The solution for the public transport problems of India’s big cities is now running on the roads of Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Indore has become the first city in the country to put in place a fleet of 53 modern low-floor buses equipped with GPS and computerised ticket-vending machines. In two days, the bus stops will have electronic sign boards to show the status of the buses.

The new Tata Starbuses have the same tariff of Rs 3- 12 as that ot the old Nagar Sewa mini buses that pack people like sardines. The perpetual story of public transport losses seems to be over. Since February this year, when the buses started running, the municipal corporation has made Rs 1 crore profit.

The city is celebrating the new transport system run on private-public partnership.”There was just the Nagar Sewa until some months back. Rude staff and overcrowded buses made going out a nightmare. I always ended up taking an auto or just driving down myself. But look at these buses. The conductors and drivers are so well-behaved, there is separate seating and exit for women, the bus comes on time and has so much leg room,’’ says Ramneek Kaur, a housewife.

The man behind the move, Vivek Aggarwal, District Collector and Executive Director of Indore City Transport Services Limited (ICTSL), says: “Indore’s transport system was in complete chaos in June 2005 when I took over as collector. There were no bus stops, no fixed bus routes, Nagar Sewa buses just stopped anywhere they felt like. Having spent some time in Europe I was fascinated by their bus system. We identified 350 bus stops in the city before surveying all routes.’’

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