BRT Fails in Delhi

"The Standing Committee observation came in the light of a report submitted by School of Planning and Architecture head Prof P K Sarkar, who has highlighted a number of 'loopholes' in the Delhi model of BRT. In his observations, Prof Sarkar has pointed out that one of the major failures of this transport model in Delhi has been to take away seven metres of road width from the already inadequate right of way of the road.

According to the expert's observations, even before the BRT system was implemented, the road, divided into six lanes, experienced very heavy traffic volume for most part of the day. The stretch needed to be widened to handle that traffic volume even before the BRT idea was implemented, the report says. But instead of adding width, two lanes were taken out of the corridor, the report points out.

According to the committee, the passenger carrying capacity of the BRT model in Bogota (Colombia) is higher due to more road space given to cars. But in Delhi, 'even movement of pedestrian traffic across the BRT corridor is not well planned'. Result: pedestrians have to walk comparatively longer distances to cross the corridor, the report says."