Delhi BRTS Overview_AIIM

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    Draft Report on Delhi BRTS, Prepared and Submitted by Jyoti & Neeraj (Subgroup 2, Group 4, AIIM)

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    BACKGROUND

    Introduction

    The Delhi Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS)

    is a public transportation system

    using buses to provide faster, more efficient

    service than an ordinary bus line. Together

    with Delhi Metro it will be part of an

    integrated multimodal transport system

    operational in Delhi. Like other bus-rapid

    transit systems across the world, Delhi BRT

    aims to make public transport a more

    convenient option for its people. Delhi BRT

    is not grade-separated, i.e., the buses do not

    run at a different level or height than the

    normal traffic and shares the same traffic

    signals.

    Usually, Bus systems carry a large share of

    urban travellers but are responsible for

    only a small part of traffic congestion,

    energy use and pollution. Bus system is

    more flexible compared to other

    transportation system. Hence, there is a

    need to develop a system to give priorityand dedicated road space to buses in order

    to make them reliable and faster.

    BRT attempts to promote public transport

    system in Delhi by giving right of way to

    buses. Besides giving priority to buses, the

    system also provides dedicated lanes for

    pedestrian and non-motorized vehicles like

    cycles and rickshaws etc. A dedicated bus

    lane allows the bus to operate separately,

    without interference from other modes oftraffic.

    Traffic Situation in Delhi

    The transportation network in Delhi is

    predominantly road based with 1,284 km of

    road per 100 km2. The road area percentage

    in Delhi is around 21% of total area (Exhibit

    3). In Delhi, buses cater to sixty percent of

    the city's transportation needs. The number

    of vehicles on Delhis road has increased by212% in the last 18 years from 19.23 lakh in

    1991 to over 60 lakh by 2008. Increased

    number of vehicles on the road has not only

    reduced the mobility of a large section of

    people, but has also increased the pollution

    level, journey time and average per KM fuel

    consumption (Exhibit 4). Amongst the

    major cities of the world, Delhis population

    density is on the lower side (Exhibit 2).

    Increasing vehicle the population is also

    positively co-related with number of

    fatalities caused by road accidents, most of

    these are pedestrians, cyclists and bus

    travellers. To address all these issues,

    Government of National Capital Territory of

    Delhi (GNCTD) envisions an Integrated

    Multi-Modal Network of Public Transport

    system consisting of a network Metro, Mono

    Rail, Light Rail and

    Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). The overall vision

    aims to strengthen the public

    transportation system and envisage a long-

    term solution to the citys traffic and

    parking problem.

    Corridor proposed

    Phase Corridors Length

    Phase -1

    2005-2010

    7 115.5

    Phase -2

    2010-2015

    3 28.0

    Phase -32015-2020

    16 166.5

    Source: DIMTS Website

    Total 26 Corridors are planned till 2020

    covering a distance equal to 310 Km. The

    pilot project was started on the Corridor 1

    from Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate.

    Stake Holders in Delhi BRTS

    The corner stone for the introduction of

    BRT system in Delhi was put up in 1995,

    when Central Pollution Control Board

    commissioned a study for reducing

    vehicular pollution in Delhi. The final

    report, with a recommendation to introducesegregated bicycle lanes and bus lanes, was

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    submitted in 1997. An international

    workshop was organized by the Delhi

    Transport Corporation in collaboration with

    SIAM, IDFC and IIT Delhi on High Capacity

    Bus System in January 2002. This was the

    first major step in the conceptualization of

    the BRT System for Delhi.

    In 2004, GNCTD appointed RITES and IIT

    Delhi for designing and implementing the

    first corridor from Dr. Ambedkar Nagar to

    Delhi Gate. RITES was appointed the Project

    Management Consultant and TRIPP IIT,

    Delhi the technical and conceptual advisor.

    In 2006, GNTCD established Delhi

    Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System(DIMTS), a Special Purpose Vehicle to

    oversee the establishment of public

    transport systems in Delhi.

    In October 2006, the construction work on

    the corridor started. The stretch from Dr.

    Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand has been

    under trial run since April 20, 2008.

    The first corridor start by BRT in Delhi,

    from Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate, is14.5 km long with right of way width

    varying from 28 meters to 51.5 meters.

    The bus lane is in the middle of the road

    with a width of 3.3 meters. Other motor

    vehicle lanes are is on the side of bus lane

    with a width of 6.75 meters. Separate lanes

    are provided for non-motorized vehicles

    and pedestrians. (Exhibit 5)

    Operations

    DIMTS is currently entrusted with the

    operation and maintenance of the existing

    corridor as the Corridor Manager. Corridor

    Manager is looking after the operations and

    maintenance of the BRT Corridor. The scope

    of work includes all types of operational

    aspects including traffic management, bus

    operation, public relations, enforcement,

    recovery of disabled vehicles, cleaning etc.

    Project Component

    BRTS system can be divided into following

    components,

    Bus Procurement

    Bus Operation

    Fare Collection Trust Fund

    Control Centre

    Operational Planning

    Setting the Fare

    System Design

    Service Standards

    In Delhi BRTS, Almost all components are

    under the Public Sector purview. After the

    Common Wealth Game, Private operators

    (Blue Line Buses) are also removed and

    High capacity low floor buses have been

    introduced. It is found that some of the most

    successful BRTS systems around the world

    have privatised the bus procurement, Bus

    operation components (Exhibit 6)

    Traffic volume

    The Delhi BRT corridor is situated along

    some of the prime colonies in South Delhi

    and is the main connecting road to the large

    commercial development in Gurgaon. On

    the stretch from Dr. Ambedkar Nagar to

    Moolchand, there are 6 key intersections, of

    which Chirag Delhi and Moolchand are the

    busiest ones. (Exhibit 1)

    According to a DIMTS Survey, Chirag Delhi

    is one of the busiest junctions in Delhi. More

    than 1.35 lakhs vehicles cross the junction

    in a day (16 hours). Motorised vehiclesconsisting of cars, two wheelers and auto

    rickshaws constitute more than 90% of the

    vehicle traffic, of which the number of

    cars/Jeeps constitute around 35-40% of

    total motorized vehicles. These, however,

    carry only 15-20% of the total commuters.

    On the other hand, buses account only for

    2.0-2.5% of total vehicles, but carry around

    55-60% of the total commuters, thus using

    road space more democratically. Approximately 200-250 buses move on

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    Chirag Delhi Junction (the busiest section)

    during peak hour, catering to passenger

    load of about 11,000 - 12,000 on an average

    day. It has been observed that net

    throughput of all kinds of vehicles have

    significantly improved after the

    implementation of the BRT and bus and

    cycle transit time through the corridor has

    reduced.

    Project Cost

    The work construction of BRTC from

    Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate was awarded

    by M/s RITES in September 2006. The

    design approved for the corridor envisaged

    construction of bus lane, MV lane, NMV laneand footpath in concrete pavement. The

    concrete road was preferred for better

    strength, longer life and less periodic

    maintenance. When the proposal came up

    for consideration in the 12th meeting of the

    EFC held on 28th December 2005, the Chief

    Engineer PWD had stated that the scheme

    off RITES envisages construction of cement

    concrete pavement. In other countries like

    Indonesia and China, rigid pavements havenot been provided. Cities like Jakarta,

    Beijing as well as Kunning, were using the

    existing lanes. Only one lane has been

    segregated by providing a detachable

    railing. It is therefore felt that in Delhi also

    we should go for existing flexible

    pavements for High Capacity Bus Corridors.

    This would not only reduce the cost of the

    project but would save great inconvenience

    to the road users during the period ofconstruction.

    Despite such strong reservations from the

    PWD department, Government went ahead

    with cement concrete construction.

    However, it will not be out of place to

    mention that as per the information

    furnished by transport department

    (December 2008), the expenditure on

    Concrete Cement pavement in Bus and MV

    lanes was 2320/- per sq. meter and the

    same was Rs. 1608/- per sq. meter in the

    Bituminous pavement. The department

    incurred an excess expenditure of Rs. 4.29

    crore on construction of bus and M.V. lane

    of 110815 sq. meters in concrete from

    Ambedkar Nagar to Chirag Delhi.

