Experts blame BRT chaos on design, position of bus stops

Experts blame BRT chaos on design, position of bus stops

AanchalBansal

Posted online: Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 0015 hrs IST

New Delhi, March 26
Who is to be blamed for the crawling traffic along the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand? According to experts formerly associated with the project during its planning stage, the culprit is the position and design of bus stops along the corridor, which have shrunk the road space resulting in congestion.

According to a US-based expert, who worked on the project till 2006, unlike the bus stations of the BRT in Bogota, Columbia — cited as a forerunner for BRT in Delhi — the bus stops designed by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) at the IIT Delhi consume nearly six lanes on either sides of the intersections leading to chaos at junctions.

“The Bogota design has a single station along the central median with both sides open and is away from the traffic intersection. The ones in Delhi have bus stations on either side, with parallel platforms. They take up more space,” said the expert. He added that this was a point of dispute, but the Delhi government decided to go with the IIT’s designs.

The bus stations at Bogota are away from traffic junctions with foot over-bridges to cross the road. On the other hand, Delhi has bus stops along the intersection and passengers have only zebra crossings at the junctions to cross the road.

While the width of the entire stretch from Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate varies between 45 metres and 58 metres — the narrowest is on Virat Marg (28 m) — the bus stop area takes up about 9.5 m of road space along junctions like Chirag Dilli.

Experts from TRIPP, however, beg to differ. “The design makes use of the existing space, which is redeveloped as per BRT requirements without compromising on the minimum space requirement of different users of the road. We have given four lanes on each side — one for cycles, two for cars and one for buses on either side,” TRIPP’s associate professor Geetam Tiwari said.

“A recent evaluation of the Bogota system shows how people dislike over-bridges because it increases the walking distance by 100 to 200 m. Our design has reduced travel time for pedestrians because they can only use the zebra crossings perpendicular to the footpath,” Tiwari added.

‘Opening only one corridor makes no sense’
According to Delhi experts associated with the project, the pilot corridor of the BRTS should not be opened in isolation. “The concept can only work once all seven corridors are in place. Opening of the pilot corridor does not make any sense as the traffic, after remaining segregated for a certain distance, will eventually merge. The reason why the Pune model was a failure is precisely because they had only one corridor in place and never executed the other corridors,” he said.

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Experts blame BRT chaos on design, position of bus stops AanchalBansal Posted online: Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 0015 hrs IST New Delhi, March 26 Who is to be blamed for the crawling traffic along the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand? According to experts formerly associated with the project during its planning stage, the culprit is the position and design of bus stops along the corridor, which have shrunk the road space resulting in congestion. According to a US-based expert, who worked on the project till 2006, unlike the bus stations of the BRT in Bogota, Columbia — cited as a forerunner for BRT in Delhi — the bus stops designed by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) at the IIT Delhi consume nearly six lanes on either sides of the intersections leading to chaos at junctions. “The Bogota design has a single station along the central median with both sides open and is away from the traffic intersection. The ones in Delhi have bus stations on either side, with parallel platforms. They take up more space,” said the expert. He added that this was a point of dispute, but the Delhi government decided to go with the IIT’s designs. The bus stations at Bogota are away from traffic junctions with foot over-bridges to cross the road. On the other hand, Delhi has bus stops along the intersection and passengers have only zebra crossings at the junctions to cross the road. While the width of the entire stretch from Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate varies between 45 metres and 58 metres — the narrowest is on Virat Marg (28 m) — the bus stop area takes up about 9.5 m of road space along junctions like Chirag Dilli. Experts from TRIPP, however, beg to differ. “The design makes use of the existing space, which is redeveloped as per BRT requirements without compromising on the minimum space requirement of different users of the road. We have given four lanes on each side — one for cycles, two for cars and one for buses on either side,” TRIPP’s associate professor Geetam Tiwari said. “A recent evaluation of the Bogota system shows how people dislike over-bridges because it increases the walking distance by 100 to 200 m. Our design has reduced travel time for pedestrians because they can only use the zebra crossings perpendicular to the footpath,” Tiwari added. ‘Opening only one corridor makes no sense’ According to Delhi experts associated with the project, the pilot corridor of the BRTS should not be opened in isolation. “The concept can only work once all seven corridors are in place. Opening of the pilot corridor does not make any sense as the traffic, after remaining segregated for a certain distance, will eventually merge. The reason why the Pune model was a failure is precisely because they had only one corridor in place and never executed the other corridors,” he said.