BRT to stay: Minister

Unperturbed with the wide criticism that BRT’s pilot project received, Delhi transport minister Arvinder Singh on Tuesday said the bus rapid transit (BRT) system — which gives precedence to buses — was here to stay.

Unperturbed with the wide criticism that BRT’s pilot project received, Delhi transport minister Arvinder Singh on Tuesday said the bus rapid transit (BRT) system — which gives precedence to buses — was here to stay.

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Singh said the Congress government’s priority was to promote public transport in Delhi and it would continue work on the 15 BRT corridors planned in different parts of the Capital.

“There can be BRT models. While finalising the BRT model for a particular stretch, we will keep the volume of traffic and share of public and private vehicles in mind,” Singh said.

Based on a RITES report, the Delhi government has planned to construct 15 new BRT corridors, with a cumulative length of about 233km, in a few years.

Despite the widespread criticism of the existing BRT corridor and appreciation received by the CRRI’s experiment, which allowed mixed traffic on the stretch for a week, the transport department reverted to BRT system on Tuesday.

Though the CRRI in its interim report to the court has claimed that delays on the stretch reduced to half by allowing mixed traffic, Singh said he would analyse the report first before commenting on it.

“I have also asked DIMTs to submit a report on the effect of mixed traffic on buses by analysing their speed through GPS system fitted on board. We will compare the two reports and accordingly submit our response to the court,” Singh said.