MANY EXPERTS STILL THINK SCRAPPING BRT IS A BAD IDEA, BUT MOST USERS ARE HAPPY TO SEE IT GO Throwing his weight behind the controversial BRT project, IIT-Delhi professor Dinesh Mohan argues that for most cities, having a reserved lane for public transport is a no-brainer.“In any other city, there would be debates on its displacement but not on whether a BRT is required,“ he says. “In all busy cities, the only way you can have a lane for ambulances, fire trucks and the police is if you have a reserved lane for buses or trams,“ adds Mohan, one of the chief architects of the project. The committee of experts constituted for the project had zeroed in on the 5.8-km stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand after considering a number of parameters. They first selected 10 corridors with the highest public transport use. “This stretch was in the top five. It runs from south to north and had a very high use of bus transport,“ says Mohan. Mohan and his colleague at IIT, Geetam Tiwari, regard the scrapping as a “victory for the car owners“ and a “set-back to the whole concept of public transport and sustainability“. Though its design has been questioned, Mohan defends it. Having lanes and bus-stops in the middle of the road may seem out of place, but he argues that on a wide road, it has to be in the middle and a bus commuter has to cross the road at some point anyway . “It has benefitted bus riders despite poor implementation,“ says Tiwari. The duo also lists a few positive features of the project such as well-lit footpaths for pedestrians, cycle-tracks and a design that has prevented waterlogging. They, however, resent that there's been no attempt to complete the entire project. “The police, right from the start, have not enforced the law because it reduces car flow,“ says Mohan. Further, the pilot project was junked before the full corridor--Jamia Nagar to Punjabi Bagh--could be completed, he says. “Suppose the Metro line was built only for five kilometers, would you be able to value its effectiveness?“ asks Mohan adding, “Not one person has been able to say clearly what is wrong with the design.“