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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Delhi learns to live with Bus Rapid Transit

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The long wait at traffic intersections is still there and so are the jaywalkers and lane jumpers but the madness and chaos is now conspicuously missing. Three months after it was made operational, things seem to be finally falling into place at the much-criticised 5.8 km-long Bus Rapid Transit corridor.

The opening of the BRT corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand on April 21 had unleashed utter chaos and congestion on the once smooth road. Tempers were frayed and scuffles became common as motorists had to wait up to 40 minutes to cross the Chirag Dilli crossing. The scene was similar at intersections like Archana, Saket and Pushpa Vihar. The traffic signals were not working and the pile-up of cars were a kilometer long and lane jumping was rampant.

Three months down the line, Hindustan Times went back to the stretch and found out traffic on the corridor has finally stabilized and motorists, cursing the new system till sometime ago, have now made their peace with it.

The changes

The first visible change at the corridor is the scrupulous lane discipline being displayed by motorists. In three hours HT spent at the corridor, not even one car or two-wheeler jumped into the nearly empty bus lane. More importantly, the waiting time at the traffic intersections has come down to a good extent. The constantly malfunctioning traffic signaling system of the corridor too is working efficiently now with separate signals for motorized vehicles, cycles and buses.

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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

If BRT Doesn't Work We'll Scrap IT Corridor Of Chaos Says Government

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If things don't improve on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stretch in two days, the government may in all likelihood dump the project that has created a traffic nightmare in south Delhi and caused widespread anger.

"If the people of Delhi feel that it is not working, we could take a decision. After all in a democratic setup, policies and programmes are drawn for the benefit of the people," said Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf on Tuesday He, however, still hoped that the 5.8 km corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand flyover would "succeed" after the faults are rectified.

"We do not want to do anything to inconvenience the people in an election year," he said.

His comments came even as jams on the BRT continued to fuel public anger for the third straight day.


The anger echoed in the Rajya Sabha as well where members demanded scrapping of the project - "one of the most ill-conceived transport schemes ever seen by the Capital".


Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit meanwhile chaired an emergency meeting with all BRT stakeholders. A source said she was "angry, disturbed and annoyed" due to the complete failure of the project so far. "She has realised that the cascading effect of the corridor had practically led to huge traffic problems in most south Delhi localities," the source added.

Abandoning the project did not come up for discussion but Dikshit gave a stern warning to all involved in the project - DIMTS, transport department, DTC, tranc police, RITES and two professors from IIT-Delhi. "You people had advised us that the project is doing wonders elsewhere. The experience suggests otherwise," she told the oncials and gave them two days to improve the system.

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Long waiting time delays BRT launch

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If you take the Josip Broz Tito Marg to office or home, prepare for endless delays at traffic intersections. And there are nine intersections on the 5.8 km long Bus Rapid Transit corridor (BRT) itself. Originally slated to open on Tuesday, the BRT has now been delayed due to the inability of authorities to accommodate all signal cycles within 180 seconds.

With traffic cycles of 3 minutes or more, the South Delhi road will rival some of Delhi's worst traffic intersections such as ITO and Ghazipur.

Unlike normal roads with common traffic signals for a11vehicles, there would be four different traffic signals on the BRT stretch to regulate different modes of transport - buses, cars and two wheelers, cycles and pedestrians. Experts say 3 minutes is just the waiting time at the BRT, not taking into account traffic pile- ups. "With such a huge volume of traffic and narrow lanes, crossing the signal at one go will be impossible. If you are stuck at a signal for three signal cycles, you would end up waiting 10 minutes or more," said an expert.

While the ideal wait time is 120 seconds, the wait time in the BRT corridor would be 180 seconds at bigger intersections. This, when serpentine queues of cars have already started forming on intersections at Pushpa Vihar, Madangir, Chirag Dilli, Archana cinema and Moolchand. "We have tried to keep the maximum traffic wait time at intersections to 180 seconds," said a senior official of the Delhi Integrated Multi-Moda1 Transit System Ltd. (DIMTS), which is supervising the project.

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