Day after CM's ultimatum fewer traffic jams on BRT route

New Delhi, Apr 23 (UNI) A day after Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit gave a 48-hour ultimatum to streamline things on the 5.8 km BRT corridor between Moolchand hospital and Ambedkar Nagar, the traffic chaos on the stretch today showed some abatement.

Even as officials in charge of the project hoped things would show some improvement in the coming days, the fourth day of the trial run on the corridor witnessed fewer traffic jams.

In contrast to the first two days of the trial run when it took vehicles over half an hour to cross the stretch, a smoother traffic movement on the route effected considerable reduction in commuting time.

The 5.6 km-long Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand corridor, which opened on Sunday for a trial run, has been a cauldron of traffic chaos during the first two days in operation.

The corridor has four lanes on each side, meant for buses, scooters and cars, cyclists and pedestrians. The width of the bus lane is 3.5 metres, while the one for scooters and cars is seven metres wide and the lanes for cyclists and pedestrians are two metre wide.

The Bus Rapid Transit System, which has been designed by the Delhi government to ease traffic woes, will have low-floor high capacity buses move in an exclusive central lane, followed by lighter vehicles on either side, and two wheelers in the service lane.

Officials associated with the BRT say the traffic jams on the corridor is in large part due to the fact that those driving two wheelers and four wheeler are not aware about the division of lanes for different vehicles.

''Being a new system for India, getting used to it by the motorists, autorickshaws and pedestrians will take some time. Infact, the traffic chaos on the first two days is a case of the motorists taking time to get used to it,'' an official associated with the BRT project said.

He said things had definitely shown some improvement today compared to the situation on Sunday and Monday.

Infact, traffic police officials could be seen guiding cyclists, auto-rickshaws, scooters and cars to their respective corridors.

Claiming that there were some signal and signage problems, officials of the Delhi Integrated Multi-Model Transit System (DIMMTS) said they were working on its synchronisation with the traffic movement.

Reacting to the traffic chaos on the corridor, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit yesterday gave a stern warning to stakeholders in the corridor to tighten all loose ends and set things right in couple of days.

The Chief Minister chaired a high-level meeting attended by all the stakeholders of the project to review the current situation and take necessary steps to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the first corridor and overcome difficulties resulting in longer traffic jams.

She said the Transport Commissioner would daily make an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.

Another review meeting on the project would be held by the Chief Minister on Saturday.

The trial run will continue till the corridor becomes operational in the first week of May.

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