Delhi Government Announces High Capacity Busways, Metro Opens

Posted: 01 Feb 2003

Related to: BRT in India, Developing High-Quality, Low-Cost Mass Transit, India
Contributed by: Walter Hook, ITDP

In November, the Delhi Government announced that seven new high capacity busways would be developed, along with other measures to improve public transport and non-motorized travel. "Delhi's biggest problem is the large number of private vehicles on roads," said Delhi state transport minister Ajay Maken. "And so far the highest priority was given to these vehicles. We want private car users to make a shift to public and other modes of transport."

The city government has fast-tracked the development of its first busway corridor. The India Institute for Technology (IIT), with technical support from ITDP, is doing the planning and design for the Delhi Government. They aim to have one corridor completed by the end of 2003.

While preliminary planning was completed several years ago, momentum for Delhi’s busway grew after an IIT organized and ITDP co-sponsored workshop on High Capacity Bus Systems, featuring presentations by former Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa and several leading transit experts.

Photo: Delhi’s new metro, greeted with enthusiasm and crowds

Then, in December, the first five-mile leg of the Delhi metro system opened. With frustration about traffic congestion and bus service boiling over after last year’s disorganized conversion to CNG buses, Delhi residents eagerly welcomed the new metro. One million people used the system on its first day—six times the number it was designed to carry.

Though automatic gates broke down, the computerized fare collected system malfunctioned and there were not enough tokens for all the passengers, enthusiasm was high.

It will be decades, however, before the $100 million per kilometer metro will serve more than a handful of all commuting trips. In the meantime, Delhi government officials are under pressure to show some immediate improvements for the rest of the public, which relies on buses.

The idea of pushing high capacity buses, segregated bicycle facilities, and integration of vendors into street system design, has been championed by the sustainable transport committee advising the Delhi government which includes Dinesh Mohan of the Indian Institute of Technology. Finally, it seems, these voices are being heard.