PMC dismantles 2-km BRTS stretch from Swargate to Hadapsar

PUNE: While the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had dismantled a 3.6 km stretch of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on Ahmednagar (Nagar) Road last year, the civic body has now also removed the 2 km stretch of BRTS from Swargate to Hadapsar with a view to easing traffic and preventing accidents. The response to the PMC’s move however has been a mixed bag, with some saying that the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) buses moved a lot faster when the BRTS existed and others saying that traffic has eased after removal of the BRTS.

Sudhir Chavan, executive engineer of the PMC road department, said, “Actually, a dedicated BRTS stretch is non-existent on the Swargate to Hadapsar route. Therefore, as per discussions with the then additional commissioner Vikas Dhakane, we dismantled the BRTS lanes and shifted centrally located bus stops to both sides of the road. Now, we have 100 metre wide lanes for traffic.”

“We completed dismantling the BRTS and shifting the bus stops last week. Now, we have also cut the short divider width from 3 metres to around one metre. We are now constructing a divider as the central portion of the road as per the traffic guidelines. After dismantling the BRTS, the traffic issue has been solved almost,” Chavan said.

Anant Waghmare, transport manager of the PMPML handling the BRTS operation said, “Right now, there is no dedicated BRTS on the Katraj to Hadapsar route after dismantling of the BRTS from Fatima Nagar Chowk to Magarpatta Chowk. Our bus service has started. The buses stop at the relocated stops on both sides of the road.”

Ravindra Kunjir, a bike rider, said, “The road has been widened and we do not face any traffic congestion. Earlier, there were traffic jams due to BRTS.”

But Charushila Lamase, a Hadapsar resident, said, “I travel by bus. The buses were faster because of the dedicated BRTS. Now with the BRTS removed, the buses have slowed down. The PMC should not have removed the BRTS because even with the road widening, traffic congestion is still there.”

The Katraj-Swargate-Hadapsar was implemented as a pilot BRTS of 11.5 km in 2007. While the PMC revamped the Katraj to Swargate BRTS corridor, the Swargate to Hadapsar BRTS corridor could never become a dedicated BRTS corridor owing to the defence establishments in between.

Also, traffic congestion on the stretch from Swargate to Hadapsar had become a longstanding issue with locals and local representatives demanding that the road be widened, especially from Fatima Nagar Chowk to Magarpatta Chowk. Last year, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar along with the then additional commissioner Vikas Dhakane; PMPML and PMC officials; and the traffic police inspected the area. The decision was taken to dismantle 2 km of the BRTS stretch. The work started in September last year.