Traffic Police against BRT on 3-lane roads

Tuesday, Nov 23, 2010




Delhi Traffic Police has cautioned the Delhi Government that they should not build Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors in future on three-lane roads in the national Capital. The Delhi Government has also asked UTTIPEC, an engineering body constituted by the Lieutenant Governor, to examine the proposed BRT corridors of the RITES study across the city. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta on Friday.

Failing to learn lesson from failure of the pilot BRT project between Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate, the Government has asked UTTIPEC to examine the report of the RITES pertaining on BRT future proposals. It is noted that traffic police has cautioned the Government that it should not execute any BRT corridor project on three lanes road. The traffic police had earlier cautioned the Delhi Government not to execute pilot BRT project on the congested stretch. "If the project would be executed on three lanes road, it would lead to chaos and traffic snarls on the road," it said.

Interestingly, the first BRT corridor which got buried in tremendous public opposition is yet to run its full stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate. The outcry was so huge that the Government opted for mere line-demarcated lanes between Moolchand and Delhi Gate rather than the earlier physical division. Even now, there is little enforcement on the second stretch, even as travelling time in the first part remains much higher than it was before BRT came into being.

The RITES report, titled 'Transport Demand Forecast Study on Development of Public Transport Network', was submitted to the Government in February this year. The report has suggested to the Government that another 345km be added to BRT in the city, with seven of the 18 proposed stretches — including Central Secretariat-Vasant Kunj, Badarpur-IGI and Dhaula Kuan-Dabri - slated for phase III. The transport department is already working on BRT phase II, between Shastri Park and Karawal Nagar. At Rs 14-20 crore per kilometre, phase III is likely to cost upwards of Rs 6000 crore. As of now, the proposal is a part of a Rites report on the future of public transport and awaits the government's nod. The report recommends 18 new corridors in all, the alignments for which are yet to be decided.

"We would have to examine it on the future BRT proposals," Mehta said adding that the pilot project between Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate was executed in a haphazard manner.

"Now, the government wants to ensure proper planning before executing BRT project on any stretch. UTTEPEC has been asked to examine the routes of the BRT corridor proposed by RITES in its future traffic forecast report 2010," he said. To avoid any controversy, the government is planning to involve people and educate them on BRT corridor and its benefits.

Strangely, Chief Secretary and Commissioner (transport) R K Varma are locked horns over the BRT future plan as the latter wants that DIMTS should be executed BRT corridor project while CS wants that road owning agency should execute it.

Original news source http://www.dailypioneer.com/297694/Traffic-Police-against-BRT-on-3-lane-roads.html