Is BRTS right for all cities?

As mentioned elsewhere previously, our cities' requirements do not have a parallel anywhere in the world - the situation in south asian cities is quite unique, & Indian cities are even more complex, given that we have a very large mix of various societal groups - from the richer car owners to the very poor unskilled labourers, all in very large numbers, & growing with more & more job creation.

Existing BRTS models in various cities overseas have been successful because users are not as diverse - the 'one size fits all' assumption cannot apply here. Expectations of the urban poor is a public transport system that is minimally priced, whilst there are various higher groups that look for better quality, time saving, convenience, etc. at a higher price. Given this nature of transport expectations, it is doubtful if the models in operation in other parts of the world will be worth emulating here. They may prove very expensive to run & service whilst users may not be in sufficient nos. since providing good connectivity may be extremely difficult in all parts of a city, with severe road width restrictions.

At the moment, in some cities such as Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore, there already are better quality A/C buses in operation, catering generally to higher income groups. It might be far better to work on a system that provides priority at signals for all public transport buses (AC buses as also other low quality types), to start with. The evolution of an 'Indianised' BRTS may have to begin in this manner, & not by trying to apply the same principles used elsewhere, however successful they may have been there.

One of the Bus Traveller reports about the Delhi BRTS. It seems lot many are confused including media on how to use it. This added with disciplineless driving has made the stretch filled with chaos. But, the buses are travelling hinderlessly whereas normal motor traffic is suffering with chaos. Good for bus travellers and good way of promoting and making people think twice before using their vehicle in this corridor!! DIMMTS will continue BRTS trial operation till May 1st when it will be officially thrown open.

http://tony2cool.blogspot.com/2008/04/delhis-bus-rapid-transit-brt-corridor.html

Thanks for sharing vasanth.

it makes my heart sink. I am in general an optimist but whenever I see a half-assed effort of implementing something nice, I really cant hope too much from these folks. If you are implementing BRTS, then implement it with full force. Catch those scooter/bikers in the cycle lane and slap a fine. Same for those getting down between stops and those crossing streets.

An implementation like this is no better than not doing it. And it only helps to build an opinion that BRTS would not work whereas it is the peole who implemented it are to be blamed for its failure than the idea itself.

I know they are short on people but I hope that one fine day someone important reads my earlier post and solves all the enforcement problems.

-Shastri

When you see so many buses together - longer than an MRT train, you need to wonder if the density is too high for a BRTS and more for an mass rapid transit.

Agree with Shastri - these give good ideas a bad name.

Srivathsa

We better get our public transport act together quickly.  Oil which was USD65 April last year is trading at $118.37 on NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange).  It was about $35 in 2005.  Even TOI covered this today with a post from Paul Krugman (NY times resident economist).  The USD has not depreciated by as much. 

Tarle - have had a bit too much work to do too much on this topic.  Check out www.wolfatthedoor.org.uk for a primer on peak oil.  Gasoline in the US is $3.50 per gallon - more in CA ($3.80).  Hitting the Rs.40/litre mark in the US - could you imagine that?

Even the king of Saudi Arabia had this to say  that "let's leave some of the oil for our children and grandchildren".  This was in response to constant pressure from Bush and Cheney to pump more oil.   (Crude oil production (all liquids) has stayed flat at 87 million barrels a day from 2005 inspite of rising prices).

When the king of Saudi Arabia says this, y ou need to sit up and listen - no?

Srivathsa

Pradeep,

That is a common misconception.  Oil wont dry up.  But we are probably seeing the end of cheap oil.  Notice how OPEC no longer talks about $35 being the "right price" which they did in 2004 and 2005. 

The right price keeps moving up and is now about $90 - that is if oil ever falls below $90 they will cut production.

Srivathsa

1. Normal buses plus private buses allowed in the BRT corridor.

2. Door opening. Ideally, door should open to the right on the BRT corridor, normal buses open left of the corridor. If we get down the bus, we will not land in bus stops, we will land in the motor lane.

2. After too much pressurization from the public, taxis were allowed in BRT corridor. Even it was thought to allow 'Autos' in BRT corridor - Hats up Indianised BRT.

3. Just don't put stones to prevent vehicles to enter into BRT corridor.

4. Bus actuated signal which failed completely.

5. Most importantly public misbehaviour and public's non-co-operation and no will to use Public Transport.

6. Pressure from politicians, bureaucrats and VVIPs who are not willing to use Public Transport since one of their car lane got disappeared.

