'Continue BRT trial run till further notice by court'
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the government to retain till its order the arrangement made by the Central Road Research Institute for an experimental trial-run on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor.
“The arrangement that was made during the trial-run was smooth for traffic,” said a division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw.
The next hearing is on July 18.
The court’s direction came on a petition by NGO Nyay Bhoomi, seeking to reinstate the trial run’s vehicle movement arrangement, under which buses were allowed to ply on the extreme left lane.
Referring to the interim report of the institute, the NGO said experts had also given their nod to continuing the trial run arrangement.
The report said that the May 12 to 17 trial run proved effective and almost all vehicles crossed a traffic signal in one cycle and there was no jam.
“The concept plan got excellent response from the travelling public as well as appreciation by print and electronic media,” said the report.
The petition sought direction to the Delhi government to allow three- and four-wheelers to run on the corridor reserved for buses during non-peak hours.
The petitioner said the BRT system had created chaos and heavy traffic jam on car lanes, without any conspicuous advantage to bus users as well.
The Bus Rapid Transit corridor, which was aimed at easing traffic and checking accidents, has been facing criticism since its inauguration in 2008 for allegedly causing jam along a 5.80-km-long stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand Hospital in south Delhi.