    As mentioned earlier, BRT corridor is a

    dedicated lane carved out of an existing

    road which has bituminous surface. Thus

    adoption of concrete surface for the BRT

    would result in same stretch of road having

    two different pavement structures with part

    of it concrete while the remaining part is

    bituminous. Half way through the

    construction, the agencies realized thatthere was difficulty in going ahead with a

    concrete surfacing as the deployment of

    heavy mechanical pavers were posing

    serious problems and the cost on account of

    concrete was working out much higher than

    the estimates. The matter was placed before

    the Cabinet and its approval obtained for

    switch over to Bituminous surfacing of MV

    lanes and bus lanes beyond Chirag Delhi

    and cycle track & footpath only will be inconcrete. There was no recorded

    justification for retaining cycle track and

    footpath across the entire length of corridor

    in concrete pavement against the

    bituminous surfacing which was cost

    effective.

    It would thus be seen that there was no

    consistency in the bus design parameters of

    this project. Government invested heavily in

    creating concrete structures for the BRTcorridor, which was later on abandoned

    after construction of only three kms.

    As per allocation of business, road

    maintenance and construction of roads are

    the responsibility of the Public Works

    Department. The BRT corridor is a

    dedicated lane within the existing road

    network, its construction and maintenance

    should have legitimately been allocated to

    the PWD. It is however, seen that the entire

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    work of design construction and

    supervision was entrusted to the Transport

    Department which had no technical

    expertise or experience in taking up this

    kind of work.

    Cabinets approval was obtained for

    assigning the entire work relating to

    implementation of the BRT corridor by

    DIMTS on payment of consultancy fee of Rs.

    1.50 crore, out of which a sum of Rs. 44.97

    lakh has been paid as of June 2008 for

    monitoring /supervision of the BRT

    corridor. Rs. 6 crore were to be paid to

    RITES and Rs. 1.50 crore were to be paid to

    DIMTS.During the test check of records for

    construction of above HCBS corridor, it has

    been observed that an amount of Rs. 45.33

    crore approved in the Expenditure Finance

    Committee (EFC) in its meeting was

    withdrawn by the Transport Department

    and kept in fixed deposit. That same amount

    was released to the concerned agencies i.e.

    Rs. 15 crore to RITES and Rs.30.33 crore to

    DIMTS. Thus, the amount was withdrawn toavoid lapse of budget.

    Rs. 30 crore as revolving fund was

    sanctioned and payment was made to RITES

    in November 2006. There is no enabling

    provision in General Financial Rules to

    empower State Government to advance

    crore of Rupees to a Public Sector

    undertaking for maintaining a revolving

    fund, thus keeping large funds out of

    Consolidated Fund.

    Out of Rs. 100.33 crore released to DIMTS

    during October 2006 to October 2007, it

    released only Rs. 48 crore during August

    2007 to May 2008. Funds ranging from Rs.

    10 crore to Rs. 90.33 crore were lying with

    DIMTS for the period ranging from 7 days to

    7 months 2 days in excess of the

    requirement. Even if the DIMTS had kept

    the spare funds in saving account it couldhave earned interest of Rs. 2.32 crore.

    In the first phase, when Chief Minister

    Sheila Dikshit presided over an Expenditure

    and Finance Committee (EFC) meeting to

    clear escalations in the cost of the Bus Rapid

    Transit Corridor (BRTC) pilot project from

    Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate she found

    that due to escalation the cost of the BRT

    pilot project has risen from Rs 216 crore to

    Rs 361 crore. Then the consultants for BRT

    project DIMTS and RITES had put up an

    additional demand of Rs 119 crore for extra

    infrastructure on the Ambedkar Nagar-

    Delhi Gate corridor in October 2008.

    Strangely, the cost escalation increased to

    Rs 145 crore in March 2009 from Rs 119crore in October 2008 even as prices of

    steel and cement came down.

