The Indian Express             28.11.2013 

PMC to carry out safety audit of Nagar Road BRTS route

Increasing accidents on BRTS routes has forced the Pune Municipal Corporation to go for a safety audit of the 16-km route on Nagar Road where the service would be launched soon. "The accidents on existing BRTS route from Katraj to Hadapsar via Swargate have led to increase in opposition to its BRTS implementation on other roads. This time the civic body does not want to face any criticism for poor implementation of BRTS," said Vishal Tambe, chairman of the standing committee.

He said an expert from IIT Powai would be appointed for the safety audit. "All safety concerns on the BRTS route would be studied by the expert to ensure there are no accidents on the route. The civic administration have completed most of the infrastructure development work on the route but will undertake additional work as per the suggestion of expert for safety purpose," Tambe said.

The safety audit is likely to be ready in a month and administration would carry out the neccessary changes in some days, he said adding that the BRTS would be operational only after all the work is complete.

The PMC standing committee on Wednesday approved the installation of automatic doors at the state-of-the-art 22 bus stops on the BRTS route. "The automatic doors at the bus stop would ensure that commuters will get into vehicle only after the bus halts at stops," he said. After recent accidental deaths due to bikers entering into BRTS route, Mayor Chanchala Kodre had visited BRTS route and criticised the civic administration for the poor implementation of BRTS.