The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Ahmedabad is an illustrious example of a successful transportation system for rest of the cities in the country.

So far, the Ahmedabad BRTS completed 66 km and the authority is in the process of covering another 22 km. This would take the total cost to Rs 1,000 crore.

Cities like Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru and some tier-1 cities are looking to launch a similar transport system.

Nalin Sinha, director, Initiative for Transportation & Development Programmes (ITD), New Delhi, says the BRTS can be built in most cities in less than two years at a fraction of the Metro's cost.

Experts say an overland or elevated section of the Delhi Metro cost on an average Rs 100 crore per km. Underground costs were higher at Rs 475 crore per km.

Taking the least average construction cost of Rs 100 crore per km, if a metro train system had replaced the BRTS in Ahmedabad, the city would have spent Rs 8,800 crore (Rs 100 crore X 88 km) for the 88-km system.That makes the BRTS more economical than a metro for most cash-strapped Indian municipalities.

While setting up BRTS, the Ahmedabad Janmarg (AJL) tried to avoid the mistakes committed by the executing agencies of Delhi BRTS. AJL is the special purpose vehicle created by the Ahmedabad Municipality for the BRTS project.