Latest News:
What Indians worry about most? The air we breathe
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/what-makes-indians-worry-most-its-the-air-we-breathe/66447-3.html
Pollution, India's biggest bother
http://ibnlive.com/news/soe-survey-pollution-indias-biggest-bother--blog/66645-11.html
Yet, Delhi is wailing. Ask me why. No. it is not the shameless double murder at Noida, nor the incessant rains for short durations of time which caused traffic jam due to water logging and flooding, but because the Automobile lobby in India is having a whale of a time, filling up every inche of the roads in Delhi to the extent that the common man has no place to walk or even catch a bus. Writes Sumana Narayanan in Down To Earth May 26, 2008 issue, “On April 21, a small stretch of road in a congested corner of south Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, turned into an epicentre of chaos, confusion and downright indignation. The 5.6 km stretch was where the pilot phase of a public transport system that allows buses to operate on a right of way separated from other traffic, was opened. As vehicles strayed into wrong lanes and cars piled up in long queues for the first few days, the media unleashed relentless criticism, calling the project corridor of chaos, ill-conceived, a blunder and demanding that it be scrapped. Car users and residents’ welfare associations of colonies along the stretch also attacked the new system—Bus Rapid Transit (brt)—aimed at improving traffic flow. It did not ease traffic; instead it caused more traffic snarls, they said. People in cars and riding motorcycles felt road space had been “stolen” from them by creating a separate dedicated lane for busses.”
This is truly against the common man. Not only in Delhi, but across India, majority of the people travel by public transport (mainly buses), bicycle or on foot. In Delhi, the masses follow the same pattern. But due to unruly traffic and no rules whatsoever, the roads are full of cars, busses, cycles and motorcycles, not to mention the occasional pedestrian as well. What can he do, the poor pedestrian? If the pavement which was built for him, is crowded by motorcycles whizzing past and cyclists, where is he to walk? In fact talking of cyclists, many cyclists die on the way and are sometimes not even noticed, because they are on the road and are caught in a hit and run case. Their names you would not read in the Newspaper next day, as the capitol of the country with its pseudo show and lopsided value system, does not consider their lives important enough to mention. But, pushed by relentless crusaders like Sunita Narain, the Govertment is waking up to the need of BRT in Delhi and elsewhere in the country.
Why BRT in Delhi?
Sumana Narayanan writes – “Delhi needs a dedicated bus lane because 60 per cent people in the city travel on buses. With Delhi’s population growing at the rate of 3.85 per year, only a robust public transport can ensure mobility. There is a limit to the number of cars roads can accommodate. Already 21 per cent of Delhi’s area is under roads—a high percentage compared to other cities worldwide.
brt is also a step towards cleaning Delhi’s air. According to the Economic Survey of Delhi, the city had 1.60 million cars and 3.34 million two-wheelers in 2006-07. The number of city buses was only 8,000. Every day, 1,000 vehicles are added to the city’s roads. Where will it lead to? Due to the spurt in cars, Delhi has already squandered its gains from switching to cng. Air pollution levels that had dropped from 140 microgramme per cubic metre (µg/cu m) in 2002 to 100 µg/cu m in 2005 due to the introduction of cng, are again on the rise. In 2007, the pollution level was up at 155 µg/cu m. With increasing traffic jams and rising pollution what choices does Delhi have? Personal vehicles are part of the problem, not solution.”
But Delhi’s commuters are not happy. They are not comfortable to cross three lanes to get to a bus stop.
“People have no lane discipline. Even as this reporter was talking to one of the marshals regulating traffic a man parked his scooter right in front of the marshal, Ajay Kumar Singh, to get some water. When the marshal admonished him, his answer, as he hurried away, was that it was just for a minute. The marshal shrugs, “There is nothing I can do.” The marshals have no power to book anyone. At times they get abused by people for enforcing lane discipline.!”
“Motorcyclists and car users say brt has made traffic snarls longer. Some, however, feel it is good to move buses out of the regular traffic. Pradeep Kumar Yadav, who has been driving an autorickshaw for the past two years, says brt is a good idea. “I don’t agree jams have become worse. The traffic flow is better and it is nice not to have to deal with buses,” he says. But sitting in her chauffeured, air-conditioned Innova, Vineet Bammi is irate. “The idea is terrible. It takes forever to travel down this stretch of road,” she says.”
