Experts: New BRT model will again be fiasco

  • 07/05/2008

  • Asian Age (New Delhi)

After the government took a Uturn on the Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand Bus Rapid Transit system fiasco, experts fear that markings with yellow lines and cones will not help as the road will again become mixed lanes, bringing the traffic situation back to square one. "It's clear that the middle-lane of the BRT has been scrapped owing to its inherent flaws and that is the reason why the government has decided to develop the new BRT model. Keeping in view the new model, the old stretch should be undone," Prof. P.K. Sarkar of the School of Planning and Architecture said. He also said that the new model will turn out to be a fiasco as the cones and yellow lines are insufficient to bar private vehicles from entering the bus lanes. The government on Tuesday decided to develop a new model of BRT with slight modifications on the second part of the route, from Moolchand to Delhi Gate. "We have decided to expand the stretch from Moolchand to Delhi Gate in central Delhi here on this 9.5-km-long route. The buses will ply on the left side of the road instead of the central lane. There will be no dividers segregating the car and bus lanes as has been done in the case of the Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand stretch. The decision has been taken after deliberations with BRT experts and the traffic police," Delhi transport commissioner R.K. Verma said. He also said that both the models will be compared and the work on the remaining corridors will proceed accordingly.