BRT location wrong, not idea, say traffic cops

Amid talk of scrapping the BRT corridor, the Delhi Traffic Police told the Lieutenant Governor’s office that the project might be flawed but the plan is certainly not a failure.

Amid talk of scrapping the BRT corridor, the Delhi Traffic Police told the Lieutenant Governor’s office that the project might be flawed but the plan is certainly not a failure.

The traffic police was asked to submit a report on the feasibility of the project.

“The fundamental premise of BRT is to prioritise the passage for buses. However, if you place the corridor across an area where the dependence on private vehicles is more, it is certain that it will fall flat. Instead of cutting into a car country, the project should be moved to areas where there is limited frequency of buses,” said Anil Shukla, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

The report has identified the BRT corridor — where about 1.35 lakh vehicles pass everyday — to be among the most dangerous stretches for pedestrians. The distance between the stations and sidewalks and accessibility to zebra crossings make venturing around the corridor quite a dangerous.

The department had asked the Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS) for the charge for operating the traffic signals that are not coordinated at many points, the report read.

The department said the project was likely to show results if it was placed at the trans-Yamuna stretch where areas are not well connected with buses.

Another problem that was identified was the connectivity of the 3.4-kilometre operational corridor, running from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand. The lanes for the corridors were set for 5.2 kilometres. The plan was to extend the corridor to Delhi Gate.

“The corridor connects nowhere to nowhere. If you drop a passenger who wants to go to Nehru Place or Connaught Place, at Moolchand then he would rather take out his own vehicle than depend on public transport. The idea behind the BRT should be to encourage people to use public transport,” he said.