“Shopkeepers along the brt corridor are not excited either because parking is not allowed on the corridor. This, they think, will affect their business. “Parking is a problem for my customers. They end up parking on the pavement,” says Himanshu Bansal, a stationery shop owner.”
The Scary Story
By 2010, urban India’s population is expected to reach 410 million from 300 million in 2000, which means more cars and motorcycles will be unleashed on the already vehicle-choked roads.
The number of cars in Delhi alone has gone up from 0.7 million in 1997 to 1.6 million in 2007. Infrastructure is just not keeping pace with vehicle growth. Between 1996 and 2006, road length in Delhi increased by 20 per cent, while the number of cars increased by 132 per cent.
Under that threat, the Government is on the right track, both with BRT and Metrorail, we can hope to avert the oncoming disaster in air and traffic, health and the lives of the millions who travel by bus. Or cycle.
“The success of the Delhi brt cannot be judged in a few weeks. It will take time and discipline. One measure will be whether the number of private vehicles on the road reduces. And that won’t happen until various public transit systems are interconnected and parking facilities created for car users, so that they can take the bus. Making public transport score over cars in terms of comfort, speed, accessibility, cost and convenience is a tall order but not impossible. Giving buses a right of way is in everybody’s interest; it frees space for cars, for in unsegregated traffic buses block two lanes.
Urban India has no choice but to board the bus.”
The present piece has been put together using information from Down To Earth, May 26, 2008 issue. Below are the links to the articles.
References:
No Public Transport Down To Earth May 26, 2008 edition
http://cse.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20080531&filename=news&sid=43&sec_id=9
Caravan Disaster
http://cse.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20080531&filename=news&sid=46&page=3&sec_id=9&p=1
Can’t Miss The Bus
http://cse.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20080531&filename=news&sid=48&page=4&sec_id=9&p=1
Act Fast
http://cse.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20080531&filename=news&sid=50&page=5&sec_id=9&p=1
Devil’s Advocate on Ibnlive.com
Karan Thapar Talks to Sunita Narain
'Ratan Tata will be a hero if he made a bus like Nano'
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/ratan-tata-will-be-a-hero-if-he-made-a-bus-like-nano/56973-11.html
Other posts on Environment by me
Environment: A Look At On Road Diesel Danger
http://xebecbooks.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/06/environment-a-look-at-on-road-diesel-danger.htm
On the same subject:
Democracy Rides A Bus By Shantanu Datta
http://shantanudutta.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/05/democracy-rides-a-bus.htm
What’s New:
SHOWING On 7th June, 2008, on CNNIBN, 4 pm IST CSE - Outlook - IBNlive Report of findings of the Nationwide Survey, on how Environment friendly/aware we are.
Check: http://features.ibnlive.com/features/2008/cfesurvey/
Close
Dear Indu,
This is a country with Clowns at the top. And greedy gluttons! I wonder how he proposes to clean that up? Or is this the beginning of his yogic hunger?
Thank you. At least one person feels with me. BRT is a solution for the long run. Across India, the problem is the same - we need to wake up! And in that light, I wonder if Ramdev Baba who wants to join Politics is the right answer for india
Julia
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Hi Julia
As soon as I have read first sentence , I thought of Ramdevji Maharaj. He is teaching us how to breath more oxygen , but are our bodies well equipped to filter the oxygen from this polluted air?
I liked the suggestion of having dedicated lane for the buses , it helps to control those accidents of Blue liners.
By the way even in Hyderabad the increase in number of cars is making the traffic a worst place t travel. I thought Hyderabad is more polluted than any other city in India. Basically we do not have the necessary greenery because of rocky place and shortage water.
Indu
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Dear Aditi,
The point is that we have to find solutions to the sorry state of affairs. We need less and less people to buy cars, even if they can afford it, so that the environment is saved, people are not dying of lung cancer and asthma as they are due to high road pollution. BRt, may not only serve the purpose of quich mass transport, but also serve the above purpose, of having less cars on the roads, in the long run. If you can provide the people with a good alternative, they will take it in the long run. For a city like Delhi with snob value and wierd show business of being seen in cars only, many of the same people have taken to the Metro after its tremendoes success in Delhi. My concerns are with pollution - however and whichever way I want to crack it.
