Ridership and the Built-Form Indicators: A Study from Ahmedabad Janmarg Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS)

Although the Janmarg (people’s way) Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) system in Ahmedabad, India, achieved worldwide accolades since its introduction, it has not reached its expected ridership. In analyzing ridership, research shows that external factors of BRTS such as built-form indicators have a potentially greater effect on ridership than its internal factors. In order to assess the ridership of the Janmarg BRTS, a methodology was developed based on built-form indicators that were quantified using the “5D” approach. The use of appropriate geo-information science (GIS) techniques helped to analyze the built-form spatial data effectively. The calculated built-form indicators were used as inputs in a regression analysis. The consulted literature suggests a relationship between built-form indicators and ridership. However, in the present study this relationship was not confirmed. Moreover, land-use diversity, road connectivity, and job accessibility by BRTS were found to be relatively low. Several policy recommendations were suggested along the BRTS corridors in line with the existing policy such as the utilization of full Floor Space Index potential, the application of Transit Oriented Development strategies and the integration with non-motorized modes to increase the accessibility to the most important job locations.