    Transport Department had sought an

    additional amount of Rs. 54 crore to build

    more parking space and foot-over bridges

    in the second phase of the project and eight

    foot over bridges will be coming up on the

    stretch of which five will be built at bus

    stops and three will built at other crossings.

    Recently the EFC (Expenditure Finance

    Committee) of GNCTD has cleared the

    proposal for undertaking six BRT Corridors

    at a total cost of Rs. 1819.10 crore.

    Execution of the Project will begin on

    clearance of the proposal by the Cabinet of

    GNCTD.

    Regulatory Environment

    Corridor Manager has an internal dedicated

    team of senior officers to manage the

    operation on a day to day basis. The

    company has also established an

    Operational Control Centre (OCC) at

    Kashmere Gate and one camp office at DTC

    Khanpur Depot to monitor the daily

    progress. Regular monitoring schedules to

    track operational details are put in place.

    The company has also engaged different

    third-party service providers to meetspecific requirements. As on date, 180 road

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    marshals are deployed on the corridor in

    two shifts. Road Marshals guide bus

    passengers, help children and old age

    people to cross the road, manage traffic,

    instruct people to follow traffic rules and

    perform other corridor management

    activities.

    The company has also deployed security

    guards at the Bus platforms on 24 hrs basis.

    Corridor Manager has also hired one crane

    to remove disabled vehicles from the

    corridor. Since April 2008, on an average 3

    vehicles break down on the corridor each

    day and all disabled vehicles including

    buses are removed in about 10 minutesresponse time.

    SWOT ANALYSIS

    STRENGTHS

    Bus only, right-of way

    The main feature of a BRT system is having

    dedicated bus lanes which operate separate

    from all other traffic modes. This allows

    buses to operate at a very high level ofreliability since only professional motorists

    are allowed on the bus way. A side benefit

    of this are lower construction costs since

    bus ways can be engineered to tighter

    standards and still remain safe compared to

    a roadway open to nonprofessional drivers.

    However, the biggest benefit of this corridor

    will turn out to be uninterrupted traffic flow

    because of the segregated bus lanes in the

    centre of the Road. What has been the real

    cause of traffic jams is the mix of vehicles

    being driven on different speeds with

    different routes to follow. But now its all

    going to be specific for all range of vehicles.

    Level boarding:

    Many BRT systems also use low floor buses

    (or high level platforms with high floor

    buses) to speed up passenger boarding and

    enhance accessibility. It has been observedthat it is very difficult for the women, senior

    citizens and the physically challenged

    people to board the buses because of their

    stairs being at certain height, But corridor

    comes to its rescue in a way that the height

    of the platforms has been matched to that of

    the floor of the buses, so that passengers

    from all ranges can travel comfortably. Not

    only the Boarding and landing will be eased

    up but also the accidents or the injury ratio

    will come down dramatically. It will

    increase the speed with which passengers

    can board and come out so saving the time

    of both, themselves and the bus as well and

    it might be able to take one more round on

    the day on an average term.

    Saves Time and Money

    As BRT intends to provide a service that is

    of a higher speed than an ordinary bus line,

    it is obvious that it will save a lot of time of

    the commuters. As observed it used to take

    somewhere around 35-45 minutes for

    crossing area ambedkar nagar to delhi gate

    but now after corridor it takes only 25-30

    minutes which will further lessen after

    some improvements in the structure. Apartfrom this as the people reach home early it

    directly saves there fuel and thereby money.

    It is assumed that cars takes anything less

    than half the time taken by the bus to cover

    the same distance, but in these corridors

    there would largely remain any difference

    in time taken to reach same destination. So

    it will also increase the customer base and

    the number of person using public

    transport will be on a roll and thus it wouldfurther reduce traffic on the roads and thus

    bringing further efficiency.

    Environmental Quality

    Documentation of the environmental

    impacts of BRT systems is rare. Experience

    does show that there is improvement to

    environmental quality due to a number of

    factors. Ridership gains suggest that some

    former automobile users are using transitas a result of BRT implementation. Transit

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    agencies are serving passengers with fewer

    hours of operation, potential reducing

    emissions. Most importantly, transit

    agencies are adopting vehicles with

    alternative fuels, propulsion systems, and

    pollutant emissions controls.

