Bangalore Transport 2020 plan - Flawed in fundamentals
I have always appreciated the efforts of Shri Rajeev Chandrashekar towards development of Bengaluru. With all due respect, i find the fundamentals of his plan for Bengaluru transportation quite ridiculous and very short term in sight.
Here is why:
The Plan's basic assumptions are:
* Have Signal Free Roads on "Arterial Roads"
* Increase the number of Buses
But the flaws are that not having signals adequately itself is a big problem. In Bengaluru, we have Vehicle Actuated Signals; More on that here: http://praja.in/node/249/subscribe
The point is quite simple - Adequate signalling and queing leads to better capacity utilisation, read in simple man terms - better flow of traffic. A junction or circle needs to be used by traffic flowing from all directions and even pedestrians (It is another matter that this category is forgotten in Bengaluru!)
Second - Increasing the number of buses.
Buses in Bengaluru are literally the lifeline of this city. If it was not for BMTC buses, we would have had a nightmare. It is only this crucial service that grew organically with growth in the city.
Contrary to perception - A single bus displaces the need for more than 200 cars and and the average road space foot print per passenger is very less.
Well this picture explains it all:
Like they say - a simple picture is worth a thousand words. Imagine Bengaluru's horror if all those bus passengers decided to switch to Tata Nano! Even Osama Bin Laden and Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed are not needed for Bengaluru's destruction. Tata Motors could do their job for them!
All this elite lead transport strategies are killing Indian cities. In as much as Tata Nano might bring jobs and economic growth in Sanand, Gujarat - it will become a weapon of mass destruction for Bengaluru. Even Shri R K Pachauri, the Nobel Laureate and Chief of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is said to have remarked that the Tata Nano gives him nightmares!
**What is then the most practical and long term solution for Bengaluru's transportation woes?**
Well, since we are getting used to benchmarking ourselves with Singapore, we should look at how well Singapore's Metro is doing a splendid job of providing 'spinal' transport for Singapore.
Like it or not - Namma Metro is the only long term solution to our transportation problems. A combination of Metro and Mono rail is needed.
The key word is Multi Modal Transport. In layman's or laywoman's terms ]i'm being more gender neutral ;-)] - that means integrating all modes of transport right from the footpath to the Metro.
This is where BMTC could play an adequate role in providing a "feeder" service to the Metro. The old diesel guzzling buses should be disbanded and newer biogas / electricity buses that provide feeder services to Metro should be introduced instead.
Satellite Bus stops such as the MCTC bus stop should be integrated into a Metro Station so that other parts of the city are adequately connected to the Metro.
The Government of Karnataka formed the BMLTA - Bengaluru Metro Land Transport Authority in order to make all stakeholders such as BMTC, BMRC (Namma Metro), The traffic police, BBMP, RTA (Road Transport Authority) to work in PPP (Public Public Partnership).
The BMLTA lacks statutory authority. As such it is a toothless tiger - good for nothing.
If Rajeev Chandrashekar is really interested in changing the way Bengaluru transports itself - he would immediately look into the functioning of BMLTA.
