BRT in East Delhi

Thursday, March 19, 2009
Source: http://www.mid-day.com

If you had thought that the BRT mess was a thing of the past, brave yourself for bad news. Though the Delhi government is yet to draw up the final plans for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor in East Delhi, residents and commuters are already up in arms against it.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit chaired a meeting with the transport department and the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System Ltd (DIMTS) officials on Tuesday to review BRT corridors. Besides, to work out a detailed project report for the Moolchand-Jahangirpuri stretch, the city government has asked the transport department to extend the Karawal Nagar- Shastri Park BRT corridor upto the Games Village near Akshardham.

"The BRT is being expanded to improve the public transport system. The government will address every problem," said Commi-ssioner, Transport, RK Verma.

The traffic volume on Vikas Marg is as high as 15,000 passenger car units per hour, according to traffic experts. The Shastri Park Games village has important links which connect parts of East Delhi to Ghaziabad and Noida.
The corridor would be disastrous as East Delhi has high traffic volume, say residents. "It will trigger chaos. Instead of finding a solution, the government is creating a new problem," said Rohit Kumar, a resident of Shastri Nagar in East Delhi.

"Now I have to avoid the Noida Link Road because there is every possibility of similar traffic jams like those in south Delhi," said Mayank Jain, who works with an IT firm in Noida and commutes between Delhi and Noida daily by his car.

The south Delhi BRT experiment was disastrous; the government should learn a lesson from its mistake, feel east Delhi residents. "People in south Delhi are already bearing the brunt of the BRT. Now we will have to face it too. For two wheeler and car drivers the situation will be very bad," said Raju Chaudhary, a businessman residing in Mayur Vihar.

In the same tone, Transport Head, School of Planning and Architecture, PK Sarkar, said, "We have been insisting the BRT is not for a city like Delhi with high traffic volume. Heterogeneity of traffic is another impediment in the plan."