No public transport?

No public transport?

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 systemBus 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 buses.

In this great outcry fact was difficult to separate from fury. To cut through the noise and confusion, one needs to understand the concept of brt. Conventional road planning is geared towards motorized vehicles and caters to their needs by increasing road space and building flyovers and underpasses. But in Indian cities the majority of the people travel by public transport (mainly buses), bicycle or on foot. brt aims at ensuring an equitable sharing of road space and safety by segregating traffic into different lanes depending on their speed and function. Buses, for example, stop regularly for passengers while cars and motorcycles need to keep moving. So a bus that halts, blocks the left lane and causes the vehicles behind it to try and merge with the right lane, thus, slowing down traffic. Also, non-motorized traffic, which prefers to hug the left lane, blocks buses from pulling into the bus stops, so buses just stop in the middle of the road. And amid all this, bus passengers must negotiate traffic to board buses. The results underused or unused road space, slow traffic movement and increased risk for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles.

Moving buses into a separate lane prevents them from coming into conflict with other traffic, so they get a dedicated lane in the centre. Non-motorized vehicles are given a lane on the extreme left since they are vulnerable amid motorized vehicles and tend to slow down motorized vehicles. Further left, the pedestrians have a well-paved, low pavement.

Why BRT?
Delhi needs a dedicated bus lane because 60 per cent people in the city travel on buses. With Delhis 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 Delhis area is under roadsa high percentage compared to other cities worldwide.

brt is also a step towards cleaning Delhis 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 citys 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 (g/cu m) in 2002 to 100 g/cu m in 2005 due to the introduction of cng, are again on the rise. In 2007, the pollution level was up at 155 g/cu m. With increasing traffic jams and rising pollution what choices does Delhi have? Personal vehicles are part of the problem, not solution.

It was to avoid this dead end that Delhi planned a network of brt, metro and monorail.

The Committee on Sustainable Transport headed by the Delhi chief secretary has recommended building 14 brt corridors across the city by 2020. Designed and developed by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (tripp) at iit Delhi, brt is based on the successful Bogota (Columbia) model, TransMilenio, the first to earn carbon credits. Adapting it in India is not uncomplicated. In Pune the first phase of brt became functional in 2006 but has been plagued by problems of enforcement and lane discipline. The situation is somewhat similar in Delhi, where a part of the 19 km brt corridorfrom Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gatehas become functional.

On the ground
Commuters say they are not comfortable crossing three lanes to get to the bus stop. This system is confusing. I find it difficult to cross so many lanes because I am not sure which side the buses and cars are coming from, says Rajesh Kumari, a pharmacist at Batra Hospital who daily takes the brt corridor for work. Rakhi Mallik, a domestic help, agrees that getting to the bus stop is a problem, though she says the bus trip is now faster. The bus stops were placed just before traffic lights because buses anyway have to stop for traffic lights (see box Left, right). This way they dont stop multiple times.

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 dont 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.

Those who commute by bus are happy that the ride down the brt stretch has become smooth and fastsome passengers cheekily wave at the cars as they pass bybut point out that it can do with some improvements. In the heat, they have to walk to the nearest traffic light to get to the bus stop. It is a furnace under the steel bus shelter and there are no seats in it, points out a commuter. The buses dont stop exactly in front of the break in the railings at the bus stop. So people have to squeeze themselves between the railings and the bus. It is dangerous, says a passenger as he boards a bus.

These problems will be fixed, promises the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (dimts), which is in charge of the project. S Sahai, managing director, dimts, says, We are aware of the problems. I agree the shelters are pathetic. We will change them.

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.

People need time to learn the system, says Nathu Lal, a conductor with the Delhi Transport Corporation deputed to regulate buses and commuters at the Pushp Vihar bus stop. As he herds pedestrians towards the pavement leading to the bus stop he says, Look at these people. There is a perfectly good pavement but they insist on walking in the bus lane. He then moves away to scold a young man trying to slip between the bus and the railing. Alam, an engineer, both explains and demonstrates the problem. People dont follow the law. Bikes go on bus lanes, pedestrians cross at will. I think the brt concept is good but people need lane discipline, he says without a hint of consciousness, riding a motorcycle in the bicycle lane.
The Committee on Sustainable Transport headed by the Delhi chief secretary has recommended building 14 brt corridors across the city by 2020. Designed and developed by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (tripp) at iit Delhi, brt is based on the successful Bogota (Columbia) model, TransMilenio, the first to earn carbon credits. Adapting it in India is not uncomplicated. In Pune the first phase of brt became functional in 2006 but has been plagued by problems of enforcement and lane discipline. The situation is somewhat similar in Delhi, where a part of the 19 km brt corridorfrom Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gatehas become functional.

