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Is a surface LRT system suitable for Bangalore ?
Written By Naveen - 1 March, 2009
Traffic Bangalore monorail BRTS Analysis LRT mass transit public transport Mobilicity
The city is desperately in need of some additional form of mass transport system to feed the Metro. The choice is essentially between Monorail, LRT or BRT. Some of us believe that a surface LRT is suitable for Bangalore, & that it can assist in reducing street congestion.
Any kind of mass public transport can work, provided everything is thought of & the act is put together with well-coordinated efforts by the many agencies involved. For surface systems, this will also mean educating all of the public to understand how to conduct themselves on the streets with these new systems in place. The no. of people on our streets is very large indeed, be they pedestrians or people within cars or on two-wheelers, three-wheelers or on buses. A large proportion out of this are poor, uneducated residents – laborers, daily-wage workers, hawkers, etc. who have to primarily worry about day-to-day living necessities.
We see vehicles mowing down pedestrians. We also see pedestrians not bothering about movement of traffic. Accidents are too many & street space is scarce – this is the existing situation now even with the better maneuverable road vehicles that can steer clear of pedestrians, if & when required, but the rush is paramount for everyone.
The idea for mass-transits going elevated is to “add” to capacities rather than “share” the scarce & insufficient road infrastructure. I have seen many LRTs in operation (Berlin, Vienna, Antwerp, etc.). All these operate on fairly wide roads with an educated, disciplined populace that allows right of ways to public transport as almost second nature & where pressures due to excessive poor, uneducated pedestrians is not as high as it is in Indian cities. If we can have this degree of discipline on the streets, sure, LRT will work even with the very large no. of people on the streets !
The cities that are adding LRTs are mostly medium sized, well spread out ones with proportionately larger road areas & not congested, dense cities. Bangalore’s problem is that there are too many people, too many complicated street intersections, narrow streets with little scope for widening, sharp turns, etc. The denser cities which had trams have mostly all dismantled them as trams obstruct movement of other types of road traffic & pedestrians.
Thus, is LRT a good choice ? The first attempt to provide a mass transit had been an effort to make an “addition” by elevating the Light rail. Though this attempt failed, the point remains valid even today. Subjecting streets to further pressures with surface rail systems may hamper & complicate traffic movements.
For me, the ideal choice is of course elevated Monorail that comes with the additional benefit of investors building & operating it on the lines of BOT or PPP models. BRT is a second choice due to much lower costs & more flexibility, though it takes away some street space. LRT, of course is the last option due to high costs, requiring funding by the state, & for the reasons mentioned above.
COMMENTS
srinidhi - 2 March, 2009 - 06:36
I guess as you suggest above we first need to list out the issues with the existing modes of transport and then with that decide the right mode(Mono/BRT/LRT) instead of starting with the mode first!
However PPP is the mantra these days as the govt doesnt want to spend any money and as you say, if Mono finds interest with the private parties..it can have its way!
idontspam - 2 March, 2009 - 11:20
why arent there many implementation of them outside airports and theme parks??
Exactly, What is it that we are convinced about, that the rest of the world isnt?
srinidhi - 4 March, 2009 - 09:13
Interesting read on how Boston which has narrow roads like bangalore decided on the green line..
http://www.lrta.info/Facts/facts132.html
idontspam - 4 March, 2009 - 13:20
I did not know how effective an LRT could be until I had used them. LRT is an extension of trams and is also called tram-trains but often get confused for the slowmoving calcutta type trams. It has come a long way since then. Read more about it here and try the links on the site.
The best part I like about light rail is it can be dedicated like BRT but also mixed with surface traffic, all the time utilizing surface level streets, zero carbon footprint and sharing low floor pavement stations(easier for disabled and older people). No need to build elevated station infrastructure or lay pillars in the city. If it needs to go overground in selected places then it can go on pillars but can be quickly bought back down to share the street. It beats mono/buses/BRT buses on capacity and is comparable to a metro train.
Naveen - 4 March, 2009 - 18:02
We, in India have our own constraints as summarized above. Our constraints are not just road widths, but the very large percentage of poor who are not educated enough to understand & allow an efficient transport system to operate freely on the streets. Being poor, their needs are to somehow make ends meet & will not worry about right of ways for trains, or even road traffic for that matter (as is the case now). This section keeps adding as rural migrants pour into cities, & it will take several decades to educate all, if at all this is possible. The traffic is also highly indisciplined & excessive with the very large population in cities & this will remain so for several decades.
When we cannot operate much smaller, slow moving trams on the streets in Calcutta satisfactorily, how can we expect longer, faster LRTs to work any better ? These trains might actually be slower than the Calcutta trams if tested on bangalore's roads due to more complexities with so many frequent intersections. What we need is a system that moves people within the inner city areas where Metro does not pass & also has interfaces with the Metro for providing solutions for commuting within the city.
Apart from this, are there any private parties who will finance construction & operate LRT in India, as most monorail makers are ready to do ?
Whilst these LRT systems might be possible solutions & may work well elsewhere (such as at Boston, Stockholm or in european cities), it does not automatically mean that they will operate well in our cities - ie. seeing a system work well somewhere does not imply that it can be taken for granted that it will also work well here.
I think one needs to be realistic & try to better understand what our constraints & needs are & also be open to all forms of mass-transits before concluding that LRT is the only option - it is one of several options that are working well in many cities abroad, where demographics are very different.
I still believe it is unsuitable for bangalore for the reasons mentioned above.
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