapid transit system (BRTS), called Janmarg. The award recognizes CoE’s efforts in contributing to UITP’s mission of doubling the public transport market share worldwide by 2025.
Janmarg was selected for its innovative design principles of identifying key nodes of the city and connecting them through a comprehensive transport network. However, Janmarg’s emphasis on linking busy nodes and avoiding busy roads was not the only innovative aspect of the system. According to a 2009 article by Institute for Transport and Development Policy (ITDP), “Beyond its physical design, Janmarg is the first system in India to implement institutional and contractual changes that are crucial to the fundamental delivery of BRT.” Ahmedabad, as a city, was recognized as the winner of ITDP’s 2010 Sustainable Transport Award, for which EMBARQ (the producer of this blog) was a member of the selection committee.
The system was also awarded the regional Daring Ambitions Award at the 59th UITP World Congress held in Dubai last week. Selected from among exemplary projects and initiatives contributing to the PT x 2, the Daring Ambitions Award is an award that recognizes a very ambitious, comprehensive and daring policy or initiative aiming to strongly grow public transport market share in a country, region or city.
“Receiving an award in a competition boosts the team’s confidence. This award explains the fact that CEPT goes behind class room activities,” Shivanand Swamy, Associate Director of CEPT, said in an interview with Daily News and Analysis. “Here we are successfully implementing the vision set for the university’s growth. CoE has invented a new design for public transport which is receiving appreciation and is being accepted as a model by other cities and countries as well.”
Today, Ahmedabad’s Janmarg system carries more than 100,000 passengers and generates Rs 5.88 lakhs ($13,153.88) per day.
Some of the other finalists for the PT x 2 award included the Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University, Australia; Land Transport Authority, Singapore; The Swedish Public Transport Association, Sweden; and the University of Washington, USA.
Click here to read coverage of the Janmarg BRTS by Dario Hidalgo, director of research and practice at EMBARQ.
