The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor touted to be panacea for all the traffic woes in the national Capital has caused more trouble, hold-ups and jams on the stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and lajpat Nagar Metro station than anything else. The death of 12-year-old boy on BRT corridor has once again brought this problematic traffic plan into focus.
The school-going boy was mowed down by a DTC bus while he was trying to cross the road. Having taken cognisance of the problem being faced by the commuters on daily basis, the Delhi Government is mulling to scrap the BRT, which was developed in a bid to facilitate public transport system in the national Capital. The commuters and the traffic marshals also believe that BRT has been a failed experiment and it should be scrapped without any further delay.
The 5.8-kilometre long BRT corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and lajpat Nagar (Mool Chand Hospital) was opened in 2008 ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Despite objections from various corners, then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had managed to get it started. In September 2012, the High Court restored BRT lane to buses after the matter went to the court as commuters demanded to ply cars in lanes earmarked for the buses.
“Earlier people used to follow the rules, today no one pays heed to us,” Rakesh Kumar, a traffic marshal, who is deployed on the corridor told The Pioneer. Kumar, working with a private security agency known as Skylark, said: “I am working as a marshal, since its inauguration. If people follow the traffic standards, everything will work accordingly.”
The Pioneer did a reality check on the BRT corridor and found that BRT was in total mess with broken dividers made for separating the lanes. “The broken dividers are waiting for a facelift. But the civic agencies are showing no interest in it,” said Shiv Shankar, another traffic marshal deployed at Chirag Delhi junction. He also said it leads to crisscrossing on road by cars and two-wheelers. On many occasions it leads to chaos and traffic snarls but the problem persists as nobody is bothered to address the issue, he added.
“I appreciate the decision of the Government, if they are thinking in terms of scrapping this corridor. I think no one is in favour of this (BRT corridor). The separate lanes are of no use. Buses still remain halted for hours during peak time,” said Sutheesh, a resident of Devli village, who travels daily to Chirag Delhi by bus for his office in Gurgaon.
Pakiza, 33, resident of DakshinPuri, said: “I am staying here for the past six years but I have never seen a single day without the jam on BRT. Crossing road is not easy for us as we don’t know from which side any vehicle would hit them.” Currently, India has number of operational BRTs. Unlike Delhi, the cities where it is successfully running are Ahemdabad, Indore, Pune, Rajkot, Surat, Mumbai and Bhopal.
Rohit Baluja, president of Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) told The Pioneer that entire BRT corridor needs to be reengineered. “Since its inception it has been flawed project with no control over vehicular movement. There are gross violations of traffic rules on this stretch and the authorities need to address it at the earliest.”
“The major fault with Delhi BRT is its location. The roadside locality after Chirag Delhi heading towards Ambedkar Nagar is very densely populated and for its residents, crossing lanes appeared to be difficult,” said a traffic police inspector, who did not wish to be named.
According to Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander, “As far as the traffic is concerned, a lot of difficulties are faced by the commuters, in the present form of the BRT.” “If the Government is thinking to remove it, then I would say we have already given our stand before the Government,” said Chander.
On Saturday, a day after the accident on BRT, four Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators -- including former Transport Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj -- met Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satendra Jain and demanded scrapping the project. “The lanes should be open for all vehicles. The present situation of traffic at BRT is a nightmare for the commuters. We have requested the Government to scrap it completely,” said Bhardwaj.