On the ground
Commuters say they are not comfortable crossing three lanes to get to the bus stop. This system is confusing. I find it difficult to cross so many lanes because I am not sure which side the buses and cars are coming from, says Rajesh Kumari, a pharmacist at Batra Hospital who daily takes the brt corridor for work. Rakhi Mallik, a domestic help, agrees that getting to the bus stop is a problem, though she says the bus trip is now faster. The bus stops were placed just before traffic lights because buses anyway have to stop for traffic lights (see box Left, right). This way they dont stop multiple times.

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 dont 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.

Those who commute by bus are happy that the ride down the brt stretch has become smooth and fastsome passengers cheekily wave at the cars as they pass bybut point out that it can do with some improvements. In the heat, they have to walk to the nearest traffic light to get to the bus stop. It is a furnace under the steel bus shelter and there are no seats in it, points out a commuter. The buses dont stop exactly in front of the break in the railings at the bus stop. So people have to squeeze themselves between the railings and the bus. It is dangerous, says a passenger as he boards a bus.

These problems will be fixed, promises the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (dimts), which is in charge of the project. S Sahai, managing director, dimts, says, We are aware of the problems. I agree the shelters are pathetic. We will change them.

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.

People need time to learn the system, says Nathu Lal, a conductor with the Delhi Transport Corporation deputed to regulate buses and commuters at the Pushp Vihar bus stop. As he herds pedestrians towards the pavement leading to the bus stop he says, Look at these people. There is a perfectly good pavement but they insist on walking in the bus lane. He then moves away to scold a young man trying to slip between the bus and the railing. Alam, an engineer, both explains and demonstrates the problem. People dont follow the law. Bikes go on bus lanes, pedestrians cross at will. I think the brt concept is good but people need lane discipline, he says without a hint of consciousness, riding a motorcycle in the bicycle lane.
The Committee on Sustainable Transport headed by the Delhi chief secretary has recommended building 14 brt corridors across the city by 2020. Designed and developed by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (tripp) at iit Delhi, brt is based on the successful Bogota (Columbia) model, TransMilenio, the first to earn carbon credits. Adapting it in India is not uncomplicated. In Pune the first phase of brt became functional in 2006 but has been plagued by problems of enforcement and lane discipline. The situation is somewhat similar in Delhi, where a part of the 19 km brt corridorfrom Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gatehas become functional.

On the ground
Commuters say they are not comfortable crossing three lanes to get to the bus stop. This system is confusing. I find it difficult to cross so many lanes because I am not sure which side the buses and cars are coming from, says Rajesh Kumari, a pharmacist at Batra Hospital who daily takes the brt corridor for work. Rakhi Mallik, a domestic help, agrees that getting to the bus stop is a problem, though she says the bus trip is now faster. The bus stops were placed just before traffic lights because buses anyway have to stop for traffic lights (see box Left, right). This way they dont stop multiple times.

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 dont 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.

Those who commute by bus are happy that the ride down the brt stretch has become smooth and fastsome passengers cheekily wave at the cars as they pass bybut point out that it can do with some improvements. In the heat, they have to walk to the nearest traffic light to get to the bus stop. It is a furnace under the steel bus shelter and there are no seats in it, points out a commuter. The buses dont stop exactly in front of the break in the railings at the bus stop. So people have to squeeze themselves between the railings and the bus. It is dangerous, says a passenger as he boards a bus.

These problems will be fixed, promises the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (dimts), which is in charge of the project. S Sahai, managing director, dimts, says, We are aware of the problems. I agree the shelters are pathetic. We will change them.

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.

People need time to learn the system, says Nathu Lal, a conductor with the Delhi Transport Corporation deputed to regulate buses and commuters at the Pushp Vihar bus stop. As he herds pedestrians towards the pavement leading to the bus stop he says, Look at these people. There is a perfectly good pavement but they insist on walking in the bus lane. He then moves away to scold a young man trying to slip between the bus and the railing. Alam, an engineer, both explains and demonstrates the problem. People dont follow the law. Bikes go on bus lanes, pedestrians cross at will. I think the brt concept is good but people need lane discipline, he says without a hint of consciousness, riding a motorcycle in the bicycle lane.

