Photo Credit: Meanest Indian/Flickr
Indore is one of the fastest growing cities in India, faced with the daunting task of providing a modern and efficient public transit system to its 1.8 million residents. Rising to the challenge, Atal Indore City Transport Services Ltd. (AICTSL) established an effective and well-organized transit agency to operate and manage the city’s public transport system. AICTSL is India’s first long-term public-private partnership (PPP), which has enabled the city to expand its transit system to 225 buses and double capacity to 220,000 daily trips. The city also began developing a BRT system, which is expected to be operational by June 2011.
CST-India was instrumental in AICTSL’s success by providing technical support for Indore’s successful request to the Ministry of Urban Development to fund 170 new buses, and preparing and negotiating contracts with private partners. CST-India also helped plan bus routes, develop vehicle specifications, establish AICTSL’s organizational structure, and design and implement a performance monitoring system. In addition, EMBARQ advised on important changes to the BRT system design, including high-platform island stations to ensure level-boarding, making the system more efficient, convenient and accessible for all passengers.