First look: The new AMTS bus

The bright-red buses have built-in features like GPS system, LED screens, passenger information system and pneumatic ticketing doors]]

The Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service services has procured the first 10 hi-tech buses of its new fleet comprising 400 buses. These are painted red and have a saffron stripe. AMTS Chairman Pravin Patel said: “We have placed orders for 400 CNG-run, non AC buses and expect to get the first hundred by month-end.”

Initially the vehicles will be put on the routes on which few buses ply. Some of these routes are 58, 151, 151/3 and 50. Patel said: “By April, AMTS will get all the buses. This will enable us to enhance our coverage and complement BRTS in a better manner.”

The buses have built-in facilities like GPS system, pneumatic ticketing doors, LED screens, passenger information system and power steering. It has a seating capacity of 35. As many as 50 people can stand in the bus.

The cost of one such bus is nearly Rs 23 lakh. AMTS received funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) for the new buses. The AMTS has a fleet of 900 buses, 400 of which are owned by it. Deputy Municipal Commissioner M S Patel said: “With the arrival of new buses we will gradually replace our diesel buses with the environment-friendly CNG-run vehicles.”

According to sources, the AMTS will also stop depending on private operators to run the new buses. At present the public transport has to rely on private operators to cover 466 square kilometre area of the city. Nearly 300 buses are run by private operators.

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Coming soon: Double-decker buses to be back on Ahmedabad roads

Ahmedabad: Remember those red-coloured double-decker buses ferrying passengers between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar a few years back? Yes, these buses which are an integralpart of the Mumbai and London traffic scenario, will be back on the city's roads very soon, if the plans of the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) go through. The transport body of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation wants to introduce double decker buses as part of its schemes to attract more tourists on its coaches.

Very few people are aware of the AMTS's tourist coach service. Though this facility attracted more visitors in 2009 compared to 2008, the figure is only marginal. Only 7,689 persons used the tourist package in 2009 and AMC earned just Rs4.61 lakh as revenue from it. The figures for 2008 were 6,447 and Rs3.86 lakh.
"Not many people in the city know that such a service is available and that too at an affordable cost for sight seeing in the city," an AMTS official said. He added that the tourist coach is run even if there are only a couple of passengers in it — which is the case most of the time.

The major reason for the failure of this coach could be lack of interesting places covered on the route. The course of the tourist coach is Sidi Saiyad Ni Jali, Balvatika, Gandhi Ashram, Sardar Patel Smarak, Hutheesing Temples, Shreyas Foundation and LD Museum.

AMTS chairman Praveen Patel agreed that the route needs to be revamped.

"We are planning to introduce double-decker coaches like the ones seen in European countries," he said. Patel also said that new places such as Sarkhej Na Roja, Tri-Mandir and the Adalaj step-well will be included on the route. Later, the Sabarmati Riverfront could also be one of the stops, he added.

The transport body obviously needs to focus on the marketing strategy of the coach to attract more tourists. If the state government is planning to boost tourism in the state, the tourist coach needs to be popularised. An AMTS official said, large number of hotels are coming up in the city. So AMTS could have a tie-up with them to get more passengers for the tourist coach. In that way, the coaches will be a source of revenue and not suffer losses, as is the case right now.

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