Metro bus frequency to be increased

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 17

The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) will increase the frequency of metro buses to tackle the problem of overcrowding in the next few days. The authorities concerned claimed that after observing the rush of passengers in metro buses, they have decided to increase their frequency.

The passengers have to wait for a bus for five minutes at the metro bus stations. Now, officials have decided to reduce the time gap between two buses on the same route to four minutes.

Last month, the BRTS authorities had reduced it from eight minute to five minutes. According to the official figure, the daily ridership has touched the 75,000 mark, suggesting the need for more buses on the BRTS track.

BRTS Chief Executive Officer Inderjeet Singh Chawla said, “The BRTS ridership is more than 70,000. The buses run overcrowded. So, we have decided to increase the number of trips. The time gap between two buses on the same route will reduce to four minutes.”

The BRTS officials claimed that after increasing the frequency, the issue of overcrowding would be addressed. “It is quite tough to redesign the time table. We are making the efforts to make a new schedule. The time gap between two station will be reduced soon,” said Chawla.

The bus service is free for the first three months. Most of the buses in all routes have witnessed heavy rush. The service was launched by the Minister for Local Government, Navjot Singh Sidhu, on January 29. Initially, the public was not aware that the government was offering free rides. In the past few days, the ridership has increased rapidly.