I agree with you on certain grounds that BRT has not been a success here this time round and I agree with you about the initial confusion, vis-a-vis signals, crossings, stops, but I think we can't give up on it totally. We must work on it, further.
As you are aware, despite the Government's lofty promises of taking all deisel busses off the roads, they have done so, only to push SUV manufacturers to push sales in the same period, thereby, getting the air to worse than before CNG state. Most busses, proivately owned Blueline busses, need to be off the roads, even if they have converted to CNG and Delhi Government has not been able to push more of their DTC busses on the roads so far, thereby, allowing auto sales to boom, or pushing people to bring out their cars from their garrages. You see the slip between cup and lip?
Only if the communication systems become faster for the public, without jams, will more people convert to buses. Hence, for the long run, even though it has failed due to lack of proper planning , I would still vote BRT .
Thanks for your comment,
Julia
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Dear Mr Sampath,
In the first ever survey conducted over in Bangalore by the CSE-IBNlive-Outlook Survey, people in Bangalore, despite the heavy traffic have asked for more threes than broader roads in Bangalore:
"The survey found that a whopping 86 per cent of the people want the Government to plant trees, followed by reducing air pollution, providing clean drinking water, cleaning up rivers, collecting and segregating garbage and finally improving public transport.
Wider Roads or More Trees?
Given a choice what would people opt for? Wider roads or for protecting the trees in their city?
Fifty-seven per cent of the people of Bangalore who took part in the survey said that they prefer protection of trees, with only a 14 per cent opting for widening of roads by chopping trees.
In the past one year alone, 1,500 to 2,000 trees have been chopped and if the road widening plan goes ahead, more than 40,000 trees along a 400 km stretch will have to go.
Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's Tree Officer, Shekhar, has little clarity on the figure.
“Roughly more than 700 trees have cut down and we’ve replanted about 70,” says he.
Environmental activist, Leo Saldanha calls it a tree genocide. His PIL to stop the road widening project has been accepted by the Karnataka High Court, but Leo knows that's just the start. He feels that Bangalore needs to revamp its road culture to save the trees.
"The change has to happen from the government," says he.
http://ibnlive.com/news/trees-vs-roads-what-do-bangaloreans-want/66527-11.html
This proves that broader roads are not what people want. In Delhi the roads may be broader than most other parts of the country, but, this has caused more problems. Today, with the rapid increase of cars, pollution levels have reached the pre-CNG times in Delhi. That is why, albeit, the fact, that the BRT system has not taken off successfully in Delhi, it cannot be overhauled. It is absolutely imparative that more people get on to the bus and not buy more cars. This they will do if the mode of communication was to be better in so far as faster and less stressful. I think BRT serves the purpose in the long run.
Thanks for your comment,
Julia
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Dear Julia,
I have to respectfully disagree with the blog's advocacy of the BRT for Delhi. BRT is a nightmare, Ms Sunita Narain needs to do a reality check on the roads of Delhi before giving interviews based on BRT experiences in Bogota or Timbuctoo for that matter. Blind aping does not help. I refuse to be awed, a stinker by any other name remains a stink, it does not become a rose, and BRT stinks....of total mental bankruptcy and ineptitude.
India has a left hand drive system, and buses as per rule book are to ply in the left-most lane, next to the pavement, enabling people to alight and get in and go their way, using the pavement and/or thereafter crossing the road at pedestrian crossings.
What disaster have we done? One, the BRT stretch is in the middle of the road. So, it is not enough that the pedestrian alights from the bus, (s)he necessarily has to cross the heavily trafficked road to get to his/her destination. Ditto for catching the bus. Where does that leave safety for schoolchildren? The physically handicapped?
Second, wishful thinking does not help. Sure, one should improve the public transport system. But, why start with the least of the problems? Are our buses not patronised enough to the satisfaction of urban planners and activists like Sunita Narain only because traffic movement is slow? What about quality and maintainance of buses? Why is it that many middle class people like us have outgrown the habit of travelling by bus, is it not largely because of overcrowded buses, and rash driving ( blue line buses)? The money spent on the BRT could have been spent on upgrading the bus service itself .
