1 year of Janmarg commercial Opeartions

1 year of Janmarg commercial Opeartions

Ahmedabad BRTS started its commercial operation on 14th October, 2009 with 12.5 kilometers. At end of 12 months 34 kilometers are in operation having 2 routes in operation. With longer route coverage, which reached to important destination of Kankaria Lake, Maninagar Railway station and to the industrial estates of Narol the BRTS has gained a importance significance in the city.
In the initial days of Janmarg BRTS with 12.5 km of route in operation average ridership were 17,317 with collection of Wwhich increased to average ridership of 31327 and collection of 149969 after addition of 5 km till Kankaria Lake in December 2009. BRTS observed steep increase in ridership and collection of 55879 and 293156 after it reached Maningar railway station and Narol industrial Estate on April, 2010. Due to extention of routes till Jashodanagar in July 2010 and Soni ni chali in September 2010 the average ridership observed new heights of 63700 and 81373 and collection to 334888 and 439973 respectively.
With increasing ridership and collection, various other factors of operations are also monitered by mixture of surveys. The surveys are conducted every month and the results help the system to understand the growth as well as the problematic areas. Customer satisfaction surveys are conducted every month to get feedbacks about the system from its users.Customer satisfaction Surveys
350 customer satisfaction surveys are conducted. These surveys are conducted at various bus stops and in moving buses. Commuters are asked a set of question to understand their views about BRTS.
Purpose of trip
The purpose of the trip is observed every month as part of the customer satisfaction survey. Initially the survey showed that more than 50% of commuters traveled for work, around 30% traveled for education, whereas the only 10% commuted for recreational activities. The scenario changed after the extension to Kankaria Lake in 3rd month, 10% increase was seen in social trips than before. Again after the extension to the Industrial estates of Narol, Jashodanagar the work trips increased. Education trips observed a decrease during the vacation period in 7th and 8th month,.
Model Shift
In initial months of BRTS the commuters had mainly shifted from AMTS to BRTS. With around 10-15% shift from 2-wheelers and 10-15% from Auto Rickshaws. As the route was small shift from bicycle and walk was also observed. In the 4th and 5th Month around 10% shift was observed from 4-wheeler and 20% from 2-wheelers. Major shift in all the months were observed around 45-50% from AMTS . In the 11th month of operation due to route operating to Soni ni chali a large shift is observed from Shared Auto rickshaw on to BRTS of 23.5% . With increasing ridership there a continues percentage decrease in amount of people shifting from walk and cycle to BRTS.
Janmarg User Feedback
As part of the customer satisfaction survey users are asked range of questions from feeling safe to cross, frequency of buses, Driving of System operators, cleanliness, behavior of staff etc. This result of these questions gives the overall understanding for the system and also the areas Janmarg needs to work on. The table shows the agreement and disagreement of users about the question.