Delhi High Capacity Bus Trial Stirs Public Furor

Posted: 17 Jun 2008

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

The first 5.8 kilometer (3.6 miles) section of the Delhi High Capacity Bus System (HCBS) opened in early May amid controversy.  Despite being dubbed a “corridor of chaos” by the Delhi media, 88 percent of bus commuters feel the new system is an improvement over Delhi’s current public transport system, according to a survey done by NDTV.  The system’s pedestrian access and bike lanes have created one of the first high quality walking and cycling environments in India.  The new CNG buses are a marked improvement over the existing buses.


New CNG buses are operating on the new HCBS in Delhi.  (Source: Luc Nadal, ITDP)

The Delhi HCBS is currently moving from 10,000 to 12,000 passengers per direction in approximately 160 – 170 buses at the peak hour at speeds averaging about 13 km/hr (8 miles per hour).  This is a very robust volume of passengers, but the speed is only a marginal improvement over the previous speeds.  The Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMMTS), the authority managing the system, indicated in interviews that bus ridership was up about five percent in the corridor as a result of the improvements. 


The system is attracting a large volume of passengers.  (Source: Walter Hook)

Negative press reaction was largely a response to operational and design issues.  The most serious problem involves the slow speed of both the mixed traffic and the buses inside the HCBS system.  Only Sao Paulo’s ‘Passa Rapido’ bus corridors have slower bus speeds, and only TransJakarta had a similar negative impact on mixed traffic speeds.


Bike lanes parallel the whole corridor. (Source: Walter Hook)

The system has most standard elements of a full BRT system, with exclusive bus lanes operating down the central verge.  Stations are located at the sides of the median busway and designed with a platform height roughly level with low floor buses.  About one third of the buses on the corridor are new, clean Tata Marcopolo buses that use compressed natural gas (CNG) and have low floors.  The system does not have pre-paid boarding.  Passengers pay conductors on the bus.  It is an ‘open’ direct-service busway with most buses entering mixed traffic conditions for some part of their route.


Pedestrian crossing are well designed. (Source: Walter Hook)

The system was also designed with bike lanes parallel to the entire corridor and a particular focus on pedestrian access.  The bike lanes provide a uniquely comfortable, fully shaded trip for most of the length with very nice attention to details.  The pedestrian crossing facilities are elevated with excellent mosaic detailing.


The system was designed for space for vendors so that they would not crowd the sidewalk or bike lanes. (Source: Luc Nadal)

The slow speeds in the corridor are primarily the result of the signal phasing and the station design and location.  Because the Delhi HCBS is an ‘open’ system, buses are turning at many of the intersections.  In order to accommodate all turning movements from within the exclusive lanes, each direction of the busway is given its own full signal phase, as well as each direction of mixed traffic parallel to the HCBS corridor and each direction of the perpendicular traffic, for a total of six phases.  Most BRT systems have only two, at most three, signal phases.  More than that compromises the speeds at which both the buses and mixed traffic can operate.

This signal phasing gives only about 25 percent of the green time to mixed traffic in the peak flow direction, whereas before they would have received closer to 45 – 50 percent.  This signal phasing also slows down the buses.  Compounding the problem, the company hired to operate the signal phasing is allowing the planned three minute cycle to stretch to as long as seven minutes in the hope of clearing the intersection.

This problem can be largely solved by having all turning buses enter the mixed traffic lanes before they need to turn, making it possible to simplify the signal phasing to only three phases. 

This problem has been exacerbated by the placement and design of the stations.  Stations are located immediately adjacent to the intersection on both sides of each junction.  On the approach to the intersection, two parallel bus platforms with docking space for two buses are situated almost flush to the junction.  The goal of this design was to minimize walking times from the intersection for pedestrians, as well as shorten bus platform lengths to avoid passengers running up and down them.  Unfortunately, this configuration left no space for left and right turn lanes for mixed traffic at the junction.  Drivers can no longer make the free left hand turn (they drive on the left-hand side of the road) allowed for by the traffic signal, and a simplified signal phasing could not be considered.


Two parallel platforms are immediately adjacent to the intersection. (Source: Walter Hook)

In addition, the two parallel bus platforms, although designed for two docking bays, can handle about three buses each per signal phase, for a maximum total of six buses per phase.  As the phase has slipped to six minutes, buses are queuing up to ten buses per platform.  Passengers are getting on and off these buses, even if they are not at the platform, during the long red signal phase.  This allows more buses, up to 13, get through the green signal phase, but creates very chaotic pedestrian movements in the middle of the busway.


Buses queue past the station platform waiting to approach the stations. (Source: Walter Hook)

These factors, coupled with the fact that the pedestrian signals are still not functioning properly, have led to some pedestrian fatalities.  These fatalities were not caused by pedestrians crossing mixed traffic lanes to get to the median busway, as has been suggested by the media as a major flaw in the BRT design.  This corridor has always had a lot of pedestrian fatalities in the corridor before the system opened.


Because buses are queuing for so long, people move off of the platform into the busway to get on and off buses. (Source: Walter Hook)

If the junction does not function well for the busway, it is disastrous for mixed traffic.  Motorists find themselves sitting through several seven-minute long signal phases at the worst junctions, when before the road was virtually free flowing traffic.  This significant deterioration of mixed traffic speeds defied the predictions of the system’s planners who had tried to design the system to marginally improve mixed traffic speeds.


Traffic congestion is a result of the traffic signaling and the design of the stations. (Source: Walter Hook)

The system has a few other teething problems that should be resolvable in the medium term.  Currently the bus lane is used by a large variety of buses, from charter buses to minibuses, to intercity buses.  This damages the image and identity of the system and disrupts the functioning of the station platforms which were not designed for these buses or this volume of buses.  Most of these buses should be moved back into the mixed traffic lanes. 

The system also does not yet have an operational control system, resulting in bunching of buses.  As many as four buses of the same route number arrive at the same time, followed by long waiting times for the next bus of the same route reappeared.  This sort of problem is generally solved by the use of an operational control center.  DIMMTS should consider investing in such a system.

The second phase of the HCBS system has double the bus volumes and much higher mixed traffic volumes.  It is critical that DIMMTS resolve these operational control and design issues before continuing construction of the next phase. 

Unfortunately, current discussion among the government is all over the map, with some calling for moving the bus lanes to the curb, and others calling for building flyovers over the congested intersections.  Moving the busway to the curb lane would be tantamount to destroying the system.

For other latest details about Delhi BRT, please check out the news articles below:

Keeping Buses on the Left May Not Work in Dehli

Efforts for Improvement Should Not be Stopped: Anand (in Hindi)

Workshop on Problems of Delhi BRT (in Hindi)

Experts Came to Solve the Problems of Delhi BRT Corridor (in Hindi)

Delhi BRT Can’t be Successful in City: Expert

‘Delhi BRT Fiasco Result of Poor Implementation’

Delhi Bus Stop Locations, Signalling Faulty: Experts

Delhi BRT as Good as Scrapped Say Experts

Experts from US, UK Find Faults with BRT

BRT Fiasco: ITDP Workshop Looks for Solutions

Delhi Bus Lane Has Major Flaw

BRT Corridor:  The Great Delhi Divide

AMC in Learning Mode after Delhi BRTS Problems

After BRT Fiasco in Delhi, AMC Treads Cautiously on Corridor