7. Absence of Sky Walks to enter to the median of the road. Pedestrains has to walk till the next Zebra Crossing and there too they are not assured they will be able to cross because of no pedestrain consideration by the motorists.

8. No proper feeder service.

9. Lack of Passenger Information System

There are few good things as well:

1. Special BRT bus is low floor CNG plus electric bus with good power equivalent to 230 HP almost equivalent to Volvos. It can speed up upto 100 kmph if properly used. Electric / CNG as the fuel will reduce the pollution.

2. Ideal concept is being tried to encourage Pedestrains, Bicycles and Public Transport. But, getting succumbed under pressure.

Few Points to be improved:

1. Have transport hubs at the beginning and end of the corridors where people from normal bus change to special BRT  Bus. Do not allow any other buses into the Bus Corridor . Allow only Ambulances and Police Vehicles. No VIPs and their sons and daughers and son-in-laws etc.. This special BRT bus should open on the right side, not on left side. 

2. Have 2:1 Non A/C and A/C buses to attract different class of people.

3. Have big welded structures to prevent cars, bikes and pedestrains entering the Bus Corridor. It is just like it is in front of our Railway Station.

4. Bus actuated signal is a good concept, but, since it is not working properly, just forget it. They can use Magic underpasses to allow only Buses to Cross the intersections.

5. Put heavy fines on the offenders who enter BRTS.  Cancel the license itself.

6. As I said, people are not willing to come out of their cars or get down from their 2 wheelers including Politicians, Bureaucrats, VVIPS and media people. There will be full pressure to dismantle the project. Don't succumb. TOI which starts 'UnlockBangalore' like campaign and says many things about infrastructure, is bombarding against the project. NDTV 'young lady reporter' was reporting 'it seems Government is encouraging people to use only Buses instead of vehicles' - What is BRTS madam? How did you get job in NDTV and how NDTV allowed you to report this BRTS News? Media men do not know anything about ideal transport, they want to give instant news without proper content. Do not succumb.

7.Have skywalks every 100 feet and with elevators at least in one or 2 skywalks for aged and disabled.

8. Have good feeder systems to the BRTS hubs.

9. Have Public Information System in the Bus Stops along with mobile and internet tracking.

10. Easiest way to reduce the vehicles on this road, put Tolls at the entry for the vehicles. Have a mutlistoried parking at the beginning and end of corridor. Motorists have to pay toll and use their vehicle, or park their vehicle and use Bus.

This is the initial week of the trial run of the project. It cannot be successful overnight as bombarded by the media. It needs time for stabilization and capturing the public. Metro is already present in Delhi and is expanding. BRTS along with Metro is a good combination. Normal Delhi DTC buses is very poor. Our BMTC is far better (I may be victim for many of my fellow writers for saying BMTC is better).

An idealized BRTS video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEtf32Bu3Y

After seeing the Delhi Chaos and uncertainities, I feel BRTS in Bangalore is almost impossible. Delhi has got many 6 lane (3 on each side) roads. Bangalore has very few of 6 lane roads. Only I feel in very few parts it can be taken such as some part of Intermediate Ring Road. But too many change in the mode of transport will make it unviable to have Mono some portion and BRTS some portion.New Delhi being planned city is facing so much problem for BRTS implementation, Bangalore, which is totally unplanned, God knows what will happen if BRTS is implemented here.

It was told it would be taken up from existing Forum Mall to Indiranagar via Koramangala Intermediate Ring Road. I don't see it is going to be possible. There is width only in Koramangala Intermediate Ring Road, but not anywhere else.

Extensive Metro/Mono is the way to go with improvement of buses in the existing roads is the solution for Bangalore.

I am yet to see the new Pune BRTS stretch myself, so this is second hand information. But folks there tell me that the median stop thing is a big problem. Median stops aren't the problem by themselves. Drivers' discipline, coupled with impatience of pedestrians, further coupled with badly designed or absent ped-crossing signals - these have been the big problems I hear.

