Date:27/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/27/stories/2008042753720300.htm

New Delhi

It’s rapid transit for majority: Experts

Staff Reporter

Photo: R.V. Moorthy

The scene at the BRT Corridor in the Sheikh Sarai area in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: The chaos prevailing in the Bus Rapid Transit corridor during the trial runs notwithstanding, experts associated with the project maintain that the system takes care of the travelling needs of every type of road user and is safer and easier than the existing traffic management systems.

They, however, concede that a few issues remain to be fine-tuned and that there is a need to make people more aware about the system.

Speaking at a panel discussion on “BRTS – Problems and Solutions” organised by Delhi Study Group here over the weekend, Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transport System Chairman-cum-Managing Director Sanjeev Sahai said one of the problems was of perception.

“People feel that their road space has been taken away and given to other types of vehicles. The whole traffic management concept is changing and there are a few shortcomings in bringing about that change. It will take some time,” said Mr. Sahai.

However, he added that the efficacy of the BRT corridor was not in providing speed to the vehicles but in its ability to transport a larger number of people without endangering their lives.

Replying to a query about increase in travel time for car users in the corridor, Mr. Sahai said the system was supposed to ensure rapid transit of buses.

He said nearly 70 per cent of the road users are pedestrians and cyclists and the current system takes care of their needs, something that is not available in the other traffic management systems.

Prof Geetam Tiwari of IIT Delhi, who has been associated with the project right since its inception, argued that the basic concept of the BRT began taking shape out of the concern for the two weakest categories of road users: the pedestrians and cyclists.

Ms. Tiwari said safety of pedestrians had become a major issue back in early 1990s and the first report on transportation research and injury prevention was presented to the Delhi Government in 1995. Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta said the Government had a moral and ethical responsibility to take care of 80 per cent of the road users who are essentially pedestrians and cyclists, especially, when they also constitute 88 per cent of fatalities on roads.

Earlier, opening the discussion, Vijay Jolly, MLA, who is also the chairman of Delhi Study Group, said the project deserved to be “knocked out” if things did not improve.