[sustran] Bus Lanes

kisansbc at bom5 kisansbc at bom5.vsnl.net.in
Sat Jan 22 08:33:14 JST 2000


21 January 2000

Dear Paul,

Your email of 05.01.2000 gives representative information
on cities having bus lanes.

It must be admitted that though citizens and authorities
are talking for bus lanes, they are not provided on 
substantial scale.  Compared to total kilometrage of
roads in a city, only a few have bus lanes.  This is 
being done to silence the opposition of nonmotor car/
vehicle owners.  It is more like a bait to citizens 
demanding precedence for public road transport.

But do bus lanes work even in a limited manner?
Cities of the developing countries have considerable 
number of nonmotorised vehicles for movement of
man and goods.  Hawkers and other encroachments
are rampant.  They occupy firs tlane designated as 
bus lane.  Many cities do not have pavements 
invariably for pedestrian movement.  Pavements 
wherever they exist are usurped by shop extensions,
hawkers and parked 2-3-4 wheelers.  Implementation
is poor together very low respect for law in the 
motorists.  Where a single traffic lane is designated
as bus lane, large number of buses plying create chaos.
Bus stops and traffic junctions create a piling up of
buses on a single lane.  Cross lanes and streets 
without traffic control pose accident hazard.

Opening of markets has resulted in increasing the 
number of motor cars tremendously. For instance, 
motor cars are increasing at the rate of 7-8% per annum
in Mumbai against a population incarease of 2%.   India 
has become the target for large international motorcar
makers.  Now foreign second hand cars are making entry.
Cars have started percolating into towns and villages which
are not built for motor traffic.

Should we in SUSTRAN  ask for bus lanes and feel happy
on receiving bus lane on a few roads for a limited patch?
There are roads in Mumbai which are banned for public
transport - BEST services by municipalised bus transport
undertaking but there are no roads closed to private car.
Even 3 km length on Mount Road in Chennai is only 
symbolic offering while other roads continue to create
problems.

Kisan Mehta
President
Save Bombay Committee 



More information about the Sustran-discuss mailing list