BRTS LONG WAY DOWN THE ROAD…..Ashley DMello
A bus lane network for Mumbai has been in the making for two decades.It seems the status quo will prevail,going by the MMRDAs meagre budgetary allocation
A bus lane network for Mumbai has been in the making for two decades.It seems the status quo will prevail,going by the MMRDAs meagre budgetary allocation
Abus rapid transit system (BRTS ) for the city is not happening anytime soon.In its annual budget,published recently,the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) allocated a piddling amount to the project,which is expected to cost over Rs 1,150 crore.It is evident from this that the authority is not taking the project seriously.
The project entails creating dedicated bus lanes on certain roads.For Mumbai,a BRTS is estimated to bear a passenger load of 25,000 per hour,thus immensely benefiting commuters.Why then is the project not taking off The MMRDA has not given a sound reason.Asked if there is a date by when the authority plans to flag off the project, MMRDA additional commissioner S Srinivas said such a time has not been fixed.But we have spent money on research for the project.
Government agencies have mulled over a BRTS for Mumbai for over two decades,but started taking a keen interest in it only four years ago.The MMRDA conducted trial runs and planned to launch the project on the Western and Eastern Express (EE) highways.
A year ago,a Thane to Dadar route was chalked out for the EEH,but the matter ended there.MMRDA is the planning authority for the project,which delegated responsibility for implementing it to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC),which handed it over to the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST ); work will proceed only when the MMRDA gives approval.
Public transport activist Sudhir Badami said a BRTS would benefit lakhs of people in Mumbai,but is not being given any importance by the government.The government must implement the project immediately to help harried commuters.
Speculating on the reason behind the governments reluctance to start the project,transport planners said it must be afraid of the fallout if the project gets mired in politics,like it did in Delhi.A planner said the government at present wants to concentrate on Metrorail and monorail and once these are complete,it might focus on a BRTS.Also,some of us think Mumbai does not have enough wide roads to create a network of dedicated bus lanes.
Planer Arun Mokashi,who has worked with the World Bank,said that unless a special agency is created to implement the project,it will not take off.
While such debates rage on,the project continues to be in limbo.