Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.27
Connaught Place. Even the main central area in the city has only a limited concentration of
employment, retail or other attractions.
transport infrastructure prices in the West. There have been some concerns that network
coverage has been limited and it directly benefits only a minor proportion of the city's
population, given that fares are also expensive for many residents (Mohan, 2006). Also, the
routing has often been guided by development opportunities, with the Delhi Metro Rail
Company becoming a major property developer in its own right. There has been a policy of
rapid clearance of informal settlements, with many difficulties in resettlement. With the more
extensive network under Phases III and IV, the Metro will cover many of the remaining parts
of Delhi, and even extend into the neighbouring states, with a total length of over 180 km.
Current average daily ridership is around 1.8 million commuters. The Metro serves a large
section of the travel market and makes a very important contribution to travel movements
around an important global city such as Delhi. In parallel, the current heavy rail network in
Delhi is vastly under-utilised, with the railways catering for only 1 per cent of local traffic,
and here again there is much potential for improvement and investment in upgrading the
network.
A bus rapid transit (BRT) system is also being developed in Delhi, with high-capacity
buses using segregated lanes. But it is limited in design relative to the systems seen in Curitiba
or Bogotá, where there are fuller exclusive busways, express and local services, smart card
technology to improve boarding, high frequencies, ease of transfer, and supportive urban
planning. The system has been designed by RITES and TRIPP (the Transportation Research
and Injury Prevention Programme at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi (RITES,
2008). Bus lanes are generally inserted along the central part of the highway, with the first
5.6 km pilot phase opening in 2008. There were vociferous complaints in the media, largely
from the perspective of reduced road capacity for private cars and increased congestion at
junctions. Certainly, the limited design and scope of the initial system has made it difficult
