Shot in arm for govt, boost to 15 new projects

The high court’s decision to dismiss a petition demanding scrapping the BRT corridor has come as a shot in the arm for the Delhi government, considering that 15 more BRT projects are in different stages of implementation.

The high court’s decision to dismiss a petition demanding scrapping the BRT corridor has come as a shot in the arm for the Delhi government, considering that 15 more BRT projects are in different stages of implementation.

HT Image

Transport experts, however, said it was time the government took transport experts on board.“There should be an advisory body of experts who have contributed in developing BRT systems in other countries,” said Nalin Sinha, transport policy analyst, Initiative for Transportation and Development Programme-India.

There are 143 cities in the world that have successfully implemented BRT systems. In India, Ahmedabad is the only city with a successful BRT system.

Experts believe a strong and multi-modal transport system is the only solution to the growing number of private vehicles on Delhi roads, which result in congestion, traffic snarls and severe parking crunch. The challenge, said experts, lies in integrating all modes of transport for seamless movement of commuters.

“The growth of BRT should be in tandem with infrastructure of other modes of transport,” Sinha added. While Delhi already has 192km of operational Metro network, another 240km is in pipeline under phase 3 and phase 4 expansion. There are plans to build monorail and pod taxi network too.

Those lessons should be incorporated in all future BRT projects. The experts also called for setting up a special purpose vehicle with representatives from all civic and construction agencies, citizens and residents groups to look into all aspects of BRT planning, construction and management.