A detailed project report is likely to be commissioned soon to explore the feasibility of designing dedicated lanes for a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on a small pilot stretch of Rajiv Gandhi Salai.
With the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority agreeing in principle to look at BRT corridors in various parts of the city, following an inter-departmental meeting last week, the more than 56 lakh daily users of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses can look forward to a comfortable ride at least along a few stretches.
Transport Secretary Rameshram Mishra said that apart from Rajiv Gandhi Salai, a stretch between Poonamallee and Madhavaram is also being considered for introduction of a BRTS. “Currently, cars take up to 70 per cent of the road space even though they constitute only a small segment of the city's average daily trips. It is time to move towards a more equitable distribution of space on the road and giving priority to buses is one such step,” he added.
Integrating the BRTS with upcoming Metro stations in Guindy and Saidapet are also being considered.
A senior Metro Rail official said that operating a BRTS in tandem with the Metro on complimentary routes will be beneficial for both the systems.
The official added the since the Metro is concentrating on north-south corridors, BRT systems must be developed as horizontal mass transit connections.
The Chennai Comprehensive Transportation Study (CCTS) envisages 84-km of BRT in the city by 2026.
H.M. Shivanand Swamy, executive director of the Centre for Excellence in Urban Planning at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, and Chief Planner of the Ahmedabad BRT, says that since the number of private vehicles in Chennai has rapidly increased, congestion is making bus operation unviable.
According to the CCTS, the level of congestion on arterial roads has increased eight-fold between 1984 and 2008. The average volume carried by Anna Salai is three times the capacity of vehicles it can take per day.
Journey speeds on roads such as P.H. Road, Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Anna Salai halved between 1992 and 2008, effectively doubling the time spent on the road to cover the same distance. Since the MTC fleet has also not expanded adequately leading to over-crowding in many buses, public transport users are increasingly spending longer hours in crammed environments to reach their destination.
“While the speed of a bus in mixed traffic is 16 km/hr, this can go up to 27 km/hr on a dedicated lane, which is comparable to the speed of a Metro train,” says Mr.Swamy. According to him, there is also clear evidence that people will shift to a faster-moving bus. The monthly surveys on the Ahmedabad BRT line have shown that 50 per cent of the BRT commuters were earlier using private vehicles.
Independent studies show that users of the Ahmedabad BRT save up to 70 per cent travel time and 50 per cent conveyance cost.
Dinesh Mohan, transportation professor at IIT-Delhi, says that while most cities have concentrated on building Metro systems, any rail system (underground or elevated) has a minimum door-to-door trip time of about twenty minutes.
“Walking is faster than using the Metro for distances of 1-2 km, bicycling is faster for distances of 3-4 km and a BRT gives lower travel times than the Metro for distances less than 6 km. Besides, a bus system is also cheaper as 30 km of BRT can be constructed for the same cost as every km of Metro,” he adds.