Third, at a point of time, how many buses are the road and how much of other traffic plies? The frequency of buses is one tenth of frequency of other traffic. While the BRT stretch is absolutety bereft of traffic for long stretches of time, the other traffic lane assumes the shape of a slow moving serpent. No wonder road rage builds up...it is all so blatantly unplanned!! Merely calling names to the miffed lady in her car just because she does not take the bus does not improve matters.
I suppose anybody who does not ride a bus on the BRT corridor will be a persona non grata for the BRT debate, (the mention of the miffed lady suggested that either you are for the BRT, or you are a non-caring elite!!) Well, in that case, please ask Ms Narain to at least ask the bus commuters themselves, and only those who are either required to catch a bus or get off from the bus anywhere within the corridor ,and the pedestrians who need to cross the BRT, and only then speak to the media.
Regards,
Aditi
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dear julia,
if you compare Delh to the other cities , Delhis roads are the broadest and conducive to fast traffic.. imagine other cities...which are undergoing a growth of more than 7. percent and vehicle grawth of more than 12.5 percent...bangalore raod situation is pathetic.it is beyond redemtion.... cheenai is turning out to be difficult.....
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Dear Raghuram,
You must read at the end the interview with Sunita Narain, by Karan Thapar and you will know what is the ideal bus service suggested by Ms Narian. It can be done only if our well meaning politicians and automakers put their head together to do it. In the mean time, BRT cannot be done away with, as it is one solution towards reducing cars in the long run on roads as we hope Metro has done. In fact it has. But BRT is must - I quote again from DTE -
The city of Bogota, Columbia, is famous for its BRT project. This is one of the first successful BRT models, and the Delhi BRT is based on it. The BRT system in Bogota, TransMilenio, carries over 1,050,000 passengers daily. The first phase of the system became operational in 2000 and is more than 60 km long. TransMilenio is the only public transport system earning carbon credits.
TransMilenio was based on the BRT system in Curitiba, Brazil. Curitiba’s BRT started in the 1960s. Of the 2.7 million people in Curitiba, 1.9 million use BRT. With 70 per cent of commuters using the system Curitiba’s use of the public transport system is the highest of all Brazilian state capitals. As a result, the city’s fuel consumption is 30 per cent lower than in comparable Brazilian cities.
Today the BRT system is being used in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Sydney, Adelaide, Quito (Ecuador) and Leeds (UK). Several other cities are planning to implement the BRT concept.
In India, BRT projects are to come up in Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur, Pune, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Bangalore. Unlike Delhi, most of these projects are being funded by the central government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
Julia
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I live in Delhi and commute more than 50 km every day. I am a vociferous promoter of public transport and I use it maximally, "suffering" inordinate delays (I consider the hardships as the deserved penalty for living in an inconsiderate city) . Yet, I would suggest that BRT should be scrapped. My lament is while even Delhi Metro, with its convenient rides, only marginally expensive, and with access facilitation through feeder bus services do not reduce the public vehicle load on Delhi's roads what use is of such exclusive systems as BRT. The ridership on BRTS with its attendant problems of access to the stops across lanes of reckless driving is never going to relieve the commuting burden to a significant extent, even if the city were to be spider-webbed by BRT. The signalling system adopted for the initial run was pathetic and it is beyond me how it ca be improved.
I have a very hard suggestion. The city should be given a decent publicly owned bus system, no fancy AC and all that, just non-rattling, well-maintained, clean buses that have a notified schedule and the operators follow ALL THE RULES . Along the corridor, the new bus stops (perhaps improved with respect to providing information on routes etc.) should be the norm all over the city, not just in the privileged NDMC areas. On heavily trafficked routes the number of stops for any location have to be increased. If we have to find additional space for bus stops, so be it. The bus stop spaces should be monitored against encrachment (or locate additional areas for petty vendors like water, pan etc.). What I am asking for is a COMPLETE OVERHAUL OF ROAD BASED BUS SYSTEM without any fancy stuff (these are why I called it a hard suggestion). So far I have left out one thing - money, money for the overhaul and maintaining the system. This is the subsidy the government SHOULD GIVE TO THE URBAN AGGLOMERATION AS A WHOLE. The burden cannot be wished away (beyond PPP mode revenue from bus stops).
I know mine is a cry in the widlerness when the focus is on looking fancy. But, I feel that our focus should be on getting back the lost ridership, starting from the lower strata.
Raghuram Ekambaram
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