Even before the state government approves Nagpur’s new Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) 2025, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has thrown the city’s future transit into disarray by unilaterally pushing its ₹152 crore articulated electric bus project. Experts warn this could jeopardize metro expansion, particularly on routes that are metro-worthy but now at risk of being dropped altogether.
Prepared by RITES, the CMP was meant to guide Nagpur’s urban transport for the next decade. But glaring omissions and parallel decisions by NMC are raising red flags. A former Maha Metro officer revealed that the high-traffic Vasudev Nagar–Dattawadi corridor — with a projected PHPDT (Peak Hour Peak Direction Traffic) of 4,800 in 2031 — was inexplicably dropped, despite ranking higher than several Phase II routes where construction is underway.
Even worse, the Inner Ring Road stretch between Mankapur and Rachna Ring Road Junction — with an expected PHPDT of 9,700 — was identified as ideal for Phase III metro. Yet, NMC has approved articulated buses here without any traffic study, risking duplication or total abandonment of metro plans.
Meanwhile, Maha Metro is left in limbo. Should it drop the metro plan on this route, lakhs of commuters will suffer. But if NMC later ditches the buses, crores spent on charging stations will go down the drain.
Adding insult to injury, NMC has no action plan for key CMP-identified medium-cost MRTS routes like Wadi–Sitabuldi and Agrasen Square–Dighori, which remain neglected.
Experts urge that articulated buses be deployed on corridors with no metro plans, such as Rachna Ring Road–Wadi and Wadi–Sitabuldi. If local leaders don’t act fast, Nagpur may be stuck with half-baked solutions and squandered opportunities.
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