I don't know why we have to think hard only about dedicated bus lanes. Semi dedicated bus corridors, which would be possible via selected and heavily enforced radial or trunk roads - that, coupled with increased frequencies and some low tech but practical last mile solution (BMTC branded auto/van like thing) - this to me seems like an immediate low cost solution that could give results. This is a combination of small adjustments at various levels

• More resources in enforcing lane discipline, illegal curb parking and jaywalking on selected trunk routes. But not a huge cost, neither does it need big policy changes. Just needs little more head-counts.
• Identification of radial/trunk routes: This has been done by a few folks already. Needs minimal investment, and no policy changes.
• Increased frequency on these trunk routes: Investment? yes. They anyway have pending orders for Volvos. Policy changes? No.
• Last mile connectivity in Local loop - autos/revas/vans: now, this is the biggest deal here, but doesn't require policy change at the level of ending BMTC's monopoly or banning Autos.

TS, I was just thinking instead of having solid motorized lane on either side of the Bus Lane in your diagram, if we could have pillarized Motorized Lane below which Bus Stops can be constructed. (Ofcourse this needs more money and time to construct).Instead of pillars, I was just thinking of putting magic boxes below the motorized lane under which Bus Stops Can Be Constructed. Bus lane should not immediately steep up after the underpass, it should proceed at the same level for a distance equivalent to 2-3 buses and then steep up.

People should have some stair cases and elevators on the pavement .

I just checked the China BRTS and it uses Underpass for the passengers to access the median. Here is the link. Roads are too wide, almost 5 lanes on either sides. There is no constraint to build BRT bus stop. Not so in Delhi and can't think of it in Bangalore.

http://www.chinapage.com/transportation/brt/bjbrt.html

Buses are certainly the future. But, BRT, I am not sure is suited to Bangalore. The full text of the article which appeared in TOI recently is linked below:

http://muralidharrao.blog...

Muralidhar Rao

PS: I don't appear to have given this link on this blog, though readers may have had access to the piece from elsewhere.

Ikorodu road, Lagos came up a lot when I was searching for ongoing BRT implementations in chaotic cities of developing nations. See these very narrow looking bus lanes on the edge of the road:

(Sourced from Sun News Online)

Pic of ready lanes and bus stop (Source: Wikipedia)

SB - Awesome, & is there something that can be learnt from it for bangalore's bus services ?

Lagos /Nigeria, Dar-es-Salaam /Tanzania & Capetown /S.Africa are African cities already trying to implement BRTS - motorization levels are relatively lesser in African cities (except S.African cities), but kudos to them for looking ahead & trying to implement BRTS systems at this early stage of motorization !

On ORR eastern part, from Hebbal to Silkboard Jn, availability of service roads & ample spaces makes it possible to do it, but we do not know if authorities have planned this, as recommended in the CTTP report.

It is really great that BRTS options are being explored in cities such as Delhi, Pune & Ahmadabad. As expected, car users have been very vocal in their criticism, fueled by the media, but I think sanity will prevail as it is plain common sense that more can travel faster by bus than by cars & time savings for the city's populace as a whole is far more important than for the smaller percentage of car users. It is just that point to point convenience is difficult for all, but overall, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Bangalore's turn to commence this will most likely depend on the success of these systems in these other cities, & it is hoped that they succeed, so we have a model to follow - like the Metro.

http://www.streetfilms.or...

takeaways:

look at the corridors - 1 lane shared from 4 eachway atleast..we dont have it!

Bikes to get to public transport - they provide free parking at the stations..we will need something like that..simple and free

Here are few videos on the youtube on Delhi BRTS:

Comfortable Cycle Lane. I didn't see so many cyclists in Bangalore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd8g7_u7UTM

A BRT special bus passing freely. Please note the vehicles pyling up in the traffic signal at the end whereas BRT bus going to the front of signal. Motor vehicle lanes are wide enough and equivalent to most of our Bangalore roads. If bus corridor is removed, length of the jam will decrease and width increase for which Delhi car users are crying!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcUqg41uzOQ&feature=related

Another view of Bus Corridor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mva-0Py75_8&feature=related

Comfortable Pavement for Pedestrains:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruqFYEwswng&feature=related

Our corporators are eating away the pavements who are never condemned, whereas improved pavements are condemned and asked to scrap!!!

A NDTV report - Please note the last lady car driver saying that she will never use it. Rich lady - God save her from traffic Chaos and her car from dents!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxKIx1P_8-4

TS - Extremely accurate.

