SPEAK UP: Traffic woes do not cease on BRT corridor even after its demolition

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor has been a perfect example of poor planning and road engineering leading to a traffic mess and being largely accident-prone. The corridor built in 2008 at the cost of Rs 180 crore, ahead of the Commonwealth Games by the Sheila Dikshit government was opposed by experts even then. Years later, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP promised to get rid of the corridor. However, the dismantling work taken up by the Public Works Department under his government has received flak for doing a shoddy job. The AAP government scrapped the corridor at a cost of around Rs 11 crore.

Earlier this week, Delhi LG Anil Baijal sought a detailed report from the Delhi government. The LG wrote to the transport commissioner asking if they followed the laid down procedures in dismantling the corridor.

The 6.13 km stretch from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand in South Delhi, which was initially built to reduce travel time and ease traffic movement, turned out to be a traffic mess instead.

However, post-dismantling, it still remains chaotic. The road has been left uneven at different patches while the turns are not marked, resulting in bottlenecks and choking of traffic.

The area still remains accident-prone in the absence of cautionary signboards. The U-turn for Lajpat Nagar while entering from Moolchand is undefined, making it dangerous for motorists.

EXPERT SPEAK

It was a good move but was badly implemented. Besides, it had problems of design. We should have picked up a design which suited our needs. Its objective was to encourage public transport, which was never achieved. In the absence of an adequate number of buses, the objective of the corridor was defeated. It is even worse now. The only solution to the problem would be to have an efficient public transport system.
Bhure Lal, chairperson, Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA)

The problem is that they have not been able to redevelop the stretch. This indicates poor planning and lack of strategy, as the stretch is full of road engineering problems. They should have ideally hired transport consultants to redesign the stretch as a proper road with signages, lane-marking, defined turns. Sudden U-turns make the are an accident-prone spot reduction in road space leads to bottlenecks.
Prof P K Sarkar, head of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture

VOX POP

Driving has become more convenient after the BRT corridor has been removed. There is more room now for cars as the corridors used to cover a lot of space.

Above that, nobody was following that bus corridor. Now, there is comparatively less traffic. Earlier, people used to enter these corridors without using any indicators.
Mallika Chadha, lawyer

It was the most ill-conceived project taken up by the government. We had opposed the move in 2008 as well. Firstly, the BRT should not have come up on this stretch at all, as this was the broadest road with speeding vehicles, where one cannot have cycle tracks. The experiment should have been done in outer Delhi area. Even after dismantling, the road is far from smooth and totally accident-prone. At least the agencies should have taken up the demolition in a systematic way.
Chetan Sharma, chairman, Federation of GK-II Complex RWAs

My office is located in Gurugram and I travel via the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). I never actually understood the concept of why it was made, as no one follows it. Moreover, the buses stop anywhere and people drive anywhere. The stretch that was supposed to make life simpler is now prone to accidents as bigger cars drive over the low dividers and change lanes.
Arjun Jetley, commuter

BRT was made, then dismantled. The Government then said it would be back to how it was. But the road conditions are pathetic. By the looks of it, it seems as though the road is going nowhere. Moreover, the bus stand is a place where buses are least visible. The so-called Rapid corridor is not rapid and we do face traffic snarls.
Udit Kwatra, commuter

The corridor has been a pain ever since it was built. A single commute on the stretch is enough to tell you what a shoddy job of dismantling the government has done. The road is uneven everywhere, while the turns do not have cautionary signs.
J R Gupta, Resident of Safdarjung enclave