BRTS suggested on two roads.

A study that is underway to decide on the mobility plan for the Coimbatore local planning area has suggested that the district administration and the Coimbatore Corporation go in for bus rapid transit system on Mettupalayam Road and Avanashi Road. The ICRA Management Consulting Services Limited, which is undertaking mobility plan study, has suggested that the government agencies concerned take up the BRTS project on the 26 km stretch between Ukkadam and Kaniyur on the Avanashi Road in Phase I and on the 24 km stretch between Ukkadam and Bilichi on the Mettupalayam Road.

The agencies would do well to take up the project right now because when they complete the project in the next five to six years – by 2020, it would be an absolute necessity for Coimbatore. And, when they do it in phases, the Rs. 5,000 crore required would not appear to be a huge sum.

The consultant company said that in Phase III of the project, the agencies might have to go in for light rail transport or mono rail to complement the BRTS. In implementing the BRTS project, the agencies would have to work with the Transport Department as the latter would have to rejig the public transport system on 38 routes measuring 400 km so that the reworked transport system supported the BRTS.

THE HINDU