Mumbai's 'lifeline', as it's called, are the trains, however poor the conditions & quality of accommodation may be, because of time & cost savings. Another factor is distance from the north to CBDs in the south & the city's north-south orientation. To reach a station, one would have to use bus. BEST has been performing excellently, no doubt, but it's success dates back to the days prior motorization levels began to increase, & it continues to perform very efficiently, todate, given it's background of reliability & efficiency, even in the southern CBDs.

However, the scene is quite different now in CBD suburbs such as Andheri East & Bandra-Kurla Complex, where private vehicle use & congestion have already reached very high levels & the scene resembles the rest of the country, if not worse.

How do you change this ? Certainly not by accepting BRTS as a failure & building more roads to accept the increase in traffic load. The only way is to prioritize bus or other rapid services & discourage private modes - plan all road infrastructure additions (such as flyovers, underpasses, widening, etc) with the focus on improving bus services, rather than for 'common use' or 'mixed traffic', speed up the buses as much as possible to make them faster than private vehicles, & take steps to control supply of public parking slots, introduce tolls for fly-overs, bridges, expressways, etc & introduce congestion pricing (as in London, Singapore & Norwegian /Scandinavian cities).

Unless some discipline-imposing steps are taken, none will want to give up their wheels & will continue to argue that the 'western & latin-american models dont suit us'. This may be true in as far as only road width availability is concerned, but the basic premise remains valid - unless all public transport, especially bus services are prioritized at the expense of all private traffic, things will only get worse with more & more additions of private vehicles !

ASJ,

I agree that Pune's BRT design, at least as of now, may have too short lengths of corridor/s to have any meanigful time savings benefits to commuters.

In Mumbai, how long would it take to travel from Borivli to Churchgate on a BEST bus in peak hours ? I once travelled from Andheri to Flora Fountain (CST) in peak hours & it took 2.5 hours. If the bus had a segregated busway & infrastructure in place for the bus to bypass signal delays & not be subject to slow movement in mixed traffic, it wud have done the distance of over 30kms in a little over an hour with bus-stops each 6-700 mtrs. So, I can save nearly 1.5 hours in peak hours, & that to me, as a regular daily commuter means a great deal - I wud prefer to take the bus than to go upto the station & change over to train.

However, such high degrees of efficiency might not be possible as we have constraints - nonavailability of road widths to provide for continuous segregated lanes, etc. Even then, the BEST bus can save a lot of time if it is given priority wherever possible.

BRTS has features that are worth considering & can help to halt further growth of traffic, even reverse this unhealthy trend - if & only if planned & implemented correctly & as per local situations & needs in our cities. However, prioritized bus alone will not be enough - other tools need to be used as well, such as traffic restraints to discourage private vehicle use.

One critical point appears to have been missed in this whole debate - the fact that both in Pune and as well as in Bangalore, the bus transport operations are in the hands of government monopoly agencies. Now, government agencies are generally known to be inefficient (to say the least), and when, in addition, they enjoy a monopoly status, it is the perfect recipe for disaster. We cannot afford that any longer.

And, as I have been repeating ad naseum, my first exposure to the name TVS was as the public bus transport service provider in the city of Madurai, way back in the 60's. What has to happen is the facilitation of the re-entry of players like TVS into the field. Many solutions will arise automatically therefrom, and the rest can be worked by the PRAJA through the regulatory body.

Muralidhar Rao

PS: BEST, both as the monopoly bus services povider as well as the monopoly power distributor (south of Mahim) in the city of Mumbai, is a very rare exception to the rule.

ASJ,

When traditional buses (operating with no privileges & in purely mixed traffic conditions) are accorded some form of priority, they are termed BRT. The term BRT implies that they enjoy some form of prioritization or preference or protection, be it dedicated lane or signal priority or right of way on streets - this is clear from various BRT articles & guides & this is what we meant.

A full-BRT is one that enjoys priority all the way with dedicated bus lanes & priority at all intersections & at all signals.

As regards Mumbai - as already explained, the city's terrain is largely north-south oriented – the CBDs in the south dominated commerce in the city for long & the city was ideally suited for a manhattan style development with high rises & high density. Almost all transport links commenced from there to various parts in the north & north-east. This explains the very high density of 29K+, the largest density for any city in the world.

Most other cities such as Pune, Delhi & Bangalore are spread out in all four directions, & are growing vertically, horizontally & in all directions, with multiple CBD locations that attract traffic movements. Solutions for such cities /areas would be what is comparable to the new CBDs in Mumbai's Andheri or Bandra-Kurla Complex.

