The Delhi government on Monday dismissed as “irrational and unconstitutional” the report prepared by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) criticising the 5.8 km BRT corridor between Ambed-kar Nagar and Moolchand.
In its reply filed before the Delhi high court on Monday, the transport department said that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor has proven beneficial for a majority of the population dependent on public transport rather than a fraction of the people who travel by personal vehicles.
“The prime objective of establishing BRT stands fully vindicated. Even according to the statistics quoted by CRRI, over 70 per cent people using BRT are moving at a faster speed,” senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi, appearing for the government, told a bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv S. Endlaw.
He said that the BRT corridor serves the constitutional goal of “largest good of the largest number” of people. “The right of people must be held to be paramount over the right of vehicles/cars. Under no circumstances it can be assumed that the time of car passengers is superior over the time of bus passengers,” he said.
He said the objective of the BRT corridor was to provide comfortable and faster public transport to induce private vehicle users to switch to public transport. “Such a shift reduces fuel consumption and pollution...There has been a 32 per cent increase in BRT corridor in percentage share of bus ridership. Thus, on all parameters BRT experiment has proven to be successful,” the government’s affidavit said.
“To CRRI, relatively higher bus speed on the BRT corridor is of no consequence, but lower car speed is unacceptable. Two cars occupy equal space as that occupied by a bus but carrying 20 times less people... The debate is not just about BRT, but improving alternatives to cars to meet environmental, social goals,” it said.