Ghaziabad: UP govt has renewed its focus on improving connectivity to the metro and rapid rail stations in the city and asked NCRTC and urban development department to take a survey and prepare a fresh last-mile connectivity plan.The survey, ordered by Meerut divisional commissioner, will have to identify feeder bus routes and assess the number of buses required on each such corridor. Officials have been asked to ensure the routes connect Blue and Red Line metro stations, Ghaziabad and Sahibabad rapid rail stations and also Hindon Civil Terminal.Currently, commuters have to take autorickshaws, e-rickshaws or fall back on app-based ride-hailing taxis to commute to and from these stations. While UPSRTC operates 50 city buses on six routes connecting some of the busiest stations — Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda, Mohannagar and Kaushambi metro stations and Ghaziabad rapid rail station — these run at an interval of 15 to 20 minutes, which makes for a long wait.In Jan 2023, Regional Transport Authority had given a go-ahead to a feeder bus service on 17 routes connecting three rapid rail stations — Ghaziabad, Sahibabad and Guldhar. Over 114 permits for feeder bus service were also offered, but no firms showed interest, and the proposal was put on the back burner.“It is now widely felt that there is a big gap in last-mile connectivity due to which ridership in both modes of commute is not reaching its optimum potential. So, we have been asked to work out a plan to improve last-mile connectivity on routes for which a survey has been mandated by introducing city buses,” UPSRTC regional officer Kesari Nandan said.NCRTC and UP urban development department will also be responsible for arranging funds to procure the buses.Of the existing fleet of 50 city buses, only 30 to 32 are in operation on any given day, running on six routes. An NCRTC official said the current fleet falls short of what is needed for adequate last-mile connectivity, pointing to the Kaushambi-Govindpuri route, where buses are available only once an hour. “With such frequency, last-mile connectivity cannot be improved,” the official said.On the 22-km Old Bus Adda-Loni route, 13 buses run at 15-minute intervals, with an average commute time of 50 minutes. The route passes through Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda, Hindon River, Arthala and Mohan Nagar on Red Line, besides Hindon Civil Terminal and Ghaziabad’s rapid rail station. The 31-km Old Bus Adda-Mandola route has just two buses operating hourly, with a 65-minute average commute, covering the same set of metro stations and Ghaziabad rapid rail station.The 25-km Dilshad Garden-Masuri route has seven buses running every 25 minutes, with a 50-minute average commute. It is the most station-dense corridor, touching nine metro stops across Delhi and Ghaziabad — Dilshad Garden, Shaheed Nagar, Rajbagh, Rajendra Nagar, Mohannagar, Shyam Park, Arthala, Hindon River and Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda — besides Ghaziabad rapid rail station. The 40-km Kaushambi-Govindpuri route, the network’s longest, has nine buses at 35-minute intervals and an 80-minute average commute, passing through Hindon River, Arthala and Mohan Nagar. The 31-km Kaushambi-Dadri route has 14 buses running every 20 minutes, with a 55-minute average commute.UPSRTC’s Nandan said state govt was separately working to expand the bus fleet under PM eBus Sewa, a Union housing and urban affairs ministry scheme, under which 1,725 e-buses are to be introduced across UP, including 100 for Ghaziabad. The project is already in the tendering stage, he said.
