Bus rapid transit system gets boost, DPR under way

The BRT system has been proposed along seven corridors – Koyambedu-Poonamallee, Koyambedu-Madhavaram, Koyambedu-Ambattur, Koyambedu-Saidapet, Saidapet-Siruseri, Saidapet-Mahindra City and Chromepet-Thoraipakkam. The public consultations would be held from August 3 to 8 for the different corridors in the city. This is second such public consultation to be held in the city in last two years on the BRT.

A senior official from PTCS said that the public consultations were organised to hear the views of the stakeholders as part of the plan to prepare the detailed project report for the BRT system. “The DPR, which is being prepared by IMAX, a private consultant, would be submitted to the government in two to three months. After that, the government would take a final call on going ahead with the project,” the official said.

The official said that the BRT would not only help provide the faster and cheaper mode of transportation but also help reduce the usage of private vehicles. “The improved public transportation will help ease traffic congestion and also reduce vehicular emissions,” he said, pointing to successful models of BRTs in Ahmedabad and Hubli-Dharwad in Karnataka.

Aswathy Dilip, senior programme manager of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) said that in the BRT system, passengers would get Metro Rail like experience but at a much lower cost of travel. “Chennai already has suburban trains and MRTS, and we are also building Metro Rail. Metro is very expensive, but the BRT can be implemented at a fraction of cost,” she said.

With a population touching close to 10 million, Chennai needs about 350 km of high-quality rapid transit – a balanced mix of Metro and BRT – she said. “Currently, with just 4,000 operational buses, the city’s Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) records an incredible 4.7 million daily ridership. Out of the total number of trips, 15 lakh trips are through the proposed BRT corridors. But with BRT, the quality of travel for bus commuters would improve drastically,” she noted.

The expert said that investing in a BRT at-grade would ensure an increase in road capacity to anywhere from 400 to 1,000 per cent at an approximate cost of Rs 20 crore per km—just one-tenth the cost of building a flyover.

“When designed on a par with international standards, the BRT system not only transports more commuters but also ensures faster transit and accessibility to people from all classes —especially the differently-abled and children. As sustainability becomes the need of the hour, bus-related transport systems are winning endorsements from cities and experts alike,” she said.