[sustran] NO to flyovers, yes to more buses, suburban rail

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/538280/no-flyovers-yes-more-buses.html




*No to flyovers, yes to more buses, suburban rail*
Rasheed Kappan, Apr 03, 2016, DHNS

*Is there an alternative to spending thousands of crores on expensive,
inefficient elevated corridor projects? Are there other means to decongest
Bengaluru’s roads? Yes, there are, plenty of them. Here’s a list compiled
by the city’s mobility thinktanks, road-users and ordinary citizens.*



*Add more buses*The first priority, as articulated by seasoned campaigners
for sustainable transport, should be to reduce the private, personal
transport vehicles. Take off a few lakh such vehicles and replace them with
BMTC buses.

Today, 6,500 BMTC buses carry half the city traffic. The other half of
Bengaluru’s population, 56 lakh to be precise, manages with 50 lakh private
cars and two-wheelers! Why not replace them with a public transport mix of
BMTC buses, Metro, Commuter Rail, BRTS and aggregated cab / mini bus
services?

Less cars, SUVs and two-wheelers will free up road space for more buses and
might even accommodate dedicated bus lanes. But make those buses punctual
and reliable, integrate their schedules and bus stop locations with other
public transport modes, and do better route planning.

Government officials say elevated roads are required even for public
transport. But you cannot have bus stops on flyovers. So, what is the
answer?

*Barricade bus lanes *Once private vehicles are reduced, build barricaded
bus lanes on existing carriage way; increase frequency to 3 minutes on East
West and North South corridors so that maximum traffic can move on them.
Use articulated buses or trams to boost carrying capacity per trip, all on
the surface.

These barricaded lanes could start with the wider roads such as the Ring
Roads and highways such as Bellari, Tumakuru and Airport roads that already
have the bandwidth and carry regular commuters.



*Suburban rail*A suburban train network is another definite way out to
substantially reduce traffic congestion. It costs only a fraction of the
Namma Metro and flyover costs and could be operated mostly on the existing
rail infrastructure with a few station modifications.

Suburban trains could also be commissioned to the Airport from Electronic
City, and between the IT corridors and the City that currently see huge
traffic pile-ups. Sathya Sankaran, a founding member with Citizens for
Sustainability (CiFoS), points out that all Indian metros except Bengaluru
has this system running.Unless public transport is upgraded, reducing
private transport could prove extremely tough. Hefty parking fees and heavy
congestion tax to enter inner city areas have proven to be natural
disincentives to private transport the world over.


*Re-engineer roads*Vehicular flow could be greatly enhanced if the existing
roads are re-engineered to have uniform carriage ways and traffic
bottlenecks are removed with proper merging distances. TenderSURE roads
have shown a way out. A network of such roads could provide a viable
alternative.

Commuters say they prefer to walk than get stuck in traffic jams if the
pavements are in good shape. Better, seamless sidewalks on all roads and
cycle tracks on arterial corridors hold the potential to shift huge numbers
of vehicles onto footpaths. Elevated corridors will then take the backseat.