Traffic cops out to enforce BRT lane discipline

The Delhi Traffic Police wants to put in place a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)-like system on all the arterial roads in the Capital. To ensure that the lanes are used by the public transport buses, the Delhi Traffic Police has started penalising the violators during the peak traffic hours.

According to senior traffic police officials, if buses strictly follow the lane discipline, it would also ensure that other modes of vehicle do not enter the bus lanes. “Buses plying in the city are often found moving on other lanes. They are often found driving on the central lane and even the lane closer to central verge.

With the buses moving in such manner, other vehicles are forced to move to the bus lane. If the buses ply on the bus lanes then other vehicles would not enter the bus lanes unnecessarily,” the official said.

Traffic police have already started an intensive drive and prosecuting buses moving to other lanes, especially during the peak hours. Officials said all kinds of buses including DTC, chartered buses, contract carriage and roadways buses are being penalised for lane violation. Challans are being issued to them. “We are checking at different locations randomly since Monday. On an average, around 200 buses are penalised daily,” the official added.

Initially, traffic cops are tragetting important arterial roads like Mathura Road, Subramaniam Bharti Marg, Sradar Patel Marg, Aurobindo Marg, Najafgarh Road, Ring Road to enforce the bus lane discipline. “Movement of buses in the bus lanes would also ensure that buses do not create traffic hurdles near the bus stops,” The traffic police has written to agencies (PWD, civic bodies) to esnure that the bus lanes and other traffic signages at the traffic intersections are properly marked. “We have requested the agencies to paint the bus lanes and other signages with thermoplastic paints in order to make them more durable and luminous. We have already shared a list of around 480 locations where the signages need to be repainted,” the official added.