GSRTC, electric bus lines kick off to connect GIFT City

GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) is a business district under construction in the Gandhinagar district of Gujarat, India. Well, with the aim of strengthening green transportation facilities to and from Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) has introduced three new electric buses connecting different locations in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar with GIFT City.

The new routes include Narol to GIFT City, Shantipura-SG Highway to GIFT City, and Gandhinagar Pathikashram to GIFT City. The three routes were developed keeping in mind the growing demand for public transportation, office hours, and to provide better connectivity with major transit points in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

Specifically, last year GIFT City signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chartered Speed Limited for electric vehicle (EV) transportation services, and four electric buses are already running on various routes connecting Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar to GIFT City. The latest addition of electric buses operated by GSRTC on the three routes will provide easy connectivity at an affordable cost for more than 20,000 people working in GIFT City.

In addition to the electric buses connecting GIFT City with different parts of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, there are also plans to connect to the metro, for which construction work is underway. A substantial portion of GIFT City’s workforce travels daily from Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, and as more entities queue up to establish their base in GIFT City, the workforce traveling to and from GIFT City will surely increase, creating greater demand for public transportation.

Mr Tapan Ray, MD and Group CEO of GIFT City, said: «For a modern smart city like GIFT City, sustainability is key for driving growth and development. Since its inception, GIFT City has adopted green measures to ensure that growth does not come at the cost of the environment. We have already introduced e-mobility facilities in GIFT City last year and the latest introduction of three new electric buses by GSRTC would certainly benefit commuters to and from GIFT City».