Ghaziabad city will soon get three bus ports on a public-private partnership (PPP) model, which will facilitate interchange hubs for other mass transport systems.
Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) officials told the media that the tendering procedure for the development of bus ports is ongoing at the state government level and would be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP) model. The officials said that for developing the bus ports, they reserved seven acres of land at ISBT and Kaushambi, 15 acres at Sahibabad, and two acres at the old bus stand. AK Singh, UPSRTC regional manager, revealed that the bus ports would include air-conditioned waiting rooms, shops, restaurants, malls, and additional facilities under one roof. He said that the bus terminals would be interchangeable hubs as they would be near Metro stations, Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) stations, proposed ropeway stations and other modes of transport. Singh said that after the tenders are approved, it would take around four-five years to make the bus ports operational. Meanwhile, they would also increase buses and revamp their transport system. UPSRTC officials told the media that they are slowly phasing out diesel buses and concentrating more on CNG. In October last year, the agency sent a proposal for 200 CNG buses. After a case was submitted by the Kaushambi Apartments' RWA (Karwa) in 2015 challenging the operation of diesel buses before the tribunal, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued a ruling recommending CNG buses. As per the officials, out of the 500 buses running from the ISBT, Kaushambi, merely 125 are CNG-based while the remaining are operating on diesel. They said that there is also a proposal to buy 1,000 diesel buses that would be BSVI compliant (more fuel-efficient and less polluting). Image Source
