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Light Rail Transit (LRT)
Written By blrsri - 27 April, 2008
Bangalore BRTS Light Rail suggestion LRT Metro Rail
We have seen ...
- Roads being discussed on praja and one thing that has come up is that the traffic manages to congest any space available, wide or not..
- BRTS..the current implementations are having teething issues than real problems. But there is still lot to be desired. To google BRT issues will provide many pointers to what ails BRT.
- Monorail as feeders to the metro..as the discussions have hinted its a very costly solution for a not so costly problem. The implementaitons of monorail the world over have been few and more so the successfully running ones.
What we have missed is the light rail transit option..its found that many cities accross europe and the americas use the light rail feature to decongest the roads. This provides a clean and a fast way to commute..
[Pic: a Houston LRT]
Imagine..MG road area and the light rail moves into brigade road and stops for a while to unload passengers and then moves over to Garuda mall and then back to MG road and then onto commercial street..then gets to the newly constructed multi level parking lot where foks can cahnge to their cars or wait on the LRT for the next stop to get dropped onto the metro station to get to Jayanagar..
This will need a ban on cars entering this region and even if they have to enter then they have to pay a high cogestion toll!
As for the expense, this is inbetween BRT and the mono-rail and offers facilities which are best of both!
There is also a suggestion that the BRT can be started on particular routes and as it gets popular we can introduce LRT. LRT is kind of inflexible as there are fixed lines, hence deciding which route to introdude LRT becomes critical.
Do you think LRT is an option for Blr?
COMMENTS
tsubba - 27 April, 2008 - 14:16
blrsri - 29 April, 2008 - 05:51
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080048233&ch=4/29/2008%209:41:00%20AM
After the initail hitches, BRT is picking up..travel times reduced by 1/3rd!
This is a fast turn around for a project getting accepted..its now to change the mentality of the car users and introduction of A/C low floor busses to increase bus usage..also facility like park and ride need to be introduced..
Coming to the compatibility of BRT for bangalore , this is still a question to be answered..BRT needs a fully exclusive path and this is shared from the one of the lanes in the road..as we know Delhi has wide roads but Bangalore does not..
LRT could be an option..this is because:
1. LRT does not need exclusive routes like BRT
2. LRT has more capacity and is not polluting as busses (3-4 busses together)
3. LRT is more affordable than monorail
4. LRT is at grade..which makes it more approachable..this is one of the reasons for the low ridership of monorail projects
Calgary moving from BRT to LRT?
silkboard - 29 April, 2008 - 06:30
Noticed this in the wikipedia note on BRTS at Calgary:
"Calgary Transit has operated one BRT route since 2004 but ridership has exceeded expectations, and as of 2007 the city was considering converting the west leg of the route to LRT as soon as possible. Calgary Transit operates the most successful LRT system in North America at over 230,000 riders per day, and states "LRT is considerably cheaper to operate when there is high passenger demand." It has estimated its LRT operating costs at 25 cents per ride, versus 89 cents for BRT..."
Rest of the note mentions labour shortage as another reason against Buses (they were not able to get enough drivers - trust us that wouldn't be a problem here).
However, the Calgary Transit wiki page says this about BRT
"Calgary's BRT line incorporates only a few features that a true BRT has to offer. Limited stop service, direct routing and traffic signal priority systems are among these features. The BRT, also known as Route 301 runs in regular traffic, uses regular buses (sometimes articulated buses) and uses regular bus stops, with the exception of being painted red."
So, looks like BRT is a loose term, not really comparable to LRT (think LRT, you can picture tracks, slow trains, stations , think BRT, the picture is not as crisp). But still the 25 cents/ride vs 89 cents/ride is the stat to note here. That is a big difference, especially when you consider that these buses run in regular traffic (meaning - no dedicated lanes). So clearly, there are big costs elsewhere for Clagary's BRT. Where, I wonder.
blrsri - 29 April, 2008 - 06:48
LRT != Calcutta Tram :)
The modern LRT does average speeds of 30 kmph which is very comparable to other transport modes..
There are low-floor vehicles, modular systems, telematics for central control of vehicles, traffic lights actuated by LRT, dynamic information of passengers...etc
LRT comes at 1/10th the price of metro..
blrsri - 28 April, 2008 - 01:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PqTQDy8tsw&feature=related
Vehicles use road along with the trains..but again this needs lot of dicipline and thats what we lack most..
MG road is full of commercial establishments and we do not have a louvre or a palace there to stop vehicle movement..so dont think its a good candidate for pedestrianization!
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