Alternate modes of transportation in India
Supriya Kurane

Think rail, use buses. This appears to be the perfect solution for India's overcrowded cities seeking cheaper and more efficient public transport systems. What this entails is a bus system that operates like a rail line service, by combining intelligent transport systems technology with dedicated transit ways which calls for specialized stations.

Does this combination of two different systems sound futuristic? Not so. In Delhi, the high capacity bus system (HCBS), or Bus Rapid Transit, as the system is known, is already functioning in some way. The entire phase is scheduled to be ready before the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The major advantage of a HCBS is that it is a cheaper option. While the elevated metro costs an astronomical Rs 100 crore/km to construct, the bus system works out to just Rs 6 crore-10 crore/km. The special buses are available for about Rs 35 lakh. The cost of travel is also considerably lower at Re 1/km.

Here is how the system works. Articulated buses operate on exclusive bus-ways, using one or two lanes in each direction. These lanes can run in the middle of the road or along the service roads. Passengers buy tickets only at the station - not on the bus. When the bus arrives, its two doors open simultaneously with those of the station, and a hundred passengers can walk in and out. The bus floor is at the same level as the station, making the inflows and outflows faster.

This is not a venture into the unknown. It is a proven system that changed the face of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, from a hopelessly congested city of 7 million to a model transport system. Mayor Enrique Penalosa’s people-centric transport model restricts the use of private cars and gives priority to pedestrians and public spaces. Hundreds of kilometres of sidewalks, bicycle paths and pedestrian streets were built to give space to the HCBS.

In 1975, Curitiba in Brazil rejected the metro and the light rail system because they were too expensive. Instead, it decided to spruce up its bus system and design it on the lines of a surface rail system with exclusive right of way and elevated platforms.

India was all set to emulate Curitiba in 1997. A group of professors from IIT Delhi, studying road transport systems, approached the government with a proposal to try out high capacity buses. But the city had just given the go-ahead for the metro, and was not interested in a bus-based system. There was also skepticism if it would work in Indian cities, replete with narrow roads, footpaths occupied by hawkers, and pedestrians ambling on the roads. In 1999, based on a feasibility study by the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency, Bangalore had decided on a HCBS. The idea was scrapped and replaced with a plan for an overhead metro system, which is still under construction.

Civic authorities in India are still caught up in the debate over what is a superior system - suburban trains, metro, or Skybus. Delhi appears to be willing to experiment. To start with, it would have to redesign existing roads along the proposed HCBS corridor to have dedicated bus lanes, install intelligent signaling systems and build bus shelters. The basic changes required include provision of a segregated lane for slow-moving vehicles in addition to service roads.

While Indian cities dither over the issue, other Asian cities have gone right ahead. Kunming is the first of 20 cities in China to have it, while Jakarta got its first 20-km lane last year. Taipei boasts a network of more than 100 km.

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