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Caravan to disaster

Growth in personal vehicles is unsustainable and the cost of congestion too high

Roads in urban India are creaking under the weight of the growing number of vehiclespersonal vehicles, to be precise. Population growth means more people to buy cars and motorcycles; economic growth means more people can buy; and urbanization means more people will buy vehicles. In short, a crisis is at hand. In the developing world, vehicle ownership is growing much faster than the population. In Delhi, for example, the rate of registration of vehicles per day has doubled between 2000 and 2006.

By 2010, urban Indias 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.

Congestion is eased temporarily when roads are widened or flyovers built but as more vehicles are added every day, this space is quickly overtaken and the situation is back to square one. In fact, it is getting worse. In 2001, the road length per vehicle in Delhi was 8.5 km. This has come down to 6 km per vehicle in 2007. So the driving space is actually decreasing. This leads to congestion, slow traffic movement and pollution. Indian cities are already facing this reality; congestion is becoming a routine part of life and air pollution is on the rise.

Misplaced priority
The present situation could have been averted had public transport not been neglected. Public transport services have worsened in terms of comfort, frequency and coverage, hence people are switching to private transport. We care only about ourselves and forget about the greater public good. No one cares about marginalized groups such as pedestrians and bus commuters, says Rakesh Mehta, chief secretary, Delhi. Economic growth and liberalization policies have exacerbated this trend by making it easier and cheaper to buy cars.

Taxes are slashed to please car manufacturers and the upper and the middle class. The road tax buses pay every year is more than the one-time road tax cars and two-wheelers pay. This year the government further reduced the excise duty on cars. Cars also get privileges in terms of cheap parking.

Buses, the most efficient mode of transport, did not get priority despite the fact that they transport more people than cars and motorcycles. In Delhi, personal vehicles represent 94 per cent of total vehicles, but meet only 30 per cent of the travel demand. Since buses transport more people, their per person fuel efficiency is better. Cars consume six times more energy than buses, and two-wheelers, 2.5 times the energy. In terms of road space per person too buses have the upper hand. To move the same number of people, cars occupy 38 times the road space than a bus, and two-wheelers occupy 54 times the space. But where is space? Endless increase in road length is impossible.

Vicious cycle
With the ever increasing number of private vehicles, the clamour to deal with congestion has become louder. The traditional response to congestion has been to widen roads, build flyovers and elevated roads. Every Indian city is on a flyover building spree. Under the 9th and 10th Five Year Plans, over a thousand crore rupees were set aside for bridges and flyovers.

It is now recognized world over that more roads and flyovers are not the solution. It leads to a vicious cycle traffic increases leading to congestion, so roads are widened and that in turn encourages more vehicles to be introduced onto the roads. For every 10 per cent increase in road length, a 9 per cent increase in traffic is seen, estimates Sierra Club, an American environmental organization.

Cost of congestion
Small wonder Indian cities never have enough roads. With every additional vehicle, there is more congestion and emissions. Congestion also runs up the fuel bill. A 1997 study by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association, Delhi, showed that idling vehicles in the city wasted 321,432 litres of petrol and 101,312 litres of diesel every day. At current fuel rates, this costs Rs 1.84 crore a day, enough to build the first brt corridor in Delhi in seven months at Rs 20 crore a km. According to the Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune, congestion costs India Rs 3,000-4,000 crore a year. In Bangkok congestion shaves 6 per cent off its economic production.

Traffic jams cost time as well. The 2007 Urban Mobility Report of the Texas Transportation Institute, us, estimates that congestion made urban Americans travel 4.2 billion hours more and spend an extra 11 billion litres of petrol at the cost of us $78 billion in a year. This is more than 100 times the extra aid the World Food Programme has sought to tide over the global food crisis.

Slow moving vehicles pollute more. At 75 km per hour, an automobile emits 6.4 g of carbon monoxide per km. But at 10 km per hour, the peak hour speed in Delhi, a car spews 33 g of carbon monoxide per km. Peak hour speed in Kolkata is 7 km per hour, a bit like slow cycling. Even a 5 per cent reduction in traffic will increase vehicle speed by at least 10 per cent.

The health cost-respiratory and cardiac problems-is immense. The introduction of congestion tax in London in 2003 has improved the health of its people. The tax is levied on private vehicles entering central London during working hours. A study published in the journal, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, this year stated that due to reduced pollution, 1,888 lives are saved each year in London.