You also implied that 3-wheelers were the cause of chaos in the new CBDs in Mumbai. The new developments at Andheri-Seepz & Bandra-Kurla-Complex, of more recent vintage has brought along conflicting traffic flow patterns, as is commonplace in almost all other cities. 3-wheelers only add to the existing chaos & if they were banned, chaos would still continue as they wud be replaced by other vehicle types to fill the void.

Dr. ASJ,

I will compile the discussions on the BRTS and another discussion on BMTC and summarize it.  Give me till next week end. We certainly want to action some of these, else the chat becomes an end in itself.

Srivathsa

ASJ,

Your ideas are great & I sincerely hope that we can some day soon, follow all of them, even improve & make them better & more efficient. However, the reality in India is quite different, as of now.

India being a third world country, still has a long way to go to reach a stage when people follow practices & procedures as laid down or defined – road discipline is still abysmal & cannot be compared with Asia-Pacific, Latin America or Middle-East, let alone Europe /Australia or USA.

If heavy fines or penalties are introduced, people start bribing the cops & get away with violations – this is quite common & routine even with the low fines that we already have, & needs to be fought, but the small group/s that fight are easily outnumbered by the very large percentage of people who prefer to pay bribes & close the matter.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13879352@N07/2461863194/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13879352@N07/2461029839/in/photostream/

Bus lane violations are also common in Latin America & elsewhere, including Australia (click on the links above to see pictures). In India, trying BRTS without physically segregating lanes may render the whole exercise of attempting to provide a reliable & relatively cheaper transport option a non-starter since intrusions would be the norm & the buses will end up having no room on the lanes at all – the lanes will be full of other mixed traffic all the time as enforcement will be quite impossible.

Minimally priced /subsidized transport has been the norm in India & in Bangalore, we have better AC buses & skip-stop services with reserved /sitting at higher costs now. Please click here to open a blog I had recently posted about the fare /quality relationship for bus services in India :

http://www.bangalore.praja.in/bangalore/blog/naveen/2008/05/01/public-bus-transport-fare-quality-nexus

In summation :

a)       Public Transport services are pathetic;

b)       As a result, traffic volumes in cities is excessive & still growing;

c)       Investments into mass transit options are too huge, complicated & time consuming to be put in place;

d)       Road Users comprise an unusual heterogeneous mix varying from rich car owners, 2-wheelers, public buses, hand carts, bicycles, pedestrians (as sidewalks are narrow & broken–down), domestic cattle, etc.;

e)       Parked vehicles are usually allowed on the edges on wider roads to obstruct movement of traffic;

f)        Government Transport institutions have so far not been up to the task. 

Please also read one of my previous blogs related to the subject :

http://www.bangalore.praja.in/bangalore/blog/naveen/2008/04/15/how-does-europe-rest-world-do-it

I agree with your conclusion that since Pune does not have a good traditional bus service, BRTS may seem inappropriate. However, this position cannot be extended to other cities which might have it’s own requirements. We believe that it is required here as there are many working, particularly in the IT industry, who demand such service & do not want to drive – & they number some 5 lakhs, most of whom travel by cars with resultant congestion, pollution & frustration. Further, there are at least a few candidate corridors that can be utilized for BRTS as road widths are quite sufficient. So, why not try this option ?  

One thing is clear –Good public transport & commuting facilities need to be provided & traffic volumes need to be reduced. BRTS is one option that can be explored.

Please advise the relevance of the video clip (big stones have to go in first for all small stones to fit in) to the issue at hand as it is unclear.

The observation by the town planner is also unclear - IIT had put in a lot of effort to identify & design BRT corridors for Delhi. The problem in our cities, as we know very well is worsening congestion & lack of good, reliable public transport, & all efforts to improve public transport needs to be supported positively.

NDTV had carried out a poll which was aired on the news yesterday. Over 80% of bus users said they were happy with the services as the buses were now taking only 1/3rd the time as previous. However, car owners were generally a dissatisfied lot (as expected) since they have to go through the ordeal of longer waits at signals, congestion, etc.

Thus, it does seem that BRTS is beginning to do the job - & it's only a matter of time before many car users start switching over to the faster, more comfortable bus.

FYI - Ahmadabad is also preparing it's BRT plans.

