Implementing bus priority on narrow roads - proposal submitted to Pune Municipal Corporation

Nitin,

Hi! What you say about cycle lane can be easily done. In fact one option which I will prefer but I did not detail in the proposal is to go for the widest possible footpaths and create a cycle lane on the footpath (very commonly done in UK).

Until August 07, this road did not even have footpaths, the ones you see are result of my submitting over 100 pictures of young and old having to walk on the road. I made repeated requests for using IRC norms for footpaths to no avail. This road has one of Asia's biggest convention centres, massive shopping malls and major academic Institutes and footpaths should be 2.5 meters. Right now, I am not very enthusiastic of the response to this proposal.

The PMC is more keen on an elevated road and two tunnels. They have not shown the need for these mega projects on paper at all. In Aug 07 when I visited my parents who live along this road, in the 3 weeks I did not witness a single traffic jam (unless waiting at traffic lights is called a jam).

Murali Sir, you have as usual been kind and generous in your appreciation of the proposal but sadly I am doubtful the proposal will even be read in detail. I will keep chipping away at this though and soon try to cover some additional points I have not covered (stuff like rickshaw stands, hawking and provision of limited but paid parking in the viscinity of this major road).

ASJ

Naveen,

Hi! I had posted summary of IRC norms for pedestrian facilities here http://pune.praja.in/discuss/forums/2008/10/irc-guidelines-pedestrian-facilities-summary

The above does not look at cycle lanes (it was published 20 years ago when other than the 4 metro cities, most small cities and towns had roads largely used by cycles).

Contra-flow is a fancy name, but essentially in its simplest form as I suggest, one side of a conventional two lane road (1 + 1) is becomes a bus lane (non-segregated) while other side for mixed vehicles.

The word 'contra' only suggests that buses run in the direction opposite to the mixed traffic on other side of the road.

South Mumbai has this on a section of Giraum Road and its been in place for 30 years or so (and it workd well, the bus direction is towards the CBD).

BRTS buses can move out of BRTS routes and run on non-BRT routes (already happening in Delhi, Pune). BRT routes can be median and peripheral and indeed both have been used in same city as needed. I have seen median (but non segregated) bus lanes in London as well.

Anything is possible provided the political and administrative will to make it work is there. Right now the will is there only when it comes to making flyovers, elevated roads, subways, underpasses, overpasses, skywalks, sea links, road over river and god knows what else.

ASJ

Naveen it is about bus priority, so yes, it will cause inconvinience to others by having to take a detour.

The buses run at the periphery (well if its a 1+1 lane road, it will be so).  The bus lane is not segregated either, so mixed vehicles running in opposite direction can turn in to any side lanes on the side of the bus lane when a bus is not approaching.

The methods I suggest are for overcoming the mindset that we need exclusive ROW and Bogota style BRTS as the only way to improving bus services. That may happen on handful of roads wide enough but no where else. Thus to prioritise buses in real sense and to maximise coverage of bus priority and improve reliability, speed and punctuality of buses, these simple methods workk wonders (as they have in London).

In fact if you look at BRTS maps (CAD drawings) for Pune, there is actually no real ROW given the number of junctions the buses have to pass - all you have is wide roads and median bus lanes and bus stops and not having to think about conflict with side lanes and indiscriminate parking on periphery.

But not thinking about side lanes is unhelpful, peripheral lanes forces people to think of reducing conflict with side lanes (as I have shown in my proposal) as well as forces people to come up with limiting / restricting or relocating parking elsewhere - both very good TDM measures.

Integration is never a hassle as the different approaches are never on same road. So a bus using a median bus lane in Bogota style BRTS can leave the BRTS route at a signalised junction to join any other road which may have peripheral bus lanes or contraflow lanes or mixed traffic on roads without bus lanes.

IRC - not available online, I had to buy my copy and did not include all their details and diagrams as it would not be fair on their copyrights - hence I didi a summary.

ASJ

Here is a image I found -

See how narrow this road is. But one side is now exclusive for buses. Physical grade separation is not used (other than the pedestrian refuge). Separation is done by way of claer signage and marking on roads.

There are several smalll roads of above width which also have been part pedestrianised and converted in to bus only roads.

It costs nothing in comparison to Bogota style BRTS, in fact median bus lanes and bus stops will be impossible on such roads. But it has not stopped the British  from being creative and doing some out-of-obx thinking.

And imagine how wide the bus priority network can be spread across the city.

ASJ

The contra-flow idea seems only to facilitate bus routings in the easiset /fastest /shortest way. At some places, if the bus goes in the opposite direction of mixed flow, it might save distance & time, & hence, this may be the reason why it is being used - there does not appear to be any other benefit. 

I am dumb struck at what you say and the way you put it. What more do you want from narrow roads that also afflict our cities and not just the ones you mention.

This dream of exclusive ROW for buses is rather utopian.

Just because we can't follow basic driving rules we are coming up with these strange models of elevated bus routes!!!

The will, political and administrative that prevails when it comes to spending thousands of crores on these grandiose projects - what happens to that political and administrative will when it comes to law enforcement? Why is does it not prevail when it comes to reforming our licensing process and driver training standards?

Lets not be fooled by disciplince on Western roads, they are equal mortals as us in India. The reason why no one dares go on bus lanes is not because the Westerner is more ethical and moral being - they simply fear imprisonment, huge fines and loss of their permit to drive.

Just crossing from Pune to Mumbai causes a shift in driver discipline, simply because Mumbai (especially south Mumbai) enforces law better.

Its an illusion to think that segregated bus lanes help enforce law - look at all the images from Delhi and the plethora of police / wardens employed. And hence Ahembdabad has gone a step worse - elevated bus roads.

The other reason for this nonsense of elevated bus roads is that there is no political and administrative willingness to actually discourage use of personal vehicles. Delhi and Pune - they took a couple of lanes on roads wide enought to generally allow road space for personal vehicles largely untouched.

In short, no one dares talk of TDM, no one dares talk of road pricing schemes.

Finally, I think I have shown repeatedly on how intersections on arterial roads can be reduced. In fact in this very proposal I have removed half a dozen or so intersections. Lets get real, living in a city comes with having to deal with intersections.

Pune BRT - its become a joke, other than providing a bus way, nothing else is in place (right now there seems no hope of any change from what I gather from my sources).

ASJ

This link will take you to addendum 3 of this proposal - http://better.pune.googlepages.com/Frequently_Asked_Questions_SB_Road_b.pdf
 
This document has been framed as a FAQ on the proposal but adds more detail to the proposal as well as attempts to allay any concerns / anxieties on sevral issues such as alternative parking, etc. Unfortunately, I have missed out on commenting on relocating the cobbler and floral hawkers that sit on the bend of Vetal baba chowk. They should be accomodated with permission from ICC within their facility - this is rather common in UK/West
 
This is not my last communication on the matter. Time (and motivation) permitting I intend  to make suggestions for reforming the PMPML bus routes and frequencies too. 
 
ASJ