[sustran] What lessons can America learn from the rest of the world . . .?

[eric britton]

Message from India: Basics are being sidelined

 

Worldwide basics are being sidelined, and not only in the United States. The
blind application of BRT in Indian cities is an example. Some basics worth
remembering -

 

1)     Busways are warranted as per studies on routes 70-90% saturated. Bus
lanes on non-saturated roads do not improve speeds as buses run fast without
lanes (as road is not saturated).

 

2)     To best inform if a road is saturated one needs a basic bus-based PT
available. Many Indian cities running after BRT have symbolic (rudimentary)
bus services. People are thus in personal vehicles and producing a false
impression of roads being saturated.

 

3)     Bus stops in close proximity to where people live and work save on
time. BRT and Metro rails are far and few in between and do not save on
journey times as people walk several minutes to get to the embarking points.
It takes 8 minutes to walk 500 meters (16 if you double it to 1 km). In
contrast a London or Mumbai style traditional bus service oft has stops at
doorsteps. These buses may not go on dedicated median bus routes but drop
you as close as possible to ones destination and in doing so keep overall
travel time (by reducing time taken to walk) comparable to what BRT and
Metro systems offer.

 

4)     Speed of travel becomes important only when commutes get long. In
many cities where commutes are between 8 to 15 km, doubling speed shaves of
very little time (at cost of increasing risks).

 

What the world (not just US) needs is to remember that all we ever needed to
know we learnt in kindergarten - stick to the basics. Complex problems can
have simple solutions.

 

 

Dr. Adhiraj Joglekar, Psychiatrist, adhiraj.joglekar at googlemail.com,
www.driving-india.blogspot.com, Mumbai/Pune India (and often London)

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