    Operating Cost Efficiency

    BRT systems are able to introduce higher

    operating efficiency and service

    productivity into for transit systems that

    incorporate them. Experience shows that

    when BRT is introduced into corridors and

    passengers are allowed to choose BRT

    service, corridor performance indicators

    (such as passengers per revenue hour,subsidy per passenger mile, and subsidy per

    passenger) improve. Furthermore, travel

    time savings and higher reliability enables

    transit agencies to operate more vehicle

    miles of service from each vehicle hour

    operated.

    Reduction in Accidental Rate

    This corridor is an answer to killer line or

    the blue line. The reasons for so manyaccidents taking place on the roads with the

    buses was the merging of different sorts of

    traffics and the crowdedness. But corridors

    comes to the rescue in a way that now it will

    be separate lane for the buses and separate

    for other motor vehicles like bikes, scooters,

    cars, etc. it is expected that it will lower

    down the accidental rates dramatically.

    Now it is also that slow moving vehicles like

    bicycles, rikshaws, bullock carts,pedestrians can all move in their respective

    lanes without feeling the threat of those

    over speeding cars and bulky buses and

    trucks. They can move on as per their

    convenience and on their own speed. Also it

    will not interrupt further traffic and thus

    would not become the cause of traffic jams

    thereof.

    Urban Rejuvenation

    Once these corridors are made in any city, it

    definitely adds up to its infrastructural

    values and its level of urbanization. The

    flaunting of these corridors makes city look

    descent, disciplined, and stable as well. As

    the flyovers and underpasses adds up to its

    credentials, same way BRT corridors do but

    at higher rates even. The city definitely

    becomes the talk of the day and also it is

    been appreciated by the local commuters,

    national tourists and commuters and finally

    by international tourists.

    Capital Cost Effectiveness

    BRT demonstrates relatively low capital

    costs per mile of investment. It is worthnoting, however, that recently implemented

    BRT systems have focused on less capital-intensive investments. More capital

    intensive investments will begin service in

    the next few years. Depending on theoperating environment, BRT systems are

    able to achieve service quality

    improvements (such as travel time savings

    of 15 to 25 percent and increases inreliability) and ridership gains that

    compare favourably to the capital costs and

    the short amount of time to implement BRT

    systems. Furthermore, BRT systems areable to operate with lower ratios of vehicles

    compared to total passengers.

    WEAKNESSES

    Scarcity of Space

    The biggest of the weakness of this BRT

    corridor is the limitation on the part of

    availability of space to construct thisCorridor. Well successful implementation of

    this corridor, separate lanes have to be

    constructed for the high capacity buses, for

    different motor vehicles and also a different

    lane for slow moving vehicles and the

    pedestrians as well. It means that a total of

    4 lanes are mandatory on each side of the

    road. Moreover motor vehicle would

    individually demand two adjacent lanes

    looking at heavy traffic of this type. Becauseof this deficiency, traffic jam problem could

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    not arrive at a solution, and rather problem

    has actually stiffened due to reason that

    thousands of light motor vehicles travels

    every hour which needs more space. So non

    performance space management has

    become its most severe weakness. Most of

    the roads of Delhi are just 12-15 metre

    wide, which are half of the requirements. To

    make shelters also a lot of space will be

    required which further needs expansion of

    roads.

    Safety Compromised

    In order to meet the deadlines of common

    wealth games, Delhis safety were

    compromised. Even Geneva basedInternational Road Federation has

    expressed concern at the safety and

    feasibility of this corridor and called for its

    immediate stacking. Latest example of this

    negligence is the crater on the BRT Corridor

    pathway which states that these corridors

    are constructed without prior testing of

    roads. The compatibility of the current

    roads is not checked to ensure further

    construction on them, which results inaccidents and injuries only and even deaths

    sometimes. Since October 2007 to February

    2008, there have been 12 major accidents

    with 4 of them leading to death.

