Expert panel on Delhi BRT

Here is a clarification forwarded to me by e-mail which I thought Praja should find useful. It comes from -Sanjeev Kumar Lohia, Director (Urban Transport), Ministry of Urban Development.

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Dear All,

The media reports are unfortunately totally away from the real report of the Parliamentary Committee which as the line Ministry we have received recently. Whatever has been quoted in the press is portion of the verbatim statement of one of the expert's views on Delhi BRT which have been reproduced in the report in inverted commas. These are not at all the views or recommendations of the parliamentary committee.   All experts' views would depend upon their own understanding of the subject and exposure as well as the experience. Nobody can claim to be expert on all the things and hence the understanding of some issues can be skewed also sometimes of even the "experts". Many times we do not know what we do not know and hence may make inappropriate assumptions / statements.

The parliamentary committee has recommended regarding BRTS as under:-

"Bus Rapid transit Systems (BRTS):

BRTS which entails dedicated lanes for high capacity buses, is a crucial mode providing smooth and affordable transport facility to the public.  Considering its low cost, case of implementation, wide area coverage, flexibility and overall sustainability, this system should be encouraged.  However, the Committee have been informed by the expert that its merits notwithstanding, this concept should be cautiously and selectively applied in cities and that there are certain basic parameters and prerequisites necessary to make this system successful.  In line with the advice of NUTP, the Committee would like to believe that factors such as the urban form, terrain, level of demand, direction and extent of sprawl, width of road available, extent of population density have been taken into consideration in BRTS projects. 

From the material furnished by the Ministry, the Committee understands that apart from Delhi, BRTS projects in 8 other cities have been approved.  The Committee hopes that before implementing these BRTS projects, a thorough scientific feasibility study of each respective city has been taken up in the light of the above-mentioned parameters with due incorporation of public opinion as well.  In the backdrop of the criticism of BRTS project in Delhi, the Committee expects that utmost care would be taken in the implementation of these projects."

As can be seen clearly from the above recommendations that the Committee has neither given any recommendations regarding scrapping of BRTS in Delhi nor have given any comments regarding BRTS being failure in Delhi.  The Committee has only advised taking utmost care in the implementation of these projects in the backdrop of the criticism of BRTS project in Delhi.  It may be worth noting that the first line of recommendation of the committee clearly identifies that BRTS is a crucial mode for providing smooth and affordable transport facility  to the public and that this system should be encouraged. 

With regards,

Sanjeev Kumar Lohia

Director (Urban Transport), Ministry of Urban Development.

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My take -

This is good news indeed. What I am now hoping for is to see the actual report as I wish there are more specifics laid out by the Ministry on the factors considered as pre-requisites.

How wide should a road be for implementing a BRTS with median busways? 100 feet?

I have argued it ought to be more as crosswalks / pedestrian subways are vital and IRC norms recommend that such facilities are at least 2.5m wide. In short we need more width (perhaps 112 feet as a minimum).

The signal phasing then becomes less time consuming, possibly free left turn slip roads can be provided and overall wait times at junctions reduced (compared to 5-6 minute signal cycle length on Delhi BRT currently).

Lets hope we have more clear protocols emerging to guide our cities to success rather than failures in such ventures.

ASJ