New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the government to retain till its order the arrangement made by the Central Road Research Institute for an experimental trial-run on a bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor here.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said: “The arrangement which was done during the trial-run was smoother for the traffic….”
The case would next be heard July 18.
The court direction came on a petition filed by NGO Nyay Bhoomi seeking to reinstate the trial-run’s vehicle movement arrangement under which buses were allowed to ply in extreme left lane of the road.
Referring to the interim report of institute, the NGO said that the experts had also given their nod to continuing the trial-run arrangement.
The report said that the May 12-17 trial-run proved very effective and almost all vehicles crossed a traffic light signal during one cycle and there was no jam.
“The concept plan received 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 BRT corridor, reserved for buses, during non-peak hours.
The petitioner said the BRT system had created more chaos and heavy traffic jams in car lanes, without any conspicuous advantage to bus users.
The corridor which was aimed at easing traffic and checking accidents has been facing criticism since its inauguration in 2008 for allegedly causing traffic jams along a 5.8 km stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand Hospital in south Delhi.