    Lack of Proper Planning:

    Lack of efficient planning made the BRT

    come across hard situation. If this corridor

    would have been planned properly keeping

    in mind all the parameters affecting it, itmight result into a benefit for the city.

    Planning with respect to how to go about it,

    in which areas to make it and what should

    be the components, so that the things

    happens to be as per the requirements of

    the city. Planning should have been given

    the edge over just the implementation part

    as it has been emphasized upon by the Delhi

    Metro Rail Corporation.

    Lack of technical knowledge: just by

    copying the western countries, Corridor has

    been made in Delhi as well, but the reason

    for its turmoil is the lack of technical

    knowledge as to how to proceed for these

    corridors, without going into research work

    with respect to whether Delhi needs it at

    the moment. Just copying is not going to

    benefit, it is also mandatory to know

    whether it is required or not. Moreover the

    structures which are created outside India,

    in countries like America, Europe etc. are

    way ahead advanced with latest

    technologies which are installed in them.

    Also before creating, they also see to

    requirements of broadening the road width,

    which was absent in the case of Indian

    roads to a large extent.

    Design Issues

    Delhi BRT System allocates space on an

    equitable basis for all types of vehicles like

    motorized vehicles, non-motorized vehicles

    and buses. However, the introduction of the

    pilot project led to significant traffic

    problems, i.e. mainly congestion and

    queuing at the junctions in motorized

    vehicle lane. It has been observed that in thepeak hours there are some delays and

    congestion at some locations that are most

    notable at Chirag Delhi. However, the

    problem does extend to other junctions as

    well.

    The junctions holding capacity is less when

    compared to number of vehicles on the

    corridor.

    Moreover, the presence of large populationof two-wheelers owners further

    complicates the situation at all junctions.

    Due to heavy traffic flow, certain features

    need modification in road curvature, islands

    at lane exits and bus platform features.

    Low Frequency

    DTC buses are plying on four key routes,

    covering the BRT Corridor. Corridor

    Manager is compiling bus operation data ona daily basis. It has been observed that the

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    frequency of buses is almost half in the

    evening. The company has made repeated

    request to DTC to introduce more buses on

    these routes, as buses are very crowded in

    the evening.

    Untrained Drivers

    The bus operation is very inefficient.

    Corridor Manager has trained more than

    200 DTC drivers to drive buses with a view

    to ensure the greater discipline in Bus Lane.

    However, in DTC, buses, route numbers are

    not matched with Drivers on a stable basis,

    i.e. drivers are frequently changed on

    different routes. As a result, it has been

    observed that very often many un-traineddrivers are driving buses in the corridor.

    Slow Speed

    Currently, all types of buses are allowed to

    use the Bus lane, including many

    deteriorated buses and RTVs, which cause

    frequent breakdowns. Only newer buses

    meeting quality and maintenance standards

    should be allowed. It is also found that blue

    line buses sometimes linger at the busstops. As a result, sometimes passengers

    board and alight before the bus platform.

    Traffic Signals

    Current traffic signals fail to discharge the

    traffic at peak hour, as traffic flow is not

    stable and creates a long queue of cars in

    motorized vehicle lane as well as the bus

    Lane. Currently, static traffic signal system

    is installed at BRT corridor, and on manytimes it is restored to manual operations of

    the signals. However, the manual control of

    signals is incompatible with efficient

    operations. Manual control tends to operate

    one phase at a time which is inefficient.

    Manual and automatic systems have

    conflicting/dangerous signal phases, thus,

    switching system from automatic to manual

    and vice-versa can be dangerous. Sometime,

    long cycle time, i.e. more than 240 secondscycle and unsaturated phases add to

    inefficient operation. There is a need to

    install Intelligent Transport Signalling

    System to automate the whole process.

    Supporting Infrastructure

    BRT system cannot be developed in

    isolation. The agency needs to develop the

    supporting infrastructure to make BRT

    successful and popular. There is need to

    develop the supporting infrastructure.

