BRTS remains an incomplete mission

PUNE: With just a few days left for the BRTS service to begin on the 16km stretch between Vishrantwadi and Wagholi (Kharadi), safety and adequate infrastructure still remain a concern.
The Pune Municipal Corporation, which has been working on the project for over four years, has been missing its deadlines consistently.
Early this month, mayor Dattatraya Dhankawade had set a deadline for the civic administration to start the operations by August 1.The mayor had directed officials engaged with BRTS project to complete all works by the end of this month. However, at many places, safe pedestrian crossings and passenger facilities at bus stations, like automatic doors, are missing.
On the Vishrantwadi Road, there are at least two junctions that do not have road safety features like signages, zebra crossings and lane markings. There is also no bus terminus either at Wagholi or Vishrantwadi. However, the seven bus stations on Alandi Road are being spruced up. All bus stations have security guards since last six months. The PMC had to appoint the guards after some miscreants vandalized the dedicated bus lanes and damaged bus stations including costly automatic doors. On Nagar Road, most bus stations do not have automatic doors, seats and information boards. On stretches where there is mixed traffic, that is where buses move with other vehicles, there are no lane markings. The PMC has built dedicated bus lanes and installed barricades for most part of the corridor, but at some places there is mixed traffic.
On Alandi Road, road signages, speed limit boards and traffic signals have been installed.
In January 2014, a road safety audit conducted by IIT Powai (transporation systems engineering group, department of civil engineering), came out with numerous findings and recommendations to the PMC. The municipal administration said that implementation of road safety measures is in progress. The report said that traffic police and other security personnel need to back and help the municipal corporation and other levels of government organizations to effectively operate the BRTS. Targeted public education campaigns should be conducted to involve the user community.
Prashant Inamdar, convener of Pedestrians First, said that if the PMC had taken up the Wagholi-Vishrantwadi project 10 years back, it would have been a great success. “The corridor was wide enough and it was relatively in a non-congested area. The PMC had instead taken up the pilot project between Katraj and Hadapsar via Swargate in a congested area. If the BRTS project is taken up in a non-congested area, the possibility of success is high,” he said.
The PMC spent over Rs 133 crore for the 17km pilot project which was inaugurated in December 2006. However, at present, there is no sign of the project as dedicated bus lanes have been dismantled. The same is the case with bus stations, which look nothing different than simple bus shelters. In the initial years, there were a number of accidents including some fatal ones because of lack of pedestrian facilities, lane markings and road signages. The municipal corporation seems to have learnt no lessons from the pilot project, say activists. No PMC official was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.
Qaneez Sukhrani, secretary of the Nagrik Chetna Manch, said that what the PMC is trying to roll out is at best a “modified hybrid transport system” and not a BRTS. “There are no lane markings (for service roads, motor vehicle and BRTS), sign boards and reflectors. This leaves a lot of room for a wrong decision for the wrong vehicle to enter the wrong lane. Having no sign boards or reflectors will have the same effect. On Alandi Road, footpaths are not continuous or in line with the Indian Road Congress norms, and no cycle tracks exist. Mid-section pedestrian crossings and lighting are not installed with safety in mind. Model pedestrian crossing at Ambdedkar chowk was approved keeping all safety aspects in mind. Why has this model not been replicated anywhere else,” Sukhrani said.