BRT a failure in New Delhi

[W. K. Lis]

From expressindia.com article:

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on urban transport said on Tuesday that despite the “potential benefits of BRTSâ€, the Bus Rapid Transit System BRTS has been a failure in the Capital.

The Standing Committee report says that in view of the city’s experience, the Delhi government should “abandon the other five BRT corridors as approved earlierâ€. Instead, the government should strengthen the Delhi Metro rail service with a strong feeder bus network, covering all bus networks in the city, the expert panel suggests.

The Standing Committee report says, “If the mass transportation is improved integrating MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) and feeder bus service with high reliability, good frequency of service and easy accessibility, personalised vehicle users will no doubt switch over to public transport system.†Such a switchover among car-users, the report says, has been seen in New York, Toronto and London, “where the public transport system is very predominantâ€.

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 plannedâ€. Result: pedestrians have to walk comparatively longer distances to cross the corridor, the report says.

 

[Hipster Duck]

This sounds like less of a failure of BRT - a tehnology with a proven track record of success - and more a failure of Indian planning.

Besides, what is this doing in the Transportation & Infrastructure section of the UrbanToronto forum?

 

[TOareaFan]

This sounds like less of a failure of BRT - a tehnology with a proven track record of success - and more a failure of Indian planning.

Besides, what is this doing in the Transportation & Infrastructure section of the UrbanToronto forum?

I think it is a valid post....with, perhaps, the poster putting some context around it. For example, if he had posted it and discussed how he was opposed to BRT as a transit alternative and disucssed how he felt the Delhi experience proved that.

There are lots of posts throughout the Transportation & Infrastructure section of the UrbanToronto forum where people post positive experiences from other areas and use it as support for their opinion on why we should adopt modes/technologies.....no?

There is a whole thread that started from the words "There's a great article in Saturday's Globe about cities around the world banning cars full or part time from their cores. The revolution has begun."

 

[isittimetomoveyet]

This sounds like less of a failure of BRT - a tehnology with a proven track record of success - and more a failure of Indian planning.

Besides, what is this doing in the Transportation & Infrastructure section of the UrbanToronto forum?

Agree with 100% of your first statement.

But on your second, I think it is relevant. Many people on these forums talk about BRT vs LRT... this is one lesson that should help guide us in our own planning, to avoid these kinds of mistakes. That would be of course if we controlled the decision making!

 

[urbanfan89]

Here's a picture of the BRT:

 

[Jayomatic]

^ could be fun in the winter. I wonder if those guys ever have a teenwolf moment riding on top like that.

 

[afransen]

Sounds like they used BRT when the corridor demanded higher capacity. BRT makes sense in a lot of places, but I doubt New Delhi is one of them.

 

[CDL.TO]

In Delhi, what side of the BRT issue you're on seems to correlate directly with whether you ride the bus or you drive. There's also reason to believe that the urban railway operator is fanning the flames of discontent.

There's a bunch of videos of the BRT on YouTube. Check them out!

 

[wyliepoon]

The Standing Committee report says, “If the mass transportation is improved integrating MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) and feeder bus service with high reliability, good frequency of service and easy accessibility, personalised vehicle users will no doubt switch over to public transport system.†Such a switchover among car-users, the report says, has been seen in New York, Toronto and London, “where the public transport system is very predominantâ€.

Hey, Toronto got mentioned in the article (along with NY and London- when do you ever see that?). It should definitely stay in this section.

The article does have some things that are interesting and relevant to Toronto. For example their plan to introduce a "feeder bus network" to their subway network- something that we Torontonians often take for granted.

The article also mentioned how the BRT was built without giving back space on the street to cars. That observation is quite relevant to Toronto considering that we might have the same problem if Transit City becomes reality. I can certainly see some Indian-style bottlenecks if the Sheppard LRT gets built, such as at Kennedy and Markham Road.

 

[Hipster Duck]

The article also mentioned how the BRT was built without giving back space on the street to cars. That observation is quite relevant to Toronto considering that we might have the same problem if Transit City becomes reality. I can certainly see some Indian-style bottlenecks if the Sheppard LRT gets built, such as at Kennedy and Markham Road.

A lot of it has to do with the driving culture. I'm neither a traffic engineer, nor have I been to India, but I would guess that the extremely mixed traffic (to say the least!) and general disobedience of traffic rules and rights of way. IT probably made this more of a headache in Delhi than it would in other developing countries, especially in Latin America where BRTs have been extremely successful in every city that they have been implemented.

Sounds like they used BRT when the corridor demanded higher capacity. BRT makes sense in a lot of places, but I doubt New Delhi is one of them.

Afransen, you'd be surprised by a BRT's capacity. Porto Alegre's busway handles 26,000 passengers/hour; the Bogota TransMilenio carries more passengers on its two trunk routes (1.5 million/day) than the entire TTC system. Many people - especially in Toronto - believe that there is this hierarchy to transportation modes where a subway invariably carries more people than an LRT which invariably carries more people than a BRT, and so on. The mode choice, however, should suit the context of the travel patterns. I like bus rapid transit and routinely defend it when it's put down, but I admit there are many places where it would be totally unsuitable: BRT is lousy in a downtown setting, and generally is not good for short haul trips. Again, the importance of context is something that Toronto transit "advocates" don't seem to understand, which is why LRT is proposed for everything from Cherry street in the distillery district to Malvern.

 

[wyliepoon]

you'd be surprised by a BRT's capacity. Porto Alegre's busway handles 26,000 passengers/hour; the Bogota TransMilenio carries more passengers on its two trunk routes (1.5 million/day) than the entire TTC system. Many people - especially in Toronto - believe that there is this hierarchy to transportation modes where a subway invariably carries more people than an LRT which invariably carries more people than a BRT, and so on.

Very true. In Toronto (and many cities in North America) BRT is seen more as a glorified regular/express bus route, with ticket vending machines, next vehicle info screens, designer buses (Van Hool, etc.) and route maps that look like subway maps, but in pretty much every other way is a normal bus route.

Compare this to the layout of many Latin American BRTs, which function more as a poor man's metro system. They have the dedicated bus lanes and the subway-like platforms complete with platform screen doors and turnstiles that most North American systems lack.

Curitiba, Brazil

Bogota, Colombia

Mexico City

Here are some googled photos of Delhi's system. I like the contrast between the almost empty bus lanes vs. the congested lanes for regular vehicles. Maybe Viva could use some of these photos for its promotional material.

 

[afransen]

My concern with BRT is what happens to it on a day like today in our climate. Or do you suggest a much higher level of snow removal than is typical for our roads?

 

[CDL.TO]

My concern with BRT is what happens to it on a day like today in our climate. Or do you suggest a much higher level of snow removal than is typical for our roads?

I don't get what you're saying. Buses in Toronto run on typical roads with typical levels of snow removal and still manage to operate. Why would they need extra snow removal if they ran in their own lanes?

 

[afransen]

Because the whole system would be crippled on a day like today if you're trying to run tight headways and rapid service. Unless the R in BRT is not important.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

I bet most of the criticism lodged against BRT is based on capacity figures that assume buses run 'single file' along bus lanes and do not pass each other. Assuming stations/platforms are big enough to handle multiple buses, you can ramp up capacity quite easily and reduce the real headways.

Because the whole system would be crippled on a day like today if you're trying to run tight headways and rapid service. Unless the R in BRT is not important.

We're talking about the TTC, of course the R isn't important...