    Parking facility

    There should be a parking facility at key

    intersections or interchange points. The

    parking facility will enable the commuters

    to park their private vehicles and board bus

    to reach their destination. The parking

    facility has subsequently been built up to

    ease some of the congestion.

    Foot over Bridges (FOB) / Subway

    Most of the people raised question about

    the pedestrian crossing facility. Experts

    have observed that at grade pedestrian

    crossing on BRT Corridor is fine andnormal. Moreover, pedestrian facilities at

    BRT Corridor have set a new high standard

    for BRT, with tactile tiles facility for visibly-

    disabled. However, current corridor lies in a

    high density area, dividing a community.

    Thus, there is need to build FOBs or

    subways at certain points to facilitate the

    crossing. Currently, jaywalking is emerged

    as the most critical issue for the Corridor

    Manager. Since April 2008, five fatal roadaccidents have occurred at the corridor.

    Jaywalking can be identified as one of

    common factor for these accidents.

    Traffic Discipline

    One of the key requirements of a successful

    BRT System is lane discipline among the

    commuters. Lane discipline on BRT requires

    users to drive in their respective lane only.

    Damage to structures by errant drivers isalso a problem area. Corridor Manager is

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    compiling the daily list of vehicles entering

    the Bus lane. Further, a large number of

    vehicles, mainly scooters and motor cycles

    are entering into the cycle and pedestrian

    lane.

    Corridor Manager is not authorized to

    penalize the vehicles violated the traffic

    laws and lane discipline. The enforcement

    power is still vested with STA (state

    transport authority) and Delhi Traffic

    Police. Both the agency are already

    grappling with the shortage of manpower,

    thus enforcement mechanism is very weak.

    Damage to structures

    BRT infrastructure mainly BQS, railing,

    barriers, and traffic signal poles, street

    lights etc. are prone to accident. A large

    number of accidents were reported in last

    five months, resulting in damage to

    property by errant drivers. In the absence

    of any stringent laws, the cost of rebuilding

    or reinstalling the street furniture needs to

    be borne by GNCTD and the operating

    agency and expenses on this account keep

    mounting.

    OPPORTUNITIES

    Bus priority/Bus Lanes

    Preferential treatment of buses at

    intersections can involve the extension of

    green time or actuation of the green light at

    signalized intersections upon detection of

    an approaching bus. Intersection priority

    can be particularly helpful whenimplemented in conjunction with bus lanes

    or streets, because general purpose traffic

    does not intervene between buses and

    traffic. Large green signals would allow

    passing of traffics quickly.

    Off-bus fare collection

    Conventional on board fare collection slows

    the boarding process, particularly when a

    variety of fares are collected for differentdestinations and/or classes of passengers.

    An alternative would be the collection of

    fares upon entering an enclosed bus station

    or shelter area prior to bus arrivals (similar

    to fare collection at a kiosk prior to entering

    a subway system). This system would allow

    passengers to board through all doors of a

    stopped bus.

    Increased capacity (bi-articulated or

    double decker)

    Another benefit of this corridor is that now

    it is possible to run high capacity buses

    normally called as double decker. Earlier it

    was difficult to run these buses because of

    limitation of space with respect to clear

    width and height as well, but this BRTcorridor takes care of all issues and is

    created in a way that nothing can stop them,

    no pole, no wire to interrupt etc.

    Serves a diverse market with high-

    frequency all day service

    A BRT network with comprehensive

    coverage can serve a diverse market (all

    income ranges) by moving people from

    their current location to their destinationwith high frequency and reliability while

    maintaining a high level of customer

    experience.

    THREATS

    Road Congestion:

    The biggest threat to the existence of the

    BRT corridor is the congested roads not in

    the context of traffic but with respect to

    width which is not sufficient on most of the

    roads for segregation. If we segregate the

    road for the buses and the other vehicles,

    the problem is that buses would be able to

    move swiftly but the problem will be for

    thousands of other vehicles which will have

    to use area which is less than earlier. The

    frequency of buses is just 10% of that of

    other vehicles, so it is totally unfair that

    both kinds of vehicles use same space when

    the difference in their frequencies is almost

    8-10 times. However the widening of roads

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    could have been an ideal solution of this

    problem, but the difficulty in implementing

    this is that there is not enough space

    available along both the sides to expand the

    road width. Availability of service lanes can

    be helpful, but they are not that wide at

    every road and even at some points they do

    not even exist.

