"It is important to note that Delhi is running out of road space and options," says Bhure Lal.
Bhure Lal and Narain pointed out that Delhi already has 21 per cent of its land area under roads. Between 1996 and 2006 road length increased by 20 per cent but the number of cars went up by 132 per cent. So road space has decreased, not increased.
In 2001, 8.5 km was available per vehicle but by 2007, only 6 km is available per vehicle. This will decrease further as the city adds about 1,000 vehicles each day on its roads. The only option is to make the transition to public transport.
"The BRT corridor will provide space to over 60 per cent of people in Delhi to either travel by bus or bicycle or walk to work. We know that cars take 75 per cent of the road space, but carry just less than 20 per cent of people. It is time we gave the bus its due space on our roads. Also, an improved bus service will certainly attract more commuters," added Narain.
"There is no doubt that there have been problems in its implementation. But that does not mean that we should give up on this big idea. We will have to learn from this experience and do even better in the remaining corridor. We believe that Delhi, which is faced with the same problems across all its roads, has no other option but to turn towards solutions like the BRT system. Like the transition to CNG, which also went through a lot of problems before we got benefit of its gain, this transition will also take time," said Bhure Lal and Narain.
Image: Traffic jam at India Gate!
Photograph: Nicholas Bradley/AFP/Getty Images
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