With a
population of 16.7 million and around five more million in the suburbs, Delhi
has only one reliable mode of public transport. The Delhi Metro which started
operations in December 2002 has connected the most congested and far flung
areas of Delhi to the suburbs. This has offered residents of Delhi access to
convenient mode of travelling. However, the situation is much different in 2012
when the total length of the network reached 190 km. Rush hours see over
packed trains where passengers struggle to get in and out. Initially stared
with four coaches, the trains now have eight. With a wider network ridership
has increased and so has the congestion in the trains. The average daily
ridership of Delhi Metro during June 2012 was 1.9 million, (imagine entire
population of Dubai and Brisbane travelling on a single day).
Though the metro
is taking all steps to make the ride smooth the problem of plenty seems to
persist. In its current phase the metro lines are being extended to create more
interchange stations to take some burden of the three interchanges the network
currently has. However, depending on metro to solve all the problems is not a
good idea. What needs to be done is to integrate other modes of transport with
metro. The metro did start with feeder bus services from select stations but
the plan was flawed and did not meet the desired results. With no experience of
running a bus fleet, Metro withdrew from the plan. The Delhi government should
take it over and reintroduce the system with an improved plan.
Not everyone
stays close to a metro station. Sometimes the last mile to and from the station
takes as long as the metro ride (often costing as much), this is not an
incentive to use the system. A well planned feeder bus service will help
commuters reduce the last mile travelled and hence shorten the total commuting
time. The government can look at a Public Private Partnership model since it
already has tested it on one of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes. Feeder
buses can also link the metro stations to major bus terminals in the city to
ensure easy change of transport mode.
Another mode of
public transport in Delhi is the city bus service run by Delhi Transport
Corporation (DTC). The bus fleet was replaced with modern high capacity buses in time
for the Common Wealth Games in 2010. With the games over the fleet has started
ageing faster than it should have. The schedules are rarely published and
almost never followed. This creates a situation where commuters are often
stranded without any bus on a particular route or five of them at the same
time. Though GPS is installed in all the modern buses no one seems to know how
to use the device. There needs to be a complete overhaul of the system with a
published schedule and strictly following it. Integrating it with the metro
system and also acting as an alternate to the system.
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| When the heavens open up |
Commuters in
Mumbai depend on the suburban rail network that carries millions to and from
work every single day. The same is almost nonexistent in Delhi. Only a handful
of suburban trains ply during peak hours and are more popular with commuters
coming from neighbouring cities. Delhi has a rail network which covers most of
central, eastern and western Delhi. The rail network also connects the suburbs
of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. The network can easily be used for light
railway which will have the advantage of higher speed. This will act as an
additional mode of transport and will complement the existing metro network. It
will also be easy to finance the trains since there will be no need to build
new tracks. An increase in number of these trains will bring regions of Delhi
even closer. However, the suburbs will get the maximum benefit out of such
move. There is a plan by the ministry of railways to introduce high speed
trains to neighbouring cities of Delhi. However the economic feasibility of
this project is under serious doubt, given the high cost (expensive rolling
stock and probably dedicated tracks) resulting in high fares. On the contrary
an efficient suburban light railway will bring more benefits at a lower cost.
Once the
integration is in place and the factors slowing down the traffic are mitigated
the government should look at a sustainable transport system. Congestion
charges, peak hour charges, premium parking rates all help in encouraging
people to shift to public transport and reduce congestion on roads. Finally,
what Delhi is not fit for is a BRT. Unless there are long starches of road
without intersections BRT is a disaster as it has proved to be in Delhi.
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