    Failure of First Stretch:

    The stretch from Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi

    Gate has been a big failure which increases

    the odds against the corridor. If this

    corridor would have been an success then

    there not have been anybody opposing it.

    But the problems, which came into limelightafter its construction, have posed a threat to

    its future. To evade from this threat, the

    government will have to consider each and

    every problem, their causes and the

    probable solutions so that it comes to the

    rescue of the Delhi commuters.

    CONCLUSION

    The current not-so-successful story of BRTS

    corridor can be explained by lack of properplanning before implementing it. The

    technical knowhow of the BRTS system

    from western countries has been just

    copied over to Delhi without the

    modification required to make it successful

    in India. To make the system successful,

    stress has to be made on the supporting

    infrastructure. Also, a proper regulatory

    environment is needed to enforce rules and

    regulations where needed.

    RECOMMENDATION

    BRT Regulation Act

    Before introducing the next BRT corridor,

    the agency should enact a special regulation

    Act. The act may help to address some key

    issues like traffic violation, property

    damage, jaywalking etc. In the absence of

    any regulation, coordination among

    different agency becomes difficult.

    Regulation can infer enforcement power to

    the operating agency on the BRT Corridor,

    enabling them to ensure strict lanediscipline. Secondly, any vehicle causing

    damage to the road inventory can be easily

    penalized under the act. Most of the other

    countries have enacted a separate BRT

    Regulation Act for smooth functioning of

    the corridor.

    Park and ride facility

    There should be a complete plan for park

    and ride facility, ensuring parking facility at

    key interchange points. Parking facility can

    compensate the feeder services, enabling

    people to use their private vehicles till the

    corridor.

    There is also a need to design a BRT friendly

    Parking policy. Currently, the existing BRT

    corridor is declared as no parking zone

    barring private vehicle owners to park their

    vehicles along the corridor. This gives rise

    to a need to make provision for parking atcertain places near the market, business

    unit etc. abutting the corridor. Thus, the

    operating agency needs to make provision

    for parking facility and integrate the same

    with the BRT corridor.

    Awareness Campaign

    The corridor manager has made efforts in

    the past through familiarisation meet, open

    discussion, blogs, presentations,consultation with RWA etc. This need to be

    strengthens in near future.

    Connection FOB and subways with Bus

    queue Shelters (BQS)

    Pedestrians movement to or from BQS is the

    heart of the middle or side bus lanes

    controversy. The agency needs to look for

    the possibility of connecting FOBs or

    subway directly to the BQS.

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    EXHIBITS

    Exhibit 1: Delhi First BRT Corridor

    Exhibit 2: Population per sq Km across Cities in the world

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    Exhibit 3: Road Space as a percentage of Total Area

    Exhibit 4: Total no of Vehicles registered per day in Delhi

    Exhibit 5: BRTS Structure in Delhi

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    Exhibit 6: BRTS Components in Various cities across the world.

    Exhibit 7: Abbreviations

    BRTS: Bus Rapid Transit System

    GNCTD: Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi

    DTC: Delhi Transport Corporation

    SIAM: Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers

    IDFC: Infrastructure Development Finance Company

    IIT Delhi: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

    RITES: Rail India Technical and Economic Services

    TRIPP: Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme

    DIMTS: Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System

    EFC: Expenditure Finance Committee

    PWD: Public Works Department

    STA: State Transport Authority

    DTP: Delhi Traffic Police

    OCC: Operational Control Centre

    MV: Motor Vehicle

    NMV: Non Motor Vehicle

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    REFERENCES:

    1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Bus_Rapid_Transit_System

    2. http://www.dimts.in/road.html

    3. http://www.rites.com/web/index.php

    4. http://www.skyscrapercity.com/