Naveen - responses to many of the points raised by you may be found in my blog http://muralidharrao.blog...

If I understand correctly, BRT caused the greatest destruction of green cover in Delhi. So, experimentation with BRT is not exactly going to be cheap.

When Dr ASJ says that, with 5,000 buses, if Bangalore cannot get its people to rely on PT, the reson has first to be found for that, he has hit the nail on its head. As the co-chairman of BMTC's CCTF, and later as someone closely involved with providing the "Yelli Iddira?" service, I was privy to the ways of BMTC's working, and I am convinced that competition and competition alone can change it. And, competition has to be from the organised sector players, and not the likes of the BLUELINE players. Many people appear to have still not realised that BLUELINE was an arrangement set up by the babu's to make money for themselves in various ways, quite like the maxi-cab/ contract carriage operations in Bangalore.

Sri had stated elsewhere that opening up of the sector to organised private sector players could be a sensitive matter, possibly suggesting that we should not be demanding that too loudly currently. On the contrary, I would like to submit that the time for soft-pedalling the issue is long over, and we should all be shouting hoarse from rooftops that it be implemented forthwith. We as citizens owe it to our city. We should build the momentum now, and if the new government does not move on it fast enough, we should go for a PIL.

Muralidhar Rao

Today, I was travelling in a Volvo between Mysore and Bangalore and was having a chat with the driver. Driver was telling the same thing that without a dedicated lane with no other vehicle entering the bus lane, it is very difficult to drive the buses in the city. People  drive chaotically especially 2 wheelers as well as pedestrains cross thee road without seeing what is coming in the direction of vehicles coming.If some accident takes place, people will start throwing the stones at the buses and beat the driver. And he was expressing it has become very risky to drive in city conditions and was speaking about the Poona and Delhi BRTS.

I was just thinking of BRT routes in Bangalore with wider roads. Wherever wider roads are present, BRT should be done irrespective of whatever stats and debates may come across to stop it!!. Painting, privatization etc will be of second thought. 

1. Richmod Circle - Mayo Hall 

2. JC Road - Minerva Circle - Town Hall. (Road between Lalbagh westgate to Minerva Circle is only 2 lane. Otherwise Metro Connectivity to BRT could also have been provided)

3. Second half of ORR from Silkboard - Hebbal

4. As Srivathsa mentioned to EC from Koramangala on the BETL.

5. Domlur to Richmod Circle and again from Woodlands hotel to Corporation Circle.

6. KG Road Martha Hospital to Santhosh Theatre ( 2 lanes )

7. Malleshwaram Sampige Road ?

8. Hebbal Flyover to BIAL

Indeed Doctor - how so simple! The essence of Dr Madhav Badami's talk was also 'back to basics'.

I would like to recommend to PRAJA to confer a Doctorate on Dr ASJ on "transport syatems & management"

Muralidhar Rao

A TOI report seemed to suggest that the Delhi BRT authorities are reading this blog, and have decided to try out Doc ASJ's suggestion of just leaving the lanes painted and removing the barricades. Also, the bus lanes are to shift to the left edge. The bicycle lanes will, of course, be beyond these.

This is more or less abandonment of BRT, though they refuse to admit it.  

Muralidhar Rao

Dear ASJ,

You have a supporter. I am in total agreement with you on this. If cities needs to be decongested, you have to place a good public transport system that gaurantees:

1. Ride to destination (even if it needs 2 transfers) possibly 24/7

2. Reasonable ticket fares

3. reasonable comfort in journey (No overcrowding, seats for elders/disable/Moms)

4. Basiv amenities at Bus Stops/Transit center like Toilets, Washrooms, Waiting area and food corners etc.

 Take the example of Bus services run by Public Sector Units starting in Late 60s or Early 70s in B'lore. Each one of these units employed from 5k-10k employees. HAL employed more about 20k. Did any road get clogged with such huge employee travel and migrants influx from all over India? No. Hardly there was any traffic blockages felt.

 You have suggested an excellent idea of Tax-free fuel for the public transport that should make the fares cheaper and profitable venture for the agency who runs Public transport.

Agreed, we also need to account for Trucks/lorries, Auto/Taxi, Cars/Two-wheelers etc.  This also requires for signal less junctions, dedicated corridors for trucks, their parking ares with basic amenities and short time lodging, Vehicle towing system and emergency response system to save the lives and clear the accidents.

Syed