New Delhi: Five days into the trial run, the BRT – true to its name and much to the happiness of those using public transport – is just a rapid transit corridor for buses.
"We are very happy with the project, its reduced travel time," an enthusiastic bus-commuter said.
But for private vehicle owners, it’s clearly a different story.
"This stretch is hell. There's been no change whatsoever, it’s still a mess," said a car-owner while another said, “This is a waste of time and energy."
It has become obvious that the project was conceived for the bus commuter. An unfortunate side-effect is that it seems to have been conceived, perhaps, at the cost of everyone else who travels on this stretch.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic moves at a snail’s pace outside the dedicated bus corridors, while those using the bus lanes wait for a one-off bus to zip by.
Sources within the traffic police decline to speak on record but are clearly unhappy with the project.
“The authorities chose to experiment on a stretch which has among the highest traffic densities in the city,” said an unnamed traffic police official.
The project was conceived with traffic figures for 2003 and no provisions were made for an increase in traffic.
The most important omission was that the design does not include the road behavior of the Delhi driver.
Traffic Warden Mohammad Asim observed, "We find it hard to control traffic. There's no track discipline and no one has any clue where to go."
The Delhi Government will now be forced to take a long, hard look at the entire project before taking steps to improve commuting on this stretch. Measures in the pipeline include acquiring more land to increase the road width. But till the measures are actually in place, the corridor will continue to be a driver’s nightmare.
Comments
0 comment