There is yet another cost. Road accidents in India cost the country 1 per cent of its gross national product, according to the Central Institute of Road Transport. Cutting these costs, clearly, requires putting a brake on car growth.

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Cant miss the bus

Public transport is the only answer to congestion and pollution

The present crisis demands new solutions. And the solution is public transport, for space to accommodate cars is limited and cleaner and fuel-efficient technologies defeated by the number of vehicles. The Delhi government is planning to have 120 km of metro, 292 km of brt, and 50 km each of monorail and light rail by 2020. These will be interconnected. We need different modes of transport. In the Walled City, for instance, metro or brt will not work because the roads are not wide enough. There we are going for the light rail system, says Rakesh Mehta, chief secretary, Delhi.

brt is cheaper and quicker to construct as compared to metro. Metro costs Rs 100-300 crore per kilometre, while brt costs Rs 10-20 crore. While Bangalore metro is scheduled to roll out in 2011, I expect it to be ready only by 2015. Its intended coverage is inadequate, says G V Dasarathi, director of applications, Cadem Technologies, member of a network of citizens promoting public transport in Bangalore, Greener Bangalore. The Delhi metro has, however, inspired other cities. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (dmrc) has carried out a feasibility study for a Chennai metro. Ahmedabad and Hyderabad are also developing a metro system. But Kolkata and Delhi metros have not met the projected ridership. The Kolkata metro was to carry about 1.7 million passengers per day but its ridership is only 0.2-0.3 million.

Integrating different public transport systems is crucial to their optimal utilization. We found that only people who live or work near metro stations and those who had cars and could park them were using the metro. We have 100 feeder buses and are going to get 300 more, says Anuj Dayal, public relations officer, dmrc. brt acting as a feeder to metro is a good thing. Metro cant reach everywhere and there is enough demand in Delhi for the two systems.

Meeting this demand will require massive investment. But the benefits of public transport if properly countedhealth and energy and space efficiencywill make it worthwhile. Enhancing energy and emission efficiency will need a younger bus fleet and special provisions like a dedicated bus lane.

Money factor
One challenge with public transport is meeting its operational cost. Revenues come mainly from fares and advertisements, but fares have to be kept low to ensure that more people travel by bus. A few countries levy taxes on cars which are channelled into developing public transport. France asks employers with more than nine employees to pay a transport tax that contributes to public transport operation. Such a tax could be introduced in India, says S K Lohia, director, urban transport, urban development ministry.

London levies a congestion tax on cars to drive into central London. It has now proposed linking the tax to emission levels. This discourages use of personal vehicles. Other possible sources of finance could be differential parking fees for private vehicles during peak and non-peak hours. Parking fares could also be varied depending on the locality and duration of space use. San Francisco, Belgrade and Bogota are some cities with such methods of parking pricing.

Carbon credits
Until recently public transport systems were not considered for the clean development mechanism (cdm). The brt system in Bogota, TransMilenio, is the only public transport system registered for cdm with the un Framework Convention on Climate Change. This makes it earn carbon credits. A new methodology for evaluating brt systems had to be developed when TransMilenio applied for cdm. Emission reductions are calculated taking into consideration upgrade of bus fleet, increased bus capacity, development of infrastructure for better bus operation and incentives for commuters to switch from cars to public transport. TransMilenios estimated revenue from cdm between 2006 and 2012 is us $ 20 million for reducing greenhouse gases by 1.7 million tonnes.

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Act fast

The BRT concept cannot be abandoned

The clock is ticking fast. Roads in Indian cities are getting saturated by vehicles. There is no option but to build a public transport system efficient and attractive enough to replace cars. Therefore, the brt concept cannot be abandoned; it must be improved to make it work. The Delhi government has a few plans like coordinating signals. They will be automated and the signal length will vary during peak and non-peak traffic hours. As for accusations of lack of coordination and cooperation between agencies, the government says the mistake will not be repeated in the next stretch of the brt corridor. The Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System will be in charge of the corridor. So many cities in the country are setting up brt that we cant get the buses as soon as we would like to.The companies, Tata and Ashok Leyland, are getting inundated with orders, says the Delhi chief secretary.

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 wont 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 everybodys interest; it frees space for cars, for in unsegregated traffic buses block two lanes.

Urban India has no choice but to board the bus.