Bengaluru’s traffic woes: When the city missed the bus on BRTS

In 2007, as traffic started to increase as its business profile grew, the government started a feasibility study on building a bus rapid transit system (BRTS) for the city, which would involve dedicated lanes for buses. After much anticipation and delay, the BRTS project was given a quiet burial in December 2016 even as the project has gotten repeated go-aheads.

According to the World Resources Institute, a research institute, as of July 2016, Bengaluru was witnessing 1 crore road "trips" (trips on buses, autos, private vehicles). This is expected to reach 1.5 crore trips by 2025. Even if Phase 2 of the Metro is fully operational by then, Namma Metro on the whole will cater to a maximum of 20 lakh passengers daily.

In addition, the construction of the new Metro routes expected to start in 2017 is likely to result in traffic congestion on various stretches of Outer Ring Road given the necessity of digging up roads in areas such as Whitefield. The only major advantage that a metro network would have over a similar BRTS is in the number of passengers it carries per hour per direction (PPHPD): While the BRTS can carry around 12,000-30,000 passengers PPHPD, the Metro line can carry 25,000-50,000 passengers.

The proposal for BRTS, announced in 2007, envisaged a project length of 282KM involving 14 routes, mostly along Outer Ring Road. Explaining the reason not to proceed with BRTS to the Bangalore Mirror in December, Additional Chief Secretary Mahendra Jain said it was not feasible to proceed with both BRTS and the Metro. He claimed that BRTS is best suited for new roads and Bengaluru did not have sufficient road width for implementing it.

While the State Government has said that BRTS is not going to happen in Bengaluru, we look at why the system would have been effective in the city:

Lower cost of construction: According to the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), a full-scale BRTS implementation covering 30KM in Bengaluru would cost approximately ₹1,000 crore and could be completed in around 18 months with "minimal" traffic disruption. On the other hand, a metro line covering the same distance would need around 5 to 10 years for completion and would cost nearly ₹10,000 crore and carry a high risk of traffic disruption.

Infrastructure in place: As of July 2016, the BMTC operated approximately 6,500 buses. This number can be raised to over 10,000 buses to cater to the needs of BRTS at far lower cost compared with building a new metro line. The cost of hiring more drivers and maintenance staff in an established organisation would also be far lower than doing so for a brand-new outfit, which has no uniform spread across the city. The BMTC's existing depots at Hebbal, Kalyan Nagar and HSR Layout can be made main hubs for a full-fledged BRTS network.

BRTS is a “scalable” solution: Unlike a metro service that needs huge investment in resources and time for even a small stretch, a BRTS service can be scaled based on its priorities. This can range from “bus only lanes” carrying 6,000 PPHPD and that involves minimum traffic segregation and onboard payment (and thereby minimal new infrastructure) to a “light” BRTS that can carry up to 12,000 PPHPD using curbside bus lanes and causes greater traffic disruption. At the top end, a high-capacity "full fledged" BRTS requires dedicated median bus lanes and prepayment options and can carry more than 12,000 PPHPD. Even though the government has killed the BRTS project, the prospect for a "bus only lane” service remains viable.

BRTS is a complete traffic management system: The success (or failure) of any BRTS implementation is linked to how tightly it is integrated with a city's overall traffic system, unlike a metro or rail solution. This system would include relocation of bus terminals and construction of new ones. These measures could decongest the long-overburdened Majestic Terminus.

• Bengaluru
• BRTS
• Namma Metro
• DULT