FALL IN LANE

FALL IN LANE
By R Krishnakumar & C S Hemanth
Dedicated bus lanes are set for a start in Bangalore. Experts are for the idea, though concerns over implementation remain.

Can’t tackle the traffic? Lane it. The globally-endorsed method has found new takers in the Bangalore Traffic Police Department. After implementing the much-debated dedicated autorickshaw lane system, police are set to replicate the idea with buses. In a space-strapped city, the idea of dedicated bus lanes could be lost on the commuting public. Especially considering that when the police last tried out the idea, the results weren’t quite phenomenal.
But the past is no deterrent for the police, who have already set a timeframe to put bus lanes in place on select roads. The big question is: Can Bangalore have dedicated bus lanes? While experts are almost united in endorsing the idea, doubts prevail over the implementation - and more importantly, the location of the dedicated lanes.
“Having dedicated lanes within the City centre will defeat the purpose. About 60 per cent of Bangalore’s roads are narrow and it takes at least a six-lane road to accommodate such lanes,” says traffic expert M N Sreehari. The government, acting on Sreehari’s recommendations, has kicked off a dedicated bus corridor project on NH 7 (see box) from Hebbal to the international airport in Devanahalli.
According to traffic police officials, the bus lanes will be launched on a pilot basis on the Minerva Circle-Town Hall stretch, as per recommendations from the Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Survey. The bus lanes, planned in association with the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, will also be marked on KG Road, Sankey Road and more than 10 other roads in the City. The concept of Bus Rapid Transport on dedicated corridors, till now identified with success stories like Bogota, is making an impact in these parts of the world as well. Indian cities, including Ahmedabad, Delhi, Indore, Mumbai and Pune, are in various stages of mooting or implementing BRT.
“Even a city like London, which has a 400-kilometre underground railway system, has opted for BRT for its 800-odd buses. If people in Bangalore want free movement of traffic, the only option is to increase the number of high-capacity buses. And for the smooth movement of these vehicles, we need BRT,” says Prof H M Shivanandaswamy, Assistant Director, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology. Experts feel that apart from streamlining bus traffic, the lanes can also increase bus speed by more than five km per hour.
Implementation issues
The bus lanes, first implemented in the City on Bellary Road in 2004, failed to make a difference but experts feel that with its present width, the road makes an ideal candidate for another trial. With a requisite minimum width of more than 3.5 metres, the bus lanes could push other vehicles on to bumper-to-bumper snarls on non-bus traffic stretches of the roads, feel some of the commuters. Possibilities of bus traffic pile-ups after breakdowns have also been raised as a concern by road users.
“BRT can be successful only if the implementing authorities pave out separate roads from existing roads, and it should have separate intelligent signals,” says Srinidhi Anantharaman, structural engineer. It’s estimated that around 30 Asian cities have already adopted BRT to beat traffic bottlenecks, but the issues of safety have been cropping up as well. A case in point is the 15-km dedicated bus corridor in Delhi that triggered accidents involving the stone dividers and subsequent public outrage.
Sreehari points out that safety calls for top priority when dedicated lanes are being planned. When other countries have successfully incorporated the lane model even for bicycles and pedestrians - with the right prescription of penalties on the violators, Indian cities have been found wanting in the implementation of the model. And that’s the administrators’ task: to make the difference between a good plan and good results.



AIRPORT CORRIDOR

The BMTC-initiated bus corridor from Hebbal to Devanahalli, covering 21.9 km, will be the first of its kind in the City. Sreehari, who proposed the corridor with the government officials, says the barricaded lanes on the two sides of the road will ensure that buses from all parts of the City reach the international airport in about 25 minutes, from the Hebbal Flyover. The BMTC will operate 40 Volvos on the corridor, to and from the airport which will commence operations in March, 2008. The marking work on the corridor will start by mid-January.


What they feel...

”A majority of the City’s roads are narrow and having a dedicated lane for buses will surely backfire. A few months after implementing the rule, the police will withdraw it, like they have done to the auto lanes.
— Vijay, bookstore manager
Without widening roads, the dedicated lanes be it for buses or autos will not be of much use. Besides, when implemented, the police should ensure that there is no rule violation and that buses ply only on these lanes.

— Manish Kuhad, businessman

Dedicated bus lanes should be on the left of the road, and will help ensure road discipline. The auto lanes were of no use and caused a lot of inconvenience to the public due to haphazard parking on the lanes.

— Dayananda Sagar, design engineer


The dedicated autorickshaw lanes were introduced in the City last year under the B-TRAC project, on select roads including KG Road, Queen’s Road and St Mark’s Road. There were teething troubles since two-wheeler riders were taken by surprise and ended up drifting onto these lanes. Though enforcement was strengthened, the issue persisted because two-wheelers, and at times cars, continued to enter the lanes, defeating the purpose of the lanes altogether.
M Manjunath, president, Adarsha Autorickshaw and Taxi Owners Association, admits that auto drivers didn’t make good use of the lanes, but feels that the system should have stayed. “The lanes were quite successful as far as curbing collisions of autos with other vehicles is concerned. They had reduced the number of autorickshaw accidents,” he says.
Autorickshaw driver Puttaraju says that the lanes helped drivers move freely on congested roads. “However, sticking to a dedicated lane is not always possible on narrow Bangalore roads,” he reasons.