VIJAYAWADA: A delegation of officials, headed by APSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director RP Thakur, went on a three-day study tour to Gujarat from Monday to explore the development of important bus stations and the introduction of electric buses in the State.
During their visit to Ahmedabad and Vadodara, APSRTC chief engineer Srinivas, Andhra Pradesh Urban Infrastructure Asset Management Ltd (APUIAML) CEO Prakash Gaur, senior officials Raj Dabburi and Narayana Reddy studied the best practices and PPP model for development of international standard bus ports (terminals), developed by GSRTC (Gujarat Road Transport Corporation).
On Monday, the delegation interacted with VC & MD of GSRTC S J Haider and senior officials. They gave a detailed presentation on operations and best practices adopted by the Corporation and development of seven bus terminals as bus ports, covering Ranip and Geeta Mandir in Ahmedabad, CBS and Makarpura in Vadodara, Surat, Mehsana and Rajkot.
The delegation further proceeded to Ranip bus port and Geeta Mandir bus port in Ahmedabad and studied various bus terminal facilities and commercial facilities developed in PPP mode. On Tuesday, the delegation visited BRTS Command and Control Station and bus depot of electric buses operating on the BRTS corridor in Ahmedabad.
The APSRTC officials studied in detail about the electric bus operations and the infrastructure needed for charging vehicles. The GSRTC officials informed that BRTS has selected a private operator who operates 50 Ashok Leyland buses and further selected two operators to run 150 buses of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. The electric buses helped the city in achieving sustainable development by reducing pollution and giving a better ride quality to passengers.