NEW DELHI (INDIA): Ministry of Urban Development has identified eight cities in five States and the Union Territory of Chandigarh for ‘Best’ and ‘Commendable’ initiatives toward promotion of public transport, Non-Motorised Transport and Road Safety.
These include; Surat, Gandhinagar and Rajkot in Gujarat, Indore and Jabablpur in Madhya Pradesh, Dharwar in Karnataka, Karnal in Haryana and the Sikkim’s capital Gangtok.
In the ‘Best Mass Urban Transport’ category, Surat’s Integrated Mass Transit System with focus on bus transport has been adjudged the ‘Best’ while the short term Mass Transit Solution for Simhastha, 2016 in Indore has been identified as a ‘Commendable Initiative,
Gandhinagar’s ‘G-Bike’, a cycle sharing initiative and ‘Sanjhi Cycle’ of Karnal have been adjudged as a ‘Commendable’ initiatives towards promotion of Non-Motorised Transport.
In the ‘City Bus Service’ category, Dharwad-Hubli service in Karnataka came out the ‘Best’ while Rajkot in Gujarat as ‘Commendable Initiative’.
Gangtok’s Integrated Depot Management System (IDMS) and Jabalpur’s ‘J-Card’ have been adjudged as Commendable Initiatives under Intelligent Transport System (ITS) category.
Surat’s initiative to ensure long term availability of rapid mobility and high accessibility through Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) as a part of Integrated Multi-modal System with phased introduction of 875 buses has come out the Best for Excellence Award under Best Urban Mass Transit category.
Atal Indore City Transport Services Limited’s successful handling of public transit works in Ujjain during Simhastha Mela-2016, attended by about 75 million devotees has been acknowledged as a Commendable Initiative under Mass Transit category.
In Gandhinagar, ‘G-Bike’ initiative was launched in March this year with 100 cycles made available at 11 cycles stands for cycles sharing between 6.00 am and 10.00 pm. With more than 700 users benefitting from this every day, this scheme is proposed to be spread across the city with 400 cycles. Users are allowed free use of cycles for four hours.
‘Sanjhi Cycle’ initiative of Karnal, launched as a pilot NMT initiative in June this year as a PPP project for cycle sharing, is a joint initiative of Karnal Municipal Corporation and Karnal Police. Private partner is alloweAAd advertisement revenues.
The North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation’s introduction of city bus service connecting Dharwar and Hubli besides connecting economic nodes has been adjudged the Best initiative in city bus service category.
Further to failure of city bus service run by a private operator, Rajkot Municipal Corporation started the service in 2013 with a fleet of 30 buses which is to be doubles soon.
Chandigarh’s ‘4 E’ initiative of Education, Enforcement, Engineering Changes and Emergency care training initiative of Chandigarh to prevent road traffic crashes and minimize injuries besides setting up a Road Safety Fund for awareness generation has been identified as a ‘Commendable Initiative’ towards improving Road Safety.
These Awards for ‘Best’ and ‘Commendable Initiatives’ for urban transport projects will be presented by the Minister of State(Independent Charge) for Planning and Minister of State for Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri Rao Inderjit Singh on the last day of the ongoing Urban Mobility Conference in Gandhinagar tomorrow.