[sustran] Delhi's BRT project in trouble?

[Paul Barter]

Will Delhi's BRT be given a chance to prove itself?

Bad press and teething problems seem to be putting Delhi's ambitious BRT
plans in danger.

Delhi's BRT pilot phase has entered a trial period since Sunday. The
first 5.6 km is due to start formally on 1 May.

Unfortunately press coverage of the project continues to be extremely
hostile. Reading some of the articles on this in the Indian media one
could be forgiven for thinking that Delhi's entire congestion problem is
caused by 5.6 km of busway.

All this looks worrying for Delhi's BRT. If politicians cave in and
abandon the project now it would be a huge setback for public transport
in India. 

Read more of this article at http://reinventingtransport.blogspot.com/
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I am sure some of you know more about Delhi's BRT than I do.  

Can it be rescued? Will the teething problems settle down before the
politicians lose their backbone to support it? Was it a mistake to begin
with such a challenging corridor? Will this episode give BRT a bad name
in India as a whole and threaten even the Ahmedabad project, even though
that project